Good Monday, everyone!
(Doesn’t that sound so Shakespeare-y? It’s like Good Morrow :))
I know none of you has gotten a minute of rest or a wink of sleep for days, what with the torturous anticipation of finding out who the winners of the contest are!
You’ve probably gnawed all the erasers off your pencils, bitten your nails to the quick, and lost 5 pounds from being unable to contemplate the idea of sustenance whilst in such a heightened state of suspense! (That’s okay, it means you can have triple helpings of chocolate on Wednesday when you stop by for Would You Read It :))
So I will not keep you in suspense any longer!
(I would not want to be responsible for one more brow wrinkle or gray hair of consternation and anxiety! :))
I just have one quick thing to say, which is that EVERYONE who entered this contest should be very proud of themselves. You all showed up, put in the work, produced GORGEOUS book covers (which our authors are all so thrilled about!), followed guidelines, and worked to a deadline – all very important skills to practice when illustrating and/or writing is your profession 🙂 Even if you didn’t make the finals, be assured that your illustrations were greatly enjoyed by many upon many! Seriously! I am not making this up. The contest post with all your links had around 3 thousand views, which means lots of people were visiting you, even if they didn’t all comment! So we are giving you a round of thunderous applause – clapclapclapclapclap!!!!! – and you should pat yourselves on the back and have an extra slice of chocolate cake – you did good! 🙂
Also, I had a lovely time at the Hudson Children’s Book Festival on Saturday. I got to see my dear friends Iza Trapani (she of illustrious judging fame :)) and Nancy Furstinger, and I had the honor of being placed at a signing table right next to none other than Jane O’Connor (you know, Fancy Nancy Jane O’Connor!) I felt like I was very much in the wrong place next to all that famousness!
And then I spent all day Sunday driving to Boston…
What?
You don’t care?
That’s kind of rude, don’t you think? When I was about to tell you about how I was forced encouraged to listen to Pink Floyd’s The Wall straight through from start to finish at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning? Which is not the most uplifting set of tunes, let me tell you, even though there’s a lot of great music involved. And I can tell you that by the end of the entire day of driving, certain parts of my anatomy were unComfortably Numb…
What?
Oh gosh! Right! I was supposed to be telling you about the winners! Sorry. My bad!
DDDDDRRRRRUUUUUMMMMM RRRRROOOOOLLLLLLLLLL PLEASE!!!!
The winner of the First Ever Pretty Much World Famous Illustration Contest and a portfolio critique by Michael Garland!!! is:
Congratulations, Julie! That is some cover! It knocked a lot of socks off! 🙂
In second place, winner of a $50 gift certificate to Dick Blick Art Materials is
Congratulations, Donna Marie! Your cover was absolutely fabulous!
In third place,*
Congratulations, Louis! Your cover was arresting! 🙂
In fourth place,*
Congratulations, Colleen! Your sweet cover made us feel sorry for the naughty Goldi 🙂
In fifth place,*
Congratulations, Anne! Your cover was so appealing!
In sixth place, winner of a Canson sketch pad and a small set of Derwent or Faber Castell colored pencils is
Congratulations, Tiemdow! Your cover was such fun!
* Third, fourth, and fifth place winners each have their choice of any one of the following books:
Winners, please email me so we can talk details 🙂
Thank you again to all the illustrators who participated in this contest and treated us all to such beautiful artwork; to our wonderful judges, Iza Trapani and Lisa Thiesing, without whom we could not have done this!; and to all the readers and viewers who visited, commented, and voted to celebrate these talented artists! It is all of you who make these contests fun and worthwhile! Hear! Hear! What the heck! Even though it’s not Wednesday, let’s have a little chocolate all around! 🙂
Have a magnificent Monday, everyone! 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Congratulations Julie! I LOVE your work, keep it up! And thank you Susanna for yet another excellent competition 🙂
Woo-hoo! Congratulations, Julie, and to all the other winners. Loved all the covers.
Congratulations Julie!!! Love the 2-3-4 sweep of Goldilockup illos too.
Congrats to Julie for 1st place! Susanna's right! It knocked my socks off! I think they're in the backyard. I'll be your socks are neatly in your sock drawer though, aren't they Julie? (Aren't you the one with the totally organized socks??? LOL!) And congrats to all other winners and other entrants. I thoroughly your artwork.
Congratulations many times over to each winner. As you said, Susanna, the various illustrations for this contest were wonderful!
Oh, that was so much fun! I hope it happens again one day 🙂 Congrats to all the winners – Julie, your picture is perfect!
HUZZAH!!!! A huge and well-deserved CONGRATS to the one and only Julie and her mischievous jackrabbit. LOVE that cover and all of Julie's unique animals and art. And congrats to all the winners for more stellar cover art – well done one and all!
Woohooo…, the one I voted got 1st place! Way to go Julie, really really love that piece! :))
Thanks again to Susanna for this opportunity, the wonderful judges Lisa Thiesing and Iza Trapani and everyone for all the kind words for my art. Definitely a good experience for me, it's been a blast!
Congratulations, Julie!!!! I love, love, love your jackrabbit cover. Congratulations to all of the winners for their beautiful contributions!
Congrats, Julie! That is one amazing cover!
