2025 SCBWI Golden Kite Awards
Meet Me on Mercer Street gets an Honor!
Recently, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) celebrated their 2025 Golden Kite Awards.
The Golden Kite Awards are judged exclusively by peers and recognize outstanding achievement in seven categories: Young Reader and Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Nonfiction for Younger Readers, Nonfiction for Older Readers, Picture Book Text, Picture Book Illustration, and Illustration for Older Readers.
The winners and honors were announced at a virtual awards ceremony in February, and well, something very exciting and unexpected happened…
Meet Me on Mercer Street was awarded a Golden Kite Honor!
Our category, Illustrated Book for Older Readers, included so many fantastic graphic novels that came out this past year.
This is the exact moment I found out. Note my very frazzled, very flustered attempt to get myself together and say something coherent.
You can watch the full awards ceremony here.
Funnily enough, I was actually at my sister’s house for the week watching her dog Chippy while she was on vacation. He was not particularly interested in the awards ceremony and snored loudly throughout the entire thing… including my speech.
He was, however, the only one around for me to celebrate with, so afterwards, I woke him up and spun him around the room yelling, “Woohoo! We got an award!”
He was NOT impressed, but I guess the Universe likes to keep us humble.
In all seriousness, this is such a huge honor and I am very very grateful.
The SCBWI award committees are made up of other writers and illustrators who uniquely understand the time, effort, and emotions that go into making a book, so this Golden Kite Honor feels extra special.
As creatives, we are often cautioned against seeking external validation, and while I think that’s pretty fair advice, it also feels really nice to be seen and acknowledged for your work! I’m very proud of Meet Me on Mercer Street, but I also remember really struggling to make this book. All the doubts, all the fears. So much creative angst, so much writers block. I know I’m not alone in these experiences, that oftentimes the struggle is part of the creative process. But no one knows that quite like another writer or illustrator. So thank you to my fellow kidlit creatives—I deeply appreciate the recognition and support!
You are amazing, and you deserve all of the praise in the world for this gorgeous book!!!!