Thank you for applying for a 12 x 12 Diversity Scholarship. This scholarship opportunity is open to 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Applicants must be over the age of 18, must not currently have agent representation, and must be unpublished by a traditional publisher in the picture book genre.
Picture book authors who are self-published or published in another genre may apply.
The picture book manuscript submitted must be an original work written by the applicant in English containing no more than 1,000 words. (Manuscripts written by AI will not be considered.) Backmatter 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.).
The deadline to submit is November 30, 2025.
Winners will be announced on the 12 x 12 blog on January 1, 2026. Click here to access the 12 x 12 blog.