Congratulations to the 2019 Prairie Writers' and Illsutrators' day scholarship winners!
Learn more about the scholarship here.
Meet the 2019 PWID Scholarship Winners
Donna Beasley
Donna Beasley graduated with an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College of Norwich University. She is also a genealogist who has traced her family's history. That connection to history influences her work. As a writer she tells children stories that have a positive tie-in to some aspect of both Black History and family. She is also a member of the middle-grade fiction critique group, The Golden Manuscript Society. Being in a weekly critique group has helped her keep pushing forward on her writing goal. Donna just completed the first draft of a middle-grade adventure novel.
Gabriela Romero
Gabriela Romero was born in the central valleys of Mexico and grew up in Oregon, home of evergreens, rushing rivers and Nike. As a child coming to a new country and not speaking the English language, she had to learn quickly. Her experience as an immigrant created the foundation for her interest in education and advocacy. As a former dual language teacher, she wanted students to feel empowered by their diverse experiences. When she found that diverse voices and imaginations were not fully represented on the classroom bookshelves, she encouraged her students to write stories from their perspectives. While she holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, she continues to pursue opportunities to nurture her craft. She has taken local and online courses on children's picture book writing and attended workshops at The Highlights Foundation and received the Yuyi Morales Scholarship from The Children's Book Academy. In addition to taking part in local and online writing critique groups, she is a SCBWI-Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) representative and a 12x12 member.
Kuldeep Kaur
Born and brought up in India, Kuldeep did her post-graduation, worked as a Science teacher/Elementary school teacher for many years before moving into writing field. She has written many articles and educational worksheets for school children in India. Presently, she lives in western suburbs of Chicago with her family. As a volunteer, she enjoys presenting international story-time (Hindi) in local libraries. She also writes blogs about picture books.
Sandra Mazuera
Sandra Mazuera is a self-taught illustrator and aspiring writer for young adults. Her first job out of college took her from Chicago to Boston to work as a high school academic tutor, and she's encouraged teens to be life-long readers and dream-chasers ever since. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in traditional animation through DePaul University, and volunteers at Open Books for their summer youth writing camps. Whenever she isn't reading up on storyboarding techniques, or practicing animation on TVPaint, you will most likely find her running along the lakefront, dancing to Bollywood songs, or sketching animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
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