Drum roll please…
The following Storystormers have been randomly selected from the pool of ~800 who registered for the event AND completed the 30-idea challenge!
Each winner has been paired with a picture book literary agent who will provide feedback on FIVE IDEAS that have been fleshed out into pitches.
So winners, go through your idea lists and pick the five ideas that move you, that sing to you. (Like Adele.)
Yes, HELLO IDEAS!
Write up each idea as a pitch, around a paragraph apiece. Write about the crux of the story, the hook, how you might envision it panning out. If you aren’t exactly sure, then say so. But give as much information as you can about the idea so the agent can give you feedback on the idea’s viability in today’s picture book marketplace. This will give you an IDEA of which IDEAS you should pursue as manuscripts.
I will give you three days to work on your idea descriptions, then I will email you on February 10 to introduce you to your agent. I have asked the agents to respond to your ideas by the end of the month, but some asked for a little longer due to pending commitments. So please give them time to review and reply appropriately.
And so, here we go…the GRAND PRIZE WINNERS ARE:
Julia Ugarte (Holly McGhee)
Donna Taylor (Ammi-Joan Paquette)
Bronte Colbert (Tricia Lawrence)
Mary Jane Muir (Rachel Orr)
Johnell DeWitt (Stephen Fraser)
Tiffany Dickinson (Erin Casey)
Cassie Bentley (Kelly Sonnack)
Amanda Davis (Jennifer March Soloway)
Tanya Parrott (Tracy Marchini)
Lauren Soloy (Liza Royce Literary Agency)
Congratulations, everyone! Go celebrate!
Remember there are still prizes to come–all those daily goodies you saw throughout January. So stay tuned!
133 comments
Comments feed for this article
February 7, 2018 at 12:29 pm
Lindsay Maeve
Congratulations, winners!
February 7, 2018 at 12:30 pm
Krista Harrington
Congratulations everyone!!
February 7, 2018 at 12:31 pm
MD Knabb
Wonderful luck to all of you!
February 7, 2018 at 12:31 pm
Suzanne LaLiberte Lewis
Congratulations and best wishes for your success, winners!!
February 7, 2018 at 12:31 pm
betlw
Congrats to the winners! Do your darnedest to make your pieces the best they can be.
February 7, 2018 at 12:31 pm
Janie Reinart
Woohoo for the winners😄
February 7, 2018 at 12:32 pm
Angie
Congratulations winners! What a wonderful opportunity! Yay!
February 7, 2018 at 12:32 pm
kathalsey
Congrats, winners! Thank you agents and Tara.
February 7, 2018 at 12:32 pm
sherilyncook
Congrats to all the Winners!
February 7, 2018 at 12:33 pm
Joan Swanson
Congratulations guys!
February 7, 2018 at 12:33 pm
Jeanine Fondacaro Brown
Congratulations to all the lucky winners, good luck on your new connection, and good job everyone else who participated!!! I know I gained a lot of new strategies and helpful hints along the way, so a big shout out to TARA for creating such an inspirational way to connect writers and mentors. GRATITUDE xoxox
February 7, 2018 at 12:33 pm
fspoesy
Congrats to all the Grand Prize Winners! If anyone needs me I’ll be in front of my computer pushing the reload button every two seconds waiting for the daily goodie prizes to be announced. 🙂
February 7, 2018 at 12:33 pm
Lauri Meyers
That was record results-posting time Tara!!!! Congrats winners!
February 7, 2018 at 12:35 pm
jhkmomx4
Yay for you all! Congrats!
February 7, 2018 at 12:36 pm
Pamela Harrison
Congratulations! I’m excited for all of you!
February 7, 2018 at 12:36 pm
Rick Starkey
Congratulations Winners! And to the agents. They may find their next great author!
February 7, 2018 at 12:39 pm
Maria Bostian
Congratulations to all. Best of luck on your ideas!
February 7, 2018 at 12:40 pm
Debra Shumaker
Woo hoo to all the winners!!!!!!
