Do You Want to Write 12 Picture Books in 12 Months? | Learn More!

Lindsay Leslie

A diary keeper, a journalism major, a public relations executive, now a children’s author—Lindsay Leslie has always operated in a world of written words. She likes to bring her unique outlook on life, quirky humor, and play with words to the page in picture books. Lindsay is the award-winning author of THIS BOOK IS SPINELESS (illustrated […]

Kim Chaffee

Kim Chaffee used to hold the Guinness World Record for the largest game of pick-up sticks ever played. (It’s true! Check out pg. 111 of the 2005 edition) She is a former second-grade teacher who loves coffee, chocolate, and writing picture books that kids will want to read again and again. Don’t ask her to […]

Julie Rowan-Zoch

Author, illustrator, bookseller, and activist Julie Rowan-Zoch grew up collecting freckles and chasing hermit crabs in New York, and spent years slicing rich breads in Germany before waking up to 300 days of blue Colorado skies. If she doesn’t answer the door, look in the garden! She is the illustrator of Louis, written by Tom Lichtenheld (Clarion, […]

Jess Townes

Jess Townes is a picture book author and bookseller. A lifelong storyteller, Jess has worked in public education, non-profit development, birth and lactation services, as a freelance writer, an actress, and currently works as a bookseller at Main Street Books in St. Charles, Missouri, but her favorite part of any job is the connections she […]

Heather Preusser

Heather Preusser was born and raised in Maine, went to college in Massachusetts, lived in Germany for two years, and now calls Colorado home. She writes about plucky characters finding their place, and her debut picture book, A Symphony of Cowbells, was released by Sleeping Bear Press. She has an MFA in creative writing as […]

Hannah Holt

Hannah Holt is a children’s author with an engineering degree. Her picture books weave together her love of literature and lifelong learning. They include, The Diamond and the Boy (HarperCollins), A Father’s Love (Penguin), and A History of Underwear with Professor Chicken (Macmillan). Over a decade ago, she decided to try this thing called writing […]

Chelsea Lin Wallace

Chelsea Lin Wallace is an award-winning children’s author and poet with a master’s in education. When Chelsea was little, she would hide in her closet reading Shel Silverstein and write poems (mostly about goblins and eerie bugs.) She grew up and became an elementary school teacher where she inspired kids to express themselves creatively through […]

Casey W. Robinson

Casey W. Robinson is a writer of children’s books and poetry, and the events manager for her local independent bookstore, The Silver Unicorn, in Acton, Massachusetts. She is an alum of the New England Young Writers’ Conference at Bread Loaf, and co-founder of the program’s Kindred Spirit Scholars program, which aims to help make the […]

Zainab Khan

Zainab Khan is a member of SCBWI, Inked Voices, 12 x 12, and volunteers as a mentorship reader for WNDB. As a Muslim woman of Pakistani heritage who has lived in different parts of the world, she writes diverse and neurodiverse stories that promote empathy, kindness, and unity between children of all faiths and cultures. […]

Katrina Moore

Katrina Moore writes in New Jersey.  She holds a M.A. in Teaching and has been an elementary teacher for twelve years. Her mission is to create books that children will hug for ages. She is the author of the picture books, ONE HUG, illustrated by Julia Woolf (HarperCollins/Tegen Books, Dec. 2019), GRANDPA GRUMPS, illustrated by […]

Financial Need Scholarship Guidelines

All applications will be accepted via email only between November 1, 2024 – November 30, 2024 at kelli@juliehedlund.com.

Subject line of the email:

  1. 12 x 12 Financial Need Scholarship
 

Please include the following in the body of the email:

  1. An autobiographical statement and career summary in 250 words or fewer.
  2. A short statement describing the nature of the financial need/circumstances in 250 words or fewer.
  3. A sample query letter for the manuscript you are submitting with your application.
  4. Pitches for two additional completed picture books.
 

 Attached to the email:

  1.  The full text of one picture book manuscript, attached as a Word document named as FIN_YourFirstName_YourLastName_Title_of_Manuscript.doc (or docx).