Congrats to Shellie Brauner, who's story The Great Dog Wash takes the grand prize in Cheerios Spoonful of Stories Chilren's Book Contest, a yearly contest that unearths new children's book authors. Bruaner, a Nashville, Tennessee resident who works as a nanny for a family with four children, was washing the family dog when the idea hit for her story.
Cheerios received nearly 1,000 stories in the contest, which ran from early June through September 7. Entries were judged on appropriate story/content for kids ages 4 to 8; emotional connection; writing quality; uniqueness; and read-aloud potential. As 'top dog', the 42 year old Braeuner gets $5,000 cash, and her story published by Simon & Schuster. (that's her and the story's inspiration, Fluffy, in the pic) The Great Dog Wash will launch in paperback form inside Cherios boxes in spring 2009, and in hardcover a few months later. Two first prize winners were also named, each receiving $1,000: Kate Heilman, 35, of Chicago, for her story, Theo the T-Rex: The Most Terrible Dinosaur in the Neighborhood, and Alison Anderson, 33, of Cumberland, Wisconsin, for Sleepy Song.
We developed the book contest to inspire and support new children’s book authors,” said Ricardo Fernandez, marketing manager for Cheerios. "For the last six years, through our Spoonfuls of Stories program, Cheerios has given away more than 30 million children’s books free inside cereal boxes, and donated more than $2.5 million to the nonprofit First Book to get books to children from low-income families. We also wanted to reach out to unpublished authors to give them another way to submit their work. We are thrilled with the response we received from would-be authors and delighted that we can be instrumental in supporting great new stories for children and families to enjoy together.”
The first two stanzas of The Great Dog Wash are:
Big dogs and small dogs,
Come one and all dogs.
We're having a dog wash today!Slippery slobbery,
Do a good jobbery.
Wash all that dog smell away.
Rhyming slobbery with 'jobbery' does it for me. Check back at spoonfulofstories.com for a sneak peak into how a picture book is created, with early sketches by the illustrator and any edits to the first two stanzas. And if you'd like to put your creative juices to the test, check the same website for info on the next launch of the Children's Book Contest.