February 7, 2018 at 12:40 pm
carolmunrojww
WOOHOO! Congrats, everyone!
February 7, 2018 at 12:40 pm
Debbie Austin
Congratulations, everyone! Good luck!! Thank you, Tara, for StoryStorm!
February 7, 2018 at 12:41 pm
lmconnors
Congratulations to the winners! May your ideas shine!
February 7, 2018 at 12:41 pm
Susie Sawyer
Congratulations to all the Grand Prize winnahs!!
February 7, 2018 at 12:41 pm
Deborah Allmand
Congratulations to all the winners! Hope it works out well for you.
February 7, 2018 at 12:42 pm
celticsea
Congrats winners and go buy lottery tickets because this is your lucky day!!
February 7, 2018 at 12:42 pm
Prairie Garden Girl
Hip, hip, hooray, one and all!
Suzy Leopold
February 7, 2018 at 12:42 pm
Kimberly Hutmacher
Congratulations to all of the winners!
February 7, 2018 at 12:43 pm
Debra Daugherty
Congratulations to the Grand Prize Winners! If it couldn’t be me, I’m glad it’s you. LOL Good luck!
February 7, 2018 at 12:43 pm
Judy Bryan
Congratulations and good luck to all of you!
February 7, 2018 at 12:43 pm
Tracey Brown
Congratulations, everyone! Best of luck
February 7, 2018 at 12:44 pm
Lauren Soloy
Wow! Yay – Thank you!!! I better get busy…
February 7, 2018 at 12:48 pm
Nancy Vona
Congrats to the winners! And I love the visuals of this post LOL.
February 7, 2018 at 12:49 pm
ptnozell
Congrats to the winners! I found Ammi-Joan’s comments so, so helpful when I was a winner last year! And thank you once again to the participating agents.
February 7, 2018 at 12:50 pm
Paula Cohen Martin
Congrats to the winners!
February 7, 2018 at 12:52 pm
Joan Longstaff
Congratulations to all the winners. Now the fun really starts!
February 7, 2018 at 12:54 pm
Poupette Smith
Sock it to ’em, winners!
February 7, 2018 at 12:58 pm
Amanda Davis
I can’t believe I won!!! Thanks so much for this opportunity, Tara! I feel like I won the lottery!! Thanks for all the well wishes too! There is always so much support from this community!
February 7, 2018 at 12:58 pm
Cindi Handley Goodeaux
Congratulations to you all!!! WOOT!! Go get ’em! 🙂
February 7, 2018 at 12:59 pm
Mary York
Congratulations Winners!!
February 7, 2018 at 12:59 pm
Beth Gallagher
Congratulations, winners! 😀
February 7, 2018 at 1:00 pm
rachelleburk
I don’t know if it’s possible, but I would do a far better job on a critique for a non rhyming manuscript. Anyway to pair the award winners who writing rhyme with those with published rhyming manuscript? I know it might be hard, so it’s no big deal either way. I can definitely do it, but it takes 5 times longer. Looking forward to our next meeting! Are you going to submit a revision?
Rachelle http://www.rachelleburk.com
On Feb 7, 2018 11:27 AM, “Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)” wrote:
> Tara Lazar posted: “Drum roll please… The following Storystormers have > been randomly selected from the pool of ~800 who registered for the event > AND completed the 30-idea challenge! Each winner has been paired with a > picture book literary agent who will provide feedbac” >
February 7, 2018 at 1:04 pm
writersideup
OMG! Congratulations to EVERYone—including ME! I can’t believe I won something like this. Yay!!! I’m TOtally excited! Thanks, Tara 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 oxox
February 7, 2018 at 1:05 pm
Janice Woods
Congrats everyone!
February 7, 2018 at 1:07 pm
Johnell DeWitt
Oh wow! I’m super excited. Thank you!
February 7, 2018 at 1:12 pm
Lisa Billa
Congratulations to the winners, good luck with your ideas!
