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OA JURY:
jean feiwel:
Jean Feiwel began her career at Avon Books, rising from editorial assistant
to editorial director of books for young readers in
seven years. In 1983, she moved to Scholastic, where she became
editor-in-chief and publisher, was instrumental in the creation of such
series as Ann Martin's Babysitter's Club, R.L. Stine's Goosebumps, Katherine
Applegate's Animorphs, and Dear America, and discovered the artists Mark
Teague and David Shannon. Currently, she is senior vice-president and
publishing director of the new consolidated Macmillan children's division
and oversees Feiwel & Friends, Square Fish, and other imprints.
david milgrim :
David Milgrim grew up in California and studied art at Parson's School of
Design in New York City. He started out as a
commercial illustrator for well-known editorial and corporate clients and
now works full time as a children's book artist. He is
the author and/or illustrator of over twenty-two picture books and beginning
readers, including Best Baby Ever and Santa Duck, both from Putnam, and The
Adventures of Otto series, published by Simon & Schuster.
tao nyeu:
Tao Nyeu is the 2008 recipient of "The Original Art" Founder's Award, an
annual prize for the most promising new talent in children's book
illustration. The award was for her first book, a wordless fantasy titled
Wonder Bear, published by Dial Books. Her second, Bunny Days, will be
published by Dial in spring 2010. Ms. Nyeu earned a BFA from Cornell
University and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She
has a special interest in silk screening and etching.
rob shepperson:
Rob Shepperson has contributed work to the New York Times, Wall Street
Journal, and Washington Post, to Newsweek and other magazines, and to the
online editorial art site INXart.com. His illustrations for children have
appeared in picture books and chapter books, including Vacation, Under the
Kissletoe, and Big House - all from Boyds Mills Press. Bugs: Poems About
Creeping Things was selected for the New York Public Library's "100 Titles for Reading and
Sharing." He holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute.
anita silvey:
Anita Silvey served for eleven years as editor-in-chief of The Horn Book and
six years as publisher of children's books for Houghton Mifflin Company. She's a teacher and lecturer and the author of The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators: 100 Best Books for Children, and 500 Great Books for Teens. Ms. Silvey has been a guest on The Today Show,
60 Minutes, and NPR and has received many awards for her lifetime dedication
to the field. Her first book for children, I'll Pass for Your Comrade: Women Soldiers in the Civil War, was published by Clarion Books in 2008.
javaka steptoe :
Javaka Steptoe won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award with his debut
work, In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers (Lee
& Low). His collage illustrations have been featured in eight other titles,
including Hot Day on Abbott Avenue (Clarion Books), a Jane Addams Children's
Book Award winner, and - most recently - Amiri and Odette: A Love Story
(Scholastic, Inc.). Mr. Steptoe earned a BFA from the Cooper Union for the
Advancement of Science and Art. He lectures and serves as an artist in
residence at schools, libraries, museums, and conferences across the
country.
david wiesner:
David Wiesner, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, is the
author/illustrator of seven books for children and the
illustrator of many more. He has won the Caldecott Medal three times: for
Tuesday in 1992, The Three Pigs in 2002, and Flotsam in 2006. Two other
titles, Sector 7 and Free Fall, were named Caldecott Honor Books. Among
other honors, Mr. Wiesner holds the
Japan Picture Book Award, the Prix Sorcières (the French equivalent of the
Caldecott Medal), and an International Board of Books for Young People
nomination for illustration. He was a finalist for the 2008 Hans Christian
Andersen Award.
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With the growing demand in children's book production came the strengthened interest in the art behind the book. Founded
in 1980 by Illustrator and Art Director Dilys Evans, this annual exhibit showcases the original art from the year's best children's
books. Selected by a jury of outstanding illustrators, art directors and editors, this year's show features 125 books chosen from
548 entries submitted nationwide.
Celebrating it's twenty-ninth year, the Original Art exhibit is not only an opportunity for artists to display their work, but also
has become an important event in the New York publishing calendar as a place for art directors and editors seeking new talent
and is a favorite destination for school visits.
Gold and silver medals are awarded to three chosen books representing a wide variety of medium and technique. This year's
gold medal winner Kadir Nelson was recognized for his distinguished illustrations in Coretta Scott, published by Katherine Tegen
Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Silver medals were awarded to Kevin Hawkes for his book Chicken Cheeks and
Brian Floca for Moonshot. Both books were published by Simon &Schuster. This year's Contemporary Lifetime Achievement
Award honors Chris Van Allsburg and the Posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Dr.Seuss (Theodor Geisel).
