Banner art by Michelle Weltz

Please send comments to Regional Advisor Jodi Hausen at montana-ra@scbwi.org. Thank you for your input.

News and Announcements

SCBWI Winter Conference

In-person conference

Our annual in-person Winter Conference for children's book writers, translators, and illustrators is back with even more options for exploring the many facets of the craft and business of illustrating, translating, and writing books for kids.

Highlights include:

• industry panels
• one-on-one manuscript and portfolio consultations
• half-day intensive just for illustrators
• the popular Portfolio Showcase
• a choice of twenty-eight craft or business breakout sessions.

Back by popular demand: expanded publishing house tours with unprecedented access to editors in the children’s publishing industry!

This in-person conference takes place in NYC January 16-18.

You can learn more and register at scbwi.org.

Virtual conference

Don’t miss this chance to boost your children’s book career! Join us online for exclusive industry panels, hands-on sessions focused on the craft of writing and illustrating children’s books, plus valuable networking with fellow creators.

Whether you’re looking to sharpen your skills, gain insider knowledge, or connect with other talented authors and illustrators, this event is for you! If you can't make it to the live sessions, video replays will be available to view through March 15th.

The virtual conference takes place live (virtually) February 6-7, 2026. You can learn more and register for the event at scbwi.org.

Picture Book Mentorship Opportunity

by Ellen Akemi Crosby

The PB Rising Stars Mentorship opportunity was one of the best things to happen to me so far in my writing journey.

This year, 2026, is the last year this mentorship program will be offered. I highly recommend applying for a chance to become a mentee. All the information, dates, and associated events have just been made public, and they are pulling out all the stops! Available to un-agented and agented picture book authors, illustrators, and author-illustrators who haven't sold a picture book with an agent, this mentorship program is comprehensive and fun! As a 2025 mentee, let me tell you a little bit of what you can expect from this program.

If chosen, you will develop a productive and synergistic relationship with your mentor through three months of one-on-one opportunities to elevate and fine-tune your craft. The type and schedule of communication is determined by you and your mentor.  My mentor and I met via Zoom every other week. She  is in the UK, and I found it “cool” that we communicated across so many miles. 

Words and illustrations can connect the world in unique and long-lasting ways.

My mentor is a multi-published author in the children’s arena. What I appreciated so much about her was her willingness to take on any question I asked. She also asked questions about my writing to cause me to rethink and ruminate on other paths that my story could take.  

Plus, mentees also receive a one-month publishing business development intensive with the co-founders of PB Rising Stars Ebony Lynn Mudd and Kailei Pew. And, there are also interactive and engaging free access live picture book craft workshops hosted by industry professionals. Q & A is part of both the business intensive and the live craft workshops, so you can have all your questions answered. 

One of the things I love is that there is a mentee-only Discord chat group to communicate and build community with fellow mentees even after the official mentorship is done. My fellow mentees and I are still communicating with one another, discussing things like new opportunities to grow in our craft, the querying/submission process, the publishing business, and everything in between. Most of all, we continue to lend support and encouragement, which is key to the forward momentum of our stories.

All this and other live virtual events to attend makes the mentorship program fun as well as a true growing experience. Visit the PB Rising Stars website (linked below), which has everything you want to know about the mentorship including eligibility requirements, application process, what the mentorship includes, and important dates and events, etc. 

PB RISING STARS MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

To start the fun off, there is an upcoming Informational Ice Cream Social January 13 at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.

It's a great time for people to come and hear about the program from mentorship organizers! Here is the registration link: Webinar Registration - Zoom



Don’t miss this amazing opportunity! I’m beyond thrilled that I applied!

Ellen Akemi Crosby is an author of children’s stories who lives in Montana’s Flathead Valley, where she enjoys semi-retirement while honing her craft. She previously served as the SCBWI Montana Critique Group Coordinator and was a 2025 PB Rising Stars Mentee.

Awards and Grants

Current or upcoming opportunities include:

Karen Cushman Late Bloomer Award: The Karen and Philip Cushman Late Bloomer Award is for authors over the age of fifty who have not been traditionally published in the children’s literature field. The grant was established by Newbery Award winner and Newbery Honor Book recipient Karen Cushman and her husband, Philip Cushman, in conjunction with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Submissions reopen March 1, 2026.

Work-in-Progress Awards: The SCBWI Work-In-Progress (WIP) Award assists children’s book writers and illustrators in the publication of a specific project currently not under contract. One winner per category will be selected. SCBWI reserves the right not to confer this award in any given year. Submissions reopen March 1, 2026.

Featured Illustrator: features one illustrator member each month. The Featured Illustrator’s art is highlighted prominently on the homepage and all SCBWI social media.