February 7, 2018 at 1:13 pm
Alice Carty Fulgione
Congratulations to all!!!
February 7, 2018 at 1:13 pm
Laura Purdie Salas
Congratulations, winners!
February 7, 2018 at 1:17 pm
LeeAnn Rizzuti
Congratulations, grand prize winners!!!
February 7, 2018 at 1:17 pm
viviankirkfield
Congrats to the grand prize winners! And a huge thank you to Tara, as well as the agents who are offering their precious time and all of the guest bloggers who inspired us this past month.
February 7, 2018 at 1:18 pm
Rene` Diane Aube
Congratulations everyone! Best wishes with your pitches! *Is that a near rhyme??* 🙂
February 7, 2018 at 1:19 pm
Melissa Stoller
Woo hoo! Congratulations winners!!! Good luck with your ideas!
February 7, 2018 at 1:20 pm
Lori Dubbin
Hurray for the winners! Sending you hope and heart as you wind up those perfect pitches!
February 7, 2018 at 1:24 pm
Kristen Browning
Congratulations to everyone and good luck!
February 7, 2018 at 1:26 pm
yangmommy
Congratulations winners! What a fantastic prize–go get ’em! 🙂
February 7, 2018 at 1:26 pm
Darcee Freier
Yay! for the grand prize winners!
February 7, 2018 at 1:29 pm
Sharon Mayhew
Congratulations to the winners! What a great opportunity!
February 7, 2018 at 1:30 pm
Kathy Doherty
Sending a BIG congratulations to the winners!
February 7, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Emmie R Werner
Congratulations to the lucky winners!!!!
February 7, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Paula
Congratulations to the selected contestants! AND congrats to all of us who have saved new ideas in our notebooks, for future manuscripts.
February 7, 2018 at 1:41 pm
Claire Wrenn Bobrow
Way to go Winners! Woot woot and Good Luck!!
February 7, 2018 at 1:42 pm
Lori Mozdzierz
Congrats All!!! 😁
February 7, 2018 at 1:45 pm
Rebecca Colby
Many congratulations to the winners!
February 7, 2018 at 1:47 pm
Pam Miller
Woohoo Winners! Can’t wait to read about the new books that will come from your amazing ideas. Thank you Tara and agents for this program. Thinking that I might be a winner caused me to raise my bar, and I won’t lower it now.
February 7, 2018 at 1:49 pm
marsue77
Congrats to all the winners.
February 7, 2018 at 1:50 pm
seschipper
Congratulations and good luck to all of the winners!!! Thank you so much Tara and all of the “contributers” ! “Story storming” was an amazing adventure…as usual (although nothing is ever “usual” about this experience!!! 🙂
February 7, 2018 at 1:55 pm
Viki Heagy
Congratulations to all the winners!!! Wishing you success 😊😊😊
February 7, 2018 at 1:57 pm
Kim Pfennigwerth
Congratulations Winners and many, many thanks to you,Tara, what an awesome job you do every year. Plus Thank you to all the bloggers for your inspiration and wisdom and Thank you to the wonderful agents giving your time and knowledge to the lucky Grand Prize winners!! Cheers to an amazing 2018 Storystorm!
February 7, 2018 at 1:58 pm
Krissy
Congratulations to the lucky winners!
February 7, 2018 at 2:00 pm
chardixon47
Congratulations winners! Wishing you good luck and much success. Thank you, Tara and guests, for an amazing STORYSTORM 2018 🙂
February 7, 2018 at 2:07 pm
Trish Kreiser
Congratulations to all the winners! Thank you for this excellent forum, Tara. All the hard work is much appreciated.
February 7, 2018 at 2:10 pm
Kathy Shanahan
Congratulations lucky winners!
February 7, 2018 at 2:18 pm
Christine M Irvin
Congratulations to you all!!
February 7, 2018 at 2:22 pm
Ms. Pauline Ts'o
Congratulations – go git ’em!
