Catalyst Creators: Scholarship for Children's Picture Book Manuscripts Featuring Underrepresented Voices

Pursuing a creative career, especially in children’s books, takes passion, resilience, and courage.

For aspiring picture book authors from underrepresented communities, the path can be even more challenging. Systemic barriers, financial obstacles, and limited access to industry networks often make it harder to get started, especially when writing stories that reflect marginalized voices, cultures, or identities. Many writers also face the difficulty of not being fully seen or understood by the publishing industry, which may overlook the value of these important stories.

But these stories matter. Children’s books help shape how young readers understand the world and themselves. Every child deserves to feel seen, heard, and valued in the books they read. When children see characters and experiences that reflect their own lives, it builds confidence, encourages empathy, and fosters a strong sense of belonging.

The Catalyst Creators scholarship is named aptly so because you are not only a creator — you are a catalyst for meaningful, active change through your writing.

This scholarship seeks to support students who are passionate about telling lesser-known stories and have a strong children’s picture book manuscript idea for ages 3-8 that will one day diversify our world's bookshelf.

Any high school, undergraduate, or graduate student who is unpublished (including self-published) and without an agent may apply for this scholarship opportunity if they have a completed draft of children’s picture book manuscript featuring an underrepresented voice as the main character or as a central plot theme. Applicants from underrepresented backgrounds that mirror the themes in the manuscript are preferred.

To apply, answer the following essay question and upload your children's picture book manuscript for ages 3-8 in PDF form.

Note: Manuscripts can be text only and are not required to have illustrations or a book dummy. Manuscripts can be paginated or not, though all manuscripts should be created with a standard 32 page children's picture book format in mind. Backmatter is optional, if applicable.