Draw This!: A monthly art prompt, part of the SCBWI publication Insight. Two winners will be featured in Insight and on SCBWI social media.

Don Freeman Grant: Don Freeman was a renowned illustrator and an early supporter of SCBWI. He established this award to enable picture book illustrators to further their understanding, training, and work in the picture book genre. Two grants of $1,000 each will be awarded annually. One grant to a published illustrator and one to a pre-published illustrator.

Visit the Awards and Grants page of the SCBWI website to learn more about these awards. And remember to check the newsfeed on your member home page for other opportunities.

Come Join our Monthly Virtual Hobnobs

Montana Sparks Show 2025

by Illustrator Coordinator Jeanne Bowman

The SCBWI Montana SPARKS! show is now on display at the Missoula Public Library! If any of you are in the area, please stop by the library to read and admire the work of our regional creative geniuses!

Thank you so much to Xavier Kneedler-Shorten, Programming Librarian at the Missoula Public Library for giving us space on your wall! Thank you to Jennifer Prinzing for hanging the show for us!

Photo courtesy: Jenn Prinzing and Xavier Kneedler-Shorten

Every month for 12 months, a new prompt was released on the 1st of the month to encourage our regional members to write or illustrate a piece for their portfolios or to spark new ideas for stories. The prompts were written by the amazing Megan Emmot https://www.instagram.com/meganemmot/ 

After 12 months, we compiled our work and sent it around the state of Montana to various libraries. So far it has hung at the wonderful Billings Library, the fantastic North Lake County Public Library in Polson, the Great Falls Public Library, and now in Missoula!

Thank you so much to our wonderful librarians for doing all of the hard work to showcase great writing and art for children. We need these services now more than ever and we hope you will head into your local library to support their efforts!

Don't forget: Sparks sessions are still happening! 

On the first of every month through April 2026, we will email you a shiny new prompt written by Megan Emmot. You can use this prompt to create a new story, poem, or illustration for your portfolio. We will share our work at our monthly co-working sessions, which will take place on the second Saturday of each month at 1 p.m. Mountain Time. (Sharing your work is always optional).

You can work on the prompts even if you don't attend the co-working sessions and you can attend the co-working sessions even if you don't work on the prompts. The sessions are meant as a way to socialize, share your work, get feedback, and to set aside some time to work on your creative project. The sessions are generally divided into two 45-minute blocks: one for working, the other for sharing. 

All creators are welcome at these sessions. Links to the sessions will be emailed, so keep your eyes peeled for them!

Email montana-ic@scbwi.org if you have any questions.

Represent your Home Region!

by Regional Advisor Jodi Hausen

In July, the folks at SCBWI headquarters excitedly announced a new function on its website that will make it easier for members to find other kid-lit creators in their region. Now members can choose a home region on their profile to distinguish where they reside from other regions they may follow. You can still follow as many other regions as you wish, but choosing a home region will:

• Keep you updated on local events and opportunities
• Help you connect with your regional volunteers and members
• Strengthen your connection to the SCBWI community

Please take a moment to make these changes on your member profile. Just head to scbwi.org and follow these quick steps: 

• Login and go to your “Member Home” page
• Click the “My Profile” button
• Then “Edit My Profile” button
• Scroll down the page and click “Set your SCBWI home region”
• Click the arrow and choose your home region to add it to your profile.

A couple of quick clicks and you’re done. And who wouldn’t want to choose Montana as their home region? Am I right?

Kid Lit Craft Corner

Want to be a guest contributor?

We know there are a lot of resident experts out there across our great state of Montana, and we'd love to hear from you. Have you discovered some tips that could help your fellow kid-lit creators? Have you read a great craft book or utilized some other resource you want to tell us about? Would you like to share a behind-the-scenes piece about how you created your last book? We would love to include more guest articles from our members in upcoming newsletters.

We ask that articles be no more than 800 words and be written with the goal of helping or inspiring our writers and/or illustrators. Guest contributors will receive space for a short bio and a link to their website and social media. If you have something you'd like to share, please email the article (or a proposal) to mtscbwisocial@gmail.com.

Note: Submissions are not guaranteed publication.

A HUGE thank you to RA Jodi Hausen for contributing the kid-lit craft article for this issue.



So You're Going to a Writers Conference: Tips to Help You Prepare

by RA Jodi Hausen

I’m all aflutter and pondering how to prepare for my third consecutive in-person SCBWI Winter Conference in a few weeks. Before I get into tips (which can apply to any large writing conference), I want to share what I learned from my first experience even though some is a tad embarrassing.

In 2024, the first time I attended, I had three completed picture book manuscripts ready to pitch, including one for which I’d drawn a dummy. Before I left for New York, I dug up any artwork I’d created over many years and posted some of it on a new Instagram account I’d created for just this purpose. Problem was, though I’ve had several years' experience as a designer for theater and taken plenty of art classes, I’m not an illustrator (at least not yet).