February 7, 2018 at 2:33 pm
Jennifer Broedel (@JBroedelAuthor)
Congratulations, everyone!
February 7, 2018 at 2:40 pm
Juliana Lee
Congratulations to all winners, including those who have even one super marketable idea… go get ’em!
February 7, 2018 at 2:42 pm
Sue Heavenrich
Congratulations to all!
February 7, 2018 at 2:49 pm
Meena
Congratulations to you all grand prize winners. Goodluck with your writing journey!
February 7, 2018 at 2:52 pm
Li’vee Rehfield
Congratulations winners … go go go
Thanks Tara for all you do fo us❤️
February 7, 2018 at 2:56 pm
Mary Jane
OMG. OMG. So excited and grateful and surprised and blown away. Thank you Tara Lazar for this wonderful yearly writing event. And congratulations to other winners and thank you all writers! Adrenalin rush! OMG.
February 7, 2018 at 2:57 pm
Genevieve Petrillo
Congratulations to the lucky winners… Woot!
February 7, 2018 at 2:57 pm
Kimberly
Many congratulations to the winners!!!!
February 7, 2018 at 3:05 pm
gingermeurer
So freakin’ jealous!!!! But also happy for all of you. Not bitter, not jaded, just happy.
February 7, 2018 at 3:06 pm
jeanjames926
Congratulations to all the winners, good luck on your pitches and future books!
February 7, 2018 at 3:15 pm
Colleen Dabney
Congrats to the winners!!
February 7, 2018 at 3:17 pm
Marie Sanderson
Hurray for the winners! I’m really glad to have done the challenge. I gained a lot from the daily inspiration pieces AND from the jump start to my ideas-engine.
February 7, 2018 at 3:20 pm
Teresa Robeson
Congrats to all the winners (though we are all winners just by participating)! 🎉
February 7, 2018 at 3:25 pm
Lynn
CONGRATULATIONS, everyone!
February 7, 2018 at 3:25 pm
Darlene Koppel
Congratulations to the winners!!!
February 7, 2018 at 3:30 pm
tiffanydickinson
Reblogged this on Tiffany Dickinson and commented:
I am a winner! Now to prepare to pitch! Thank you, Tara Lazar!
February 7, 2018 at 3:31 pm
tiffanydickinson
Thank you, Tara! I would have gotten out of bed earlier this morning if I knew this was waiting for me!
February 7, 2018 at 3:50 pm
Virginia Law Manning
Congratulations to the winners!
February 7, 2018 at 4:00 pm
Stephen S. Martin
Congratulations to All and looking forward to hearing good things from all of you.
February 7, 2018 at 4:09 pm
Kaye Baillie
Good luck to the lucky winners!!
February 7, 2018 at 4:09 pm
Mary Ann Cortez
Congrats everyone!!!!
February 7, 2018 at 4:13 pm
anitajjones
What a great adventure January was! Congratulations to all the winners…and hopes for exciting journeys ahead!
February 7, 2018 at 4:21 pm
Sylvia Mary Grech
Congratulations everyone!
February 7, 2018 at 4:27 pm
Kelly Vavala
Congratulations everyone!!
February 7, 2018 at 4:58 pm
Dayne Sislen, Children's Book Illustrator
Congrats to all you lucky grand prize winners. Take full advantage of this fantastic opportunity.
February 7, 2018 at 5:15 pm
judyrubin13
Congratulations to all. Each of us, though, is a winner, thanks to Storystorm.
February 7, 2018 at 6:01 pm
Rebekah Lowell
Congrats, everyone!! So exciting!
February 7, 2018 at 6:13 pm
Laura
Awesome! Congrats everyone!
February 7, 2018 at 6:24 pm
Penny Parker Klostermann
Congrats grand prize winners!
February 7, 2018 at 6:39 pm
C.L. Murphy
Congratulations! We’re all winners in my book just for taking part in Storystorm! Thank you, Tara, for creating such an encouraging, inspiring and thought provoking event.
