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

Scholarships

Thanks to the generous support of the 12 x 12 community, the 12 x 12 Picture Book Writing Challenge offers scholarships to qualified picture book writers to cover membership tuition. See details below.

Tuition + PB Submission System (6)​ - $4000 90%
Tuition for 6 Scholarships - $2200 100%
Tuition for 4 Scholarships - $1470 100%

Six GOLD Scholarships &

Twenty SILVER Scholarships!

The 12×12 Picture Book Writing Challenge awards scholarships in two categories: 1) Authors & Illustrators of Diverse Ethnic, Cultural, and/or other backgrounds underrepresented in the canon of children’s picture book literature (including but not limited to Black, Disabled, East Asian, Jewish, Latinx, LGBTQIA+, Middle Eastern/North African, Muslim, Native/Indigenous, Neurodiverse, and South Asian).  2Financial Need (Authors & Illustrators who are limited by the registration fee).Click below to learn more about the scholarships and how to apply.

Note that there is no separate application process for the SILVER scholarships. Once the six GOLD scholarships have been awarded, all remaining applicants will be considered for SILVER.

Application Period:
November 1 - 30, 2023

GOLD member scholarship recipients will receive full membership tuition for the Little GOLDen Book level ($367) for 2024 and FREE access ($347) to The Complete Picture Book Submissions System.

SILVER member scholarship recipients will receive full membership tuition for the Shel SILVERstein level ($197) for 2024.

Winners will be announced January 1st, and recipients will receive instructions for accessing all of the membership benefits.

If you qualify for both scholarship categories (Diversity & Financial Need), you may apply for both, but you can only be awarded one. Please send a separate submission for each scholarship according to the instructions below.

Madhu Messenger

2023 Scholarship Recipient
“I am grateful to 12×12 for believing in my work. Being selected for a scholarship was a wonderful boost to my confidence and helped me secure an agent. I have enjoyed the webinars and community and appreciated the push to write every month.12×12 helped me hone my writing skills, find new critique partners, and learn more about craft.”
Madhuri Messenger

Kristen Rashid

2023 Scholarship Recipient
“I was honored to be a 12×12 GOLD Scholarship recipient for 2023. Winning the scholarship in itself was an encouraging and motivating way to begin my year. From there being a part of 12×12 has provided ways to connect with the picture book community, learn from webinars, engage in submission opportunities, and best of all – develop a body of work I wouldn’t have written otherwise, since I was committed to keep up with the challenge to write a new picture book manuscript each month!”
Kristen Rashid NEW 200x300

Devyn Douvier

2023 Scholarship Recipient
The 12 x 12 Diversity Scholarship changed everything for me! I learned so much about both the craft and the industry through the webinars and found inspiration by connecting with other creators. I even landed an agent thanks to the Gold Submission Opportunities! I’m forever grateful to 12 x 12 for investing in me.
Devyn Douvier

Alexandra Millarhouse

2023 Scholarship Recipient
I’m so grateful to have been a GOLD scholarship recipient. I can’t begin to describe how impactful 12×12 has been on my writing journey. The caring community, in-depth resources, and quality webinars have met me where I’m at every step of the way—be it as a complete beginner or as an agented author with an eye to next steps. This scholarship allowed me to query a wonderful range of agents, kept me connected to the community, and gave me the confidence boost I needed. I would encourage anyone considering it to take the leap and apply!
Alexandra Millarhouse

Aimee Hiura

2023 Scholarship Recipient
I could not be more grateful to be a recipient of the prestigious Diversity Scholarship from 12 x 12. It not only motivated me further, but also gave me the confidence to strive for bigger goals and dreams as I continue my journey as a picture book author. Since the scholarship award, editors at workshops began to take notice of something special in my stories, which led to multiple representation offers. I have also found lifelong support and fellow peers to learn from and collaborate with thanks to this amazing community.
Aimee Hiura 200x300

Sope Martins

2022 Scholarship Recipient
Through the scholarship, I got access to a wealth of knowledge, a warm and supportive community, enlightening craft discussions, opportunities to chat with and apply to agents, and I also found a new critique group that keeps me writing and accountable. With this scholarship, Julie Hedlund gave me a chance to be a part of something magical! A giant thank you to Julie, Kelli, the critique ninjas, and all the wonderful people that make the 12×12 magic happen!

Sabrina Shah

2022 Scholarship Recipient
I was honored to have been awarded the 12×12 Diversity scholarship, and it literally changed my writing world. It has grounded me and taught me a lot about the industry with the amazing workshops, webinars and chats. But most importantly, it’s given me hope that my voice will one day find its place in today’s literary world and to not give up. Thank you, 12 x 12!

