The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) has established the Karen and Philip Cushman Late Bloomer Award for authors over the age of 50 “who have not been traditionally published in the children’s literature field.”
There is no direct application for the award. Interested authors must apply for Work-In-Progress Grant from SCBWI and indicate on the application that they are over 50. One winner will be picked from among these applications. The winner gets $500 in cash, and free tuition to one SCBWI conference. Here’s more about the award:
Newbery Award winner Karen Cushman founded the award with and her husband, Philip Cushman, in conjunction with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Karen published her first children’s book, The Midwife’s Apprentice (winner of the 1996 Newbery Medal), at the age of fifty-three and has gone on to become one of the field’s most acclaimed novelists. “This award was established to encourage and celebrate late bloomers like me, who didn’t start to write until age fifty. But then I bloomed, and I’d love to see others do so as well,” said Karen.