February 7, 2018 at 6:56 pm
Zoraida
Great opportunity! Give it your best. Breath deep and go write!
February 7, 2018 at 6:58 pm
Jacqueline Adams
Congratulations, winners! Write some killer pitches! I hope I get to see some of those stories at the bookstore in the future. And thanks so much, Tara, for another wonderful Storystorm! .
February 7, 2018 at 7:15 pm
Melanie Ellsworth
Hip Hip Hooray! Enjoy writing up all those great ideas and sharing them!
February 7, 2018 at 7:43 pm
Tania
Congratulations, to all you winners!!! Good luck to you all.
February 7, 2018 at 7:45 pm
Diane Tulloch
Congrats to the lucky winners.
February 7, 2018 at 8:08 pm
Becky Shillington
Congratulations to all of the WINNERS!!!
February 7, 2018 at 8:09 pm
Patricia Toht
Congratulations, everyone!
February 7, 2018 at 8:13 pm
Louann Brown
Whoo Hoot, for all you lucky winners! (But aren’t we all winners to be able to participate in this inspiring challenge?)
February 7, 2018 at 8:18 pm
Agnes Bemoe
Congratulation, Winners! Frankly, I envy… hehehe…
February 7, 2018 at 8:33 pm
Christine Blaisdell
Congratulations! Hoping for great things for you all!
February 7, 2018 at 9:37 pm
Trine Grillo
Hooray for all of you!
February 7, 2018 at 9:56 pm
Alexandra Hinrichs
Congratulations, winners! Thank you again, Tara, and all the wonderful individuals who posted!
February 7, 2018 at 10:07 pm
58chilihed13
Congratulations to the winners, I look forward to seeing your stories in print! Thanks to Tara and all the presenters who gave such outstanding advice, support and laughter!
February 7, 2018 at 10:20 pm
wendymyersart
Congratulations everyone!
February 7, 2018 at 10:41 pm
CeCeLibrarian
Congratulations everyone! I am cracking up at that Swedish Chef drum roll!
February 7, 2018 at 10:43 pm
Kathy j brown
Hipp Hipp Hooray Winners!!!!
February 7, 2018 at 10:48 pm
Kate Carroll
Congrats to the winners! But I feel like a winner too, because I’m so inspired and motivated 🙂
February 7, 2018 at 11:37 pm
Susanne Whitehouse
Woohoo! Congrats!
February 8, 2018 at 12:42 am
aidantalkin
Congratulations! But we’re all winners thanks to Storystorm!
February 8, 2018 at 12:55 am
denitajohnson
Congratulations everyone!
February 8, 2018 at 1:16 am
Julia
Wowza! Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity! Congrats to all who participated and jump-started their years with a pile of new ideas!
February 8, 2018 at 11:16 am
Laurie Bouck
Congratulations to the winners!! Wishing you all the best of luck on your idea pitches!! 😀
February 8, 2018 at 2:37 pm
Sheri Radovich
Congratulations to the winners. Wow, agents to talk to and put your best ideas out there.
February 8, 2018 at 2:57 pm
Jilanne Hoffmann
Congrats to all of the winners!
February 8, 2018 at 3:02 pm
marty
Hooray for all the winners.
Go for it, and good luck!!
February 9, 2018 at 7:15 am
mamabalza
Congratulations to the winners. Cassie, I am so excited for you!
February 9, 2018 at 8:38 am
saputnam
Congratulations to all the winners!!
February 9, 2018 at 3:56 pm
Sharalyn Edgeberg
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO COMPLETED & THE PRIZE WINNERS!
February 10, 2018 at 3:39 am
Shauna Woodall
Y’all are fabulous! It’s been lovely winning with you — everyone who completed the challenge has a boatload of story ideas!
February 10, 2018 at 1:11 pm
aliciaminor
Congrats to all! We look forward to your success and reading your picture books! Go! Go! Go! Till next year.
February 10, 2018 at 8:06 pm
Traci Bold
Congratulations everyone!