And congrats to Donna, Louis, Colleen, Anne and Tiemdow! I was dazzled and delighted by all of the entries!
Congratulations, winners! And congrats, Julie on 1st place. Wowza!
Woohoo! Thank you for 'pushing' me again, Susanna! Participating in any of your activities here stretches my skills, but contests really light a fire! You are one very special person, the Yoda of the Picture Book Force! I'm especially grateful for Iza and Lisa – knowing you were judging put positive pressure on. Thanks to ALL the participants – to me the best part is seeing how another artist interprets an idea or text. And to everyone who took the time to view and vote – there's nothing more encouraging than audience support! Now to celebrate. Right after I make my son's lunch and get him to his first final!
Now I'm picturing a green Susanna. 🙂 Maybe you could sketch that, Julie. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Congrats to all! I think you will have to remove the “pretty much” from your contest title. For sure famous now! How awesome. Yays all around!
I could post a photo of the drawer just for you, Penny, but I should probably leave it an urban myth – no one who has been in my house would believe it!
Urban myth! I like that. I mean who besides you can claim an urban myth for their sock drawer? Years from now people will be Googling
“Julie Rowen-Zoch's sock drawer—fiction, nonfiction, or ultimate urban myth?”
Love these covers! Congratulations to all the winners, and bravo to you, Susanna, for pulling off yet another amazing contest!!
Yeah, baby!!! *confetti falling* *horns blowing* *crowd roaring*!!! To me, Julie's work (check out her blog to see some of the sketches http://julierowanzoch.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/my-entry-susannas-illustrator-contest/) is outstanding! Her effort was passionate and we can all see the results of hard work and revision. This cover is so perfectly executed, I was blown away immediately. I am THRILLED the majority saw what I saw in it, giving her 1st place in this terrific contest. And I'm VERY proud I was one of those votes 😀 😀 😀 I'm REALLY happy for you, Julie (as you already know), that your work was acknowledged this way, and I hope it really pushes and encourages you to get your work out there! 😀 I have NO doubt we're all going to have the pleasure of seeing it all over bookstore shelves someday!
And, of course, I'm SO flattered I came in second! Heck, I was flattered being a finalist! 😀 Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote 🙂 There were SO many great entries I enjoyed during this, and I'm glad I was pushed to go back and finally read ALL the stories they were based on. Such creativity and talent we get to enjoy, and so much of it abounds HERE on this blog 😀 What a great job you do, Susanna! THANK you for all of it, in general 😀 I'm happy Lauri told me about you!
And, btw, Susanna, I want you to know I wanted to enjoy your “lead up” (which I DID really enjoy!) to the announcement, so I didn't zoom down to see who won. I wanted to experience the suspense of it in the same way that I'm not one of those people who reads the last page of a book before I read it 🙂 You really made me laugh over gnawed erasers, biting nails and losing weight (I wish!) lol This has been a REALLY fun time. Thank you! 😀
Oh, and P.S. Can't wait for my gift certificate! *jumps and clicks heels* well–only virtually. If I ever tried to do that at my age, I'd end up in traction! lol
Julie! Julie! Julie! *waving pom-poms*!!! I just knew she would win! (I have actual proof I predicted it…LOL!)
Congratulations to her and all the other winners!
Am going to grab a chocolate and run…so much to do, still really behind. Happy Monday!
YAAAAAAAAAAAY for Julie!!!! Supremely excited for you! Congrats to all the other winners too. Thank you to all who entered – you stimulated my brain cells and helped me to learn and grow. Thank you Susanna for ALL the organizing and work and allowing us to have such great fun. Thanks to Iza and Lisa for their judging. LOVE you all and blessings on your creativity!
Congratulations to all the winners! The illustrations are amazing! I could picture all of these in bookstores. Mike Allegra is one lucky guy to have a lot of winners illustrating his story!
Julie's art was so top notch, deserving of the first prize!
Bravo, everyone!!!
Congratulations Julia and the runners up. 🙂
Thank you, Linda!
Hmm!
🙂
Thanks, Mike!
It's fun to like the anti-hero!
Feel honored to have been a finalist with you, Louis!
Mwah!
Thanks for waking me with your greeting, Lauren!
Thanks for making me laugh out loud, Penny!
Thanks, Lauri!
🙂
Thank you, Pen!
Thanks for your enthusiatic support, Donna Marie! I'm glad you found your way over to Susanna's, and for the opportunity for us to connect here.
May I steal that woopy doop do, Joanna? I think I have just the ms!
Rah, rah, rah to you too, Teresa!
Glad for the stimulation and growth too! Thanks, Laura!
🙂
This has been more than fun.
Thanks, Catherine!
Steal away. 🙂
great illustrations. Congratulations to the winners – and to everyone who contributed their artistic talents.
Congratulations to you all. They were all fantastic illustrations, each with its own something special.
Congrats everyone! That was a stiff competition!
Agreed! And CONGRATULATIONS again! 😀 😀 😀
Oh wow! Congratulations to all of the finalists. I am so honored to have had two of these illustrations inspired by my story. I feel like I won, too! (Even though I only draw very horrible stick figures.)
Congratulations, Julie! And I think everyone's art was a winner. 🙂
Congratulations everyone!