MeiLin Chan

2022 Scholarship Recipient
I’m so grateful for the 12 x 12 Diversity Scholarship! Being a part of the community makes me feel like having big sisters and brothers who generously share their triumphs, almost-triumphs, passes, and advice. Their genuine stories of perseverance, learned lessons, and understanding make the publishing dream less daunting and—possible—if we stay the course.

Laura De La Cruz

2022 Scholarship Recipient
I am forever grateful to have been selected as one of the 12 x 12 Diversity Scholarship recipients! I’ve learned so much from this supportive kidlit community. And as a gold member, I could submit to agents who were closed to submissions. Eventually, after much revising and many rejections, I finally started to get noticed. I was winning contests, I was getting requests for more work, and in September of 2022, I signed with my agent, Leah Pierre!

Eileen Mayo

2022 Scholarship Recipient
12 x 12 has been a lifeline allowing me to focus on my dream of someday becoming a published picture book author. Julie and Kelli’s fun sense of humor and upbeat attitude only scratch the surface of what is a massive resource for picture book writers.

Daniele Ardnt

2022 Scholarship Recipient
Being a 12 x 12 Scholarship recipient has been an amazing experience. The 12 x 12 writers are eager to encourage, support, and offer advice. I truly feel blessed to have gotten to be a part of this wonderful community.

Alexia Andoni

2022 Scholarship Recipient
This opportunity allowed me to stay connected to the most knowledgeable and generous writing community I know. Their advice and support in the forum and Facebook group helped me to prepare my manuscripts for submission, and their commitment inspires me even in the toughest moments. We are stronger together! 12 x12 will always be my writing home.

Leah Schanke

2021 Scholarship Recipient
“What stands out for me about 12 x 12 are the comprehensive resources and being a part of a supportive kidlit community. Through 12 x 12, I’ve raised the level of my craft and met other writers to swap critiques and cheer successes. It’s telling that very experienced and successful writers are active, long-time members. There’s something for everyone no matter where you are in your writing career.”

Jack Wong

2021 Scholarship Recipient
“At face value, setting a big writing goal and pursuing it in a public arena can be daunting. But there is no one way to engage with a writing community—the key is to start engaging, because you never know what will cross your path. A single writing friend you make, a needed confidence boost for your manuscript at the right moment, or one little nugget of gold from a guest presenter—any of these could be just the thing you didn’t know you needed for the next leg of your journey. They certainly were for me! 12 x 12 was the perfect gathering place of talented, like-minded, generous people to make those discoveries possible.”
Previous
Next

Diversity Scholarships

Any picture book writer/illustrator from any country in the world with Ethnic, Cultural, and/or other backgrounds underrepresented in the canon of children’s picture book literature (including but not limited to Black, Disabled, East Asian, Jewish, Latinx, LGBTQIA+, Middle Eastern/North African, Muslim, Native/Indigenous, Neurodiverse, and South Asian). Applicants must be over the age of 18, should not have agent representation, and must be unpublished by a traditional publisher in the picture book genre. Picture book authors who are self-published may apply.

The picture book manuscript submitted must be an original work written in English containing no more than 1,000 words. Back matter may be submitted with your manuscript, but is not included in the word count. The manuscript may not be under contract. Do not submit illustrations or photographs with your submission. (We accept author-illustrators but, for the purposes of the scholarship, we are judging based on writing only.) Please specify the intended age range for manuscript (i.e. 0-4, 4-8, etc.). 

Diversity Scholarship applications are accepted November 1-30.

Financial Need Scholarships

Any picture book writer/illustrator from any country in the world who would otherwise not be able to join 12 x 12 due to the registration fee is invited to apply. Applicants must be over the age of 18, should not have agent representation, and must be unpublished by a traditional publisher in the picture book genre. Picture book authors who are self-published may apply.

The picture book manuscript submitted must be an original work written in English containing no more than 1,000 words. Back matter may be submitted with your manuscript, but is not included in the word count. The manuscript may not be under contract. Do not submit illustrations or photographs with your submission. (We accept author-illustrators but, for the purposes of the scholarship, we are judging based on writing only.) Please specify the intended age range for manuscript (i.e. 0-4, 4-8, etc.).

Financial Need Scholarship applications are accepted November 1-30.

Subscribe to our Newsletter for Free Resources

Interested in Joining the 12x12 Challenge?

Stay in the Loop

Subscribe to our Newsletter and receive a free webinar, stay up to date on 12 x 12 events – including registration – and get access to discounts and special offers

Financial Need Scholarship Guidelines

All applications will be accepted via email only between November 1, 2023 – November 30, 2023 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).