At about 8:30 am I got the call. I had been called up to the big leagues!
A few weeks prior Amy Bates, illustrator and co-chair of the 30th Annual Society of Illustrators Children's Book Show gave me a ring to ask if I would fill in as a judge if another judge might not be able to show. And that is what happened on Monday morning. I arrived at the Society by 9:30 am to all the other judges already eating breakfast. Good thing I got an early start. I was hungry! I would have been kicking myself at missing this opportunity. Free breakfast, come on people.
We had the honor of judging 554 children's books from all sorts of publishers. The judging went on from 10 am till around 5pm. At around 5:30 or so we the chose the gold and silver winners. Which was no easy task.
Here are some photos from this long awesome day.
An N.C. Wyeth
554 books to judge
LINCOLN AGNEW is the 2009 recipient of “The Original Art” Founder’s Award, an annual prize for the most promising new talent in children’s book illustration. He received the award for Harry and Horsie by Katie Van Camp. His second book with Ms. Van Camp, Cookiebot!: A Harry and Horsie Adventure, will be published by Balzer & Bray / HarperCollins in 2011. Mr. Agnew earned degrees in both illustration and photography from the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. 
LAURENT LINN chair
MARTHA RAGO is the Associate Creative Director at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she oversees picture books under the Harper, Rayo, Katherine Tegen, and Balzer & Bray imprints, as well as special projects from the C. S. Lewis and Shel Silverstein estates. In the course of her career, she has worked closely with established artists such as Eric Carle, Tomie DePaola, Ed Young, Marc Simont, Ted Rand, and Peter Sis, and she has helped launch the careers of artists such as Peter McCarty, Laurie Keller, Bryan Collier, Randy Cecil and Julie Paschkis—who have gone on to win awards and critical acclaim. 
AMYJUNE BATES assistant chairChe out Amy's great interview over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
LAUREN CASTILLO is the illustrator of numerous picture books such as Alfie Runs Away, That's Papa's Way, What Happens on Wednesdays and The Pig and Miss Prudence.Take a look at her kick ass work at
http://www.laurencastillo.com
Lauren also gave a great interview over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
SERGIO RUZZIER, an award-winning children’s book author and artist, was born in Milan, Italy. His books include The Room of Wonders (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Amandina (Roaring Brook), and most recently, Hey, Rabbit!(Roaring Brook). He has also illustrated books by other authors, including Karla Kuskin, Emily Jenkins, and Lore Segal. Broom, Zoom! by Caron Lee Cohen will be published by Simon & Schuster in August 2010, and Tweak, Tweak! by Eve Bunting will be released by Clarion Books in 2011.
Snooping around the archievesLunch time!