You incredible kid-lit artists out there surely know that illustration is a wholly different animal than fine art. 

According to our fearless Illustrator Coordinator Jeanne Bowman:

“The difference between fine art and illustration is the purpose of the work. Illustration often accompanies text or is created for commercial purposes. The artist creating fine art does so to either express something or to explore media. The aim of illustration is to illuminate a message, make a surface appealing (decorative), or convey a specific aim that a client commissions.”

I hadn’t considered any of that as I prepared to present myself as an author-illustrator at that first conference. I printed postcards with an illustration I’d created during one of our Sparks sessions. I acknowledge it’s cute. But one cute illustration (without a full-on background, I might add) and a few examples of my art on social media does not an illustrator make.

My less-than-effective postcard

All this to say, I was a bit overconfident that first year. I believed I needed to sell myself and my work.

But you know what I realized? Conferences are designed for networking, sure. However, it’s more gratifying and less stressful to approach a conference with curiosity.

The following year I asked myself: What can I learn, not just about my craft, but also about the other people there?

Here are some things you might do before attending your next big conference:

• Research the presenters beforehand and survey their work—at the very least read their bios. As Jane Friedman wrote in this excellent article about conference prep, “Remembering even a small detail about someone’s publishing history or background is invaluable if you stand in line next to this person at the bar or sit with them at a meal…Speakers will be flattered and an instant friend if you know a little something about their work…” It’s a great way to make an unexpected connection and perhaps a champion for your work.

• Read ALL the information about the conference, especially about workshops you might be taking. Workshop presenters sometimes request you bring or prepare something in advance of the event. It’s also helpful to add all the conference events to your calendar including locations. If you’re registered for the, SCBWI Winter Conference you should receive an email with all that information, including any critiques or feedback sessions you’ve added on. Having all the information in one place will alleviate some of the stress of getting around a bustling conference.

• Explore the area where the conference is occurring online. There will be a little downtime and at the SCBWI conference and you are on your own for meals. Knowing where to find decent and affordable food within walking distance will be nice to have ahead of time so you aren’t scrambling to figure it out when there’s only an hour or two to grab lunch. And, of course, because the conference is in New York, there’s lots to do outside the conference. The Museum of Modern Art, for example, is just a few blocks away.

• Prepare your material: Have your elevator pitch(es) ready—you never know with whom you’ll share an elevator ride. But remember, you might have more success engaging in curiosity-driven conversations rather than trying to sell yourself. Illustrators: have your portfolio refined and ready to show, especially if you plan to enter it into the Portfolio Showcase and be sure to have your name and contact information somewhere on the portfolio. Writers: have your manuscript(s) handy so you can submit them to any potential agents, editors, or critique partners you might meet.

• Bring business cards, postcards, or other materials that showcase your work and include your contact information. That’s certainly a no-brainer, but it requires some planning to design and print them if you don’t already have those. But don’t feel compelled to distribute them indiscriminately—lead with curiosity.

• Always have a notebook and pen on you—always. You will likely meet a lot of people. Having a small pad in your pocket will be a great resource: jot down names, contact information, or tidbits of information as reminders of who this person is and why you want to stay in touch. It can also serve as a place to jot down morsels of inspiration—there’ll be loads of those at the Winter Conference.

• If it feels right, take a risk. Share your work with someone but as Macy Lane wrote for the The Writing Barn, “Follow your heart and stand tall. Be proud of your work and believe in yourself. Listen to your inner voice.” Writing is vulnerable and subjective so not all feedback will be valuable. Listen carefully, take notes and consider all responses, but only take advice that feels relevant to your work and intent.

• For anyone going to the conference for the first time, I highly recommend rising early Saturday morning for the orientation session with Jolie Stekly, who gives a fabulous presentation.

And for any introverts attending, fear not. I’ve found all SCBWI events to be beyond friendly. But this conference can be overwhelming, so remember to take care of yourself; take breaks to breathe if that’s what’s needed.

Everyone at the Winter Conference is part of this incredibly supportive community making the environment cordial, open, and fun. And really, isn’t that what it’s all about?

Jodi Hausen, pre-published regional advisor for SCBWI-Montana, lives in Bozeman where she currently reports on youth mental health for a fellowship with the Solutions Journalism Network. A disability advocate and ally, she also occasionally writes a newsletter about disability and volunteers with several nonprofits. When she’s not writing, she joyously dances like nobody’s listening while spinning tunes on KGLT-FM under the moniker JoDJ. Her website is jodihausen.com.

Celebration Corner

—where we share bookish news

of our Montana members