Congratulations to Turner Publishing, Alice Randall, and Caroline Randall Williams for the NAACP Image Award nomination of “The Diary of B. B. Bright, Possible Princess”. Good luck everyone!
Archive for the ‘Awards’ Category
B. B. Bright is a nominee
Tuesday, December 18th, 2012WHITE WATER is an NAACP Image Award Nominee
Thursday, January 19th, 2012
Congratulations to Candlewick Press, Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein on being nominated for an NAACP Image Award for WHIITE WATER (illustrated by yours truly)! What an accomplishment~
Tune in to the 43rd annual Image Awards on February 17th. Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees~
Ashley Bryan Children’s Literature Award
Saturday, July 9th, 2011Wow, what a whirlwind! I was in Atlanta last week to run the Peachtree Roadrace (which I ended up sleeping through) and at “Words and Color: A Lifetime of Discovery”, to receive the Ashley Bryan Children’s Literature Award for Illustration!!!
the gorgeous sun-catching star
The award reads: “Contribution of Excellence to Preserve the Legacy of Ashley Bryan”
sharing my projects and process
The event was hosted by the Auburn Avenue Research Library in collaboration with the National Black Arts Festival.
Paisley Dance Ensemble performing "Soukas"
The evening consisted of dances by Paisley Dance Ensemble (“Soukas”a tribute to Ashley Bryan’s “Beautiful Blackbird” and “Down by the Riverside”, a dance tribute to Ashley Bryan’s “Let it Shine: Three Favorite Spirituals“), an artist’s presentation by yours truly, and an artist’s conversation with Carmen Agra Deedy, Ashley Bryan and me!
Carmen Agra Deedy, Ashley Bryan, and me!
Ashley Bryan Children's Literature Illustrator Award 2011
It was so great to accept this award in my hometown so that most of my family and friends could be in attendance. Many of them had never heard me talk about my work in a professional setting. THANK YOU goes out to Dr. Collette Hopkins, Director of Education and Public Programs for the NBAF and Morris Gardner, Program Division Manager for Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, for embracing me and my work, and a huge heartfelt THANK YOU with love to Ashley Bryan for bestowing such a wonderful and personal honor upon me. Ashley is magic.
- Shadra and Ashley
Thank you young readers of West Virginia!
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
A huge and humble THANK YOU goes out today to the children of West Virginia for making BIRD this year’s winner of the West Virginia Children’s Choice Book Award! What a tremendous honor. BIRD was up against some big names this year. You can see the entire nominee list here. As with other state book awards, in this award schools are given a list of titles and students vote for their favorites throughout the year. The award usually gets between 500 and 1000 student participants! Thank you, thank you, thank you West Virginia! I’m so glad you loved BIRD as much as I do~
HURRICANES is a 2011 Bank Street Best!
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Hurrah! A PLACE WHERE HURRICANES HAPPEN has been named a Bank Street Best Book of the Year under the historical fiction category. Congrats to Renée Watson and the Random House team!
Ashley Bryan Honors and NBAF
Monday, December 6th, 2010
I’m a little slow….
After receiving an e-mail last month about speaking with Ashley Bryan at the Auburn Avenue Research Library it wasn’t until I spoke with my friend, Jan Burkins (Literacyhead.com) this morning that I realized I am being honored next year by Ashley Bryan in collaboration with the National Black Arts Festival!
Each year in collaboration with National Black Arts Festival and renowned illustrator Ashley Bryan AARL honors an illustrator for their commitment to the authentic and sensitive representations of people of African descent and Africana culture.
We would be honored to have you (Shadra Strickland) as the 2011 honoree. The event is schedule for Thursday, July 07 at 6:30 p.m. Honorees are asked to facilitate a discussion about their work and participate in a conversation with Ashley Bryan. This event would also include a book signing.
We would also like to exhibit your (Shadra Strickland’s) artwork in our small gallery during the month of July.
Yeah, don’t ask me how I missed that. They had me at “conversation with Ashely Bryan”. WOO HOO!!!!!!! What a tremendous honor!
Many thanks to Ashley Bryan, the National Black Arts Festival, the Auburn Avenue Research Library, (and Jan Burkins for making me go back and read my e-mail slowly). See you in July!
Concrete Jungle Where Dreams are Made of…
Monday, May 3rd, 2010 
(Taeeun Yoo, this year’s new illustrator and Tonya Hegamin, this year’s new author)
(Taeeun Yoo and Dr. Deborah Pope, Executive Director of the
Ezra Jack Keats Foundation)
(the crew – Paul, Lauren, Bean, me, Tae, Injoo, and Choi)
Last week I spent a few days in NY celebrating one of my best friends, Taeeun Yoo as she accepted this year’s Ezra Jack Keat’s Award. It was a grand reunion and a fabulous night! Below is Tae’s charming acceptance speech.
Congratulations!
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010A huge CONGRATULATIONS goes out to my beloved Tae Eun Yoo Only a Witch Can Fly (Macmillan) and Tonya Cherie Hegamin Most Loved in All the World (Houghton Mifflin) for winning this year’s Ezra Jack Keats Award! What fantastic news~
Our Children Can Soar is an NAACP Image Award winner!
Saturday, February 27th, 2010
I woke to outstanding news this morning. OUR CHILDREN CAN SOAR has won an Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Children!
Congrats to Michelle Cook and all of the artists who contributed to this wonderful project!
You can see a list of all of the award winners here:
28 Days Later!
Sunday, January 31st, 2010I am honored this year to be a part of The Brown Bookshelf’s 28 Days Later Campaign!
The Brown Bookshelf is designed to push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers. Their flagship initiative of is 28 Days Later, a month-long showcase of the best in Picture Books, Middle Grade and Young Adult novels written and illustrated by African Americans. You can read more about the founders of The Brown Bookshelf here. You can also download a copy of the 28DaysLater Poster for your walls this month, so you can get to know a new (or old) face in children’s literature each day.
A huge THANK YOU to all who nominated such wonderful books, and many props to Paula Chase-Hyman, Varian Johnson, Don Tate, Kelly Starling-Lyons, Tameka Fryer-Brown, and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich for the wonderful work that they do to promote diversity in children’s literature.