Created in 2005, the Founder's Award celebrates the most current promising new talent. This year's recipient Lincoln Agnew
will be awarded for his book Harry and Horsie along with the other medal winners during the Opening Reception on Thursday,
October 22, 2009. "To have been juried into this exhibition is alone a major achievement and should be celebrated," says
Dilys Evans. "To be selected by the award jury as the most promising new talent is a tremendous vote of confidence in an
artist's ability and future in the field of children's book illustration."
Along with the Original Art exhibit, the Society will host a workshop on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. Illustrator couple Sean
Qualls and Selina Alko will run a hands-on workshop that will focus on how to come up with good stories for children's books,
building a consistent character throughout a story, working with various illustration styles for different markets and engaging a
challenging audience.
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About the Lifetime Achievement Awards
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The Lifetime Achievement Awards were established in 2005 by past chairs of The Original Art. Nominees must be judged to have a body of work that documents
an innovative and pioneering contribution to the field of children's book illustration, and final selection is made by artists whose work has been juried into the
previous year's show. Two awards are given annually: one posthumously and one to a living illustrator.
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Contemporary: Chris van Allsburg
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past recipients: 2005 Maurice Sendak, 2006 Jerry Pinkney, 2007 Ashley Bryan, 2008 Leo and Diane Dillon
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Chris Van Allsburg majored in sculpture at the University of Michigan, where he learned bronze casting, wood carving, resin molding,
and other techniques. He earned an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and in 1975 set up a sculpture studio in Providence.
He also married Lisa Morrison, who became an elementary school art teacher in the Providence school system.
Chris first exhibited his sculpture in New York City in 1977 at the Alan Stone Gallery. He exhibited elsewhere in New England, and
though sculpture was his primary interest, he began drawing pictures as well. Lisa, who used picture books in teaching her third grade
students, encouraged him to consider making illustrations for a storybook, and a friend, David Macaulay, put him in touch with Walter
Lorraine at Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston. Mr. Lorraine responded positively to Chris's pictures, but rather than enlist him to
illustrate someone else's text, he encouraged Chris to think about stories of his own.
Though still involved in making sculptures, Chris set aside some time and created the story and pictures that became The Garden of
Abdul Gasazi, a Caldecott Honor Book and the recipient of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. Since then, Chris has written and
illustrated fifteen more books. Both Jumanji and The Polar Express were awarded Caldecott Medals and were made into feature length
films, as was Zathura. Jumanji was also a National Book Award winner. The Polar Express and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick each received
a Boston-Globe Horn Book Honor, and seven of this author-illustrator's titles have been included in The New York Times' annual "Ten
Best Illustrated Books" list. In 1993, Chris was awarded the Regina Medal for lifetime achievement in children's literature. He has also
illustrated three books written by Mark Helprin.

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Posthumous: Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), 1904-1991
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past recipients: 2005 Trina Schart Hyman, 2006 Ezra Jack Keats, 2007 Leo Lionni, 2008 WIlliam Steig
 © 1997 Nancy Crampton |
Ted Geisel grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, and attended Dartmouth College. There, he
contributed to Jack-O-Lantern, the college’s humor magazine, signing his work “Seuss.” This was his first
use of the pseudonym.
Following graduation, Ted went to Oxford University in England. Academic studies bored him, and he
decided to tour Europe instead. But Oxford did give him the opportunity to meet a classmate,
Helen Palmer, who became his wife and a children’s book author and editor. After returning to the US,
Ted pursued a career as a cartoonist. He also created advertising campaigns for Standard Oil and, during
WWII, developed a series of animated films for the US Army, featuring a trainee called Private Snafu.
The first children’s book that Ted both wrote and illustrated was And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
His most famous, The Cat in the Hat, was created as a children’s primer, using only 225 “new reader”
vocabulary words. He went on to write and illustrate forty-two other books, including such all-time favorites
such as Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a Who!, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. The books have been
translated into more than twenty languages, have sold over 200 million copies around the world, and have
inspired eleven TV specials, a Broadway musical, and a couple of full-length movies. His work has also been
honored by two Academy Awards, two Emmy awards, a Peabody Award, and the Pulitzer Prize.
After Ted’s first wife died in 1967, he married an old friend, Audrey Stone Geisel, who not only influenced
his later books but now extends his legacy in her role as President of Dr. Seuss Enterprises.


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OA Committee
Andrew Glass, Chair
Laurent Linn, Assistant Chair
Poster Illustration
Kadir Nelson, Gold Medal Winner,
The Original Art 2009
Title: Coretta Scott
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
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