I’m truly not into bragging… And so I don’t talk about the awards or different things where I win accolades. I do post exciting author news once and then I move on. For me, the biggest award is when I get a good review of one of my books– that, says it all for me. It says to me, that somehow I touched someone’s life in some way.  For a writer-illustrator, it can’t get any better than that. Back around Christmas, I received an email with a copy of a page that was colored of me from one of my coloring books. Wow! It was colored just beautifully and the little girl gave me her ginger-colored hair. Wow! Wow! Wow! I loved it. That is quite an award in my book. The fact that the little girl chose to color my B&W author photo and that her parent took the time to message me about it, was pretty special.

Recently, I had a conversation with a couple of other authors about contests and awards. I also read post after post from other author’s with their opinions on entering contests. While winning some awards help bring attention to our books or art designs, some don’t. Some contests ask for money and some don’t. Contests come in all shapes and size, some are legit and others aren’t. What I gathered from all that I read is to research the contests. If they ask for money, make sure that the award seal you might win is from a contest that is reputable.

I put a link here on my blog where I have author news that includes updates on what is going on with me in the author-design world if you would like to check it out click here.

If you read one of my books or another author’s book– write a review. Reviews help authors– and a good review is the best award of all. If you don’t particularly like the book, instead of writing a bad review, message the author and let them know why you didn’t write the review. That will help the author in the future.

Lastly, all writers if you love writing- just keep writing, contest or not. Illustrator-designers–keep designing!

Hugs,
-Virginia Wright