#HFGather: 2025 Scholarship Celebration and Information Session

Highlights Foundation Program Director Alison Green Myers celebrated our 2025 scholarship program at our first HFGather of the year. She answered questions and we heard from previous scholarship awardees Nancy So Miller, Trisha Elam Walker, Hoda Elmasry and Darla Himeles about their workshop and scholarship experiences.

Attendees had many questions; some were answered during the webinar, but if your question was very specific and didn’t get answered, one of our team will be getting back to you shortly. You can also check our Scholarship FAQs.

The biggest change in this year’s application process: Applicants do NOT have to choose which scholarship they are applying for. Just apply for a TYPE of scholarship, and there are 3: Workshops (whether on-campus or online); Personal Retreats; and Whole Novel Workshops. After you choose the type you want, and fill out the application, our Scholarship Review Committee will be matching you to the scholarship that best fits.

If you missed the live Gather, you can watch it here.
Please note: closed captions are being added to the video below. When they are finished, you can see them by hovering over the bottom of the video and choosing the “CC” icon.

Helpful Links Mentioned During the Gather

• Main Scholarship Application Page – most answers to your questions will be found here.
• List of Named Scholarships – many are affinited-related or identity-related, or based on the types of stories you are trying to tell.
• Whole Novel Workshops
• 2025 Workshops – a ll on-campus programs are listed, but we are still adding online courses and minis.
• Donate to Support Our Scholarship Program

Listen to a Podcast Version of the 2025 Scholarship Gather:

Full Transcript

Alison Green Myers:
Well, let’s go ahead and we’ll kick things off here just as people are continuing to come in. I wanted to say a quick hello. I’m Alison Green Myers. I’m the program director here at the Highlights Foundation, and to all of you who are joining us this evening, I hope that you and your loved ones are safe.

We certainly hold near those in our community who are currently being impacted by the fires in Los Angeles. I also spent a lot of time today listening in to the news today. Today marks talks for a long awaited ceasefire agreement, so many of us have been holding our breath and holding out hope to hear about. So it’s a big day, and for us this is kind of the opening of our year, and I would say more than anything: I hope that 2025 can bring you all peace and safety. Because we need that right now, I think.

We were talking the other day about hope meeting action and I thank so many of you who are taking action. You’re taking action to make this a safer place. You’re taking action to make it a peaceful place, an equitable place, to make sure that kids see themselves, and for most of you gathered here, the action is your voice. It might be your art. It might be your words. And it’s pretty powerful that you’re crafting those words and art for children. That’s power, and that’s peace, and that’s creating this better world. So thank you.

Welcome, welcome to our first HF Gather of 2025. For those of you who have never been to an HF Gather before, we like to come together and talk about news and creativity, and in an activity we love to talk about our partnerships. We love to talk about the heart of the Highlights Foundation, which is our community. And that’s you being here. And so this is our first one in 2025, and hopefully there’ll be many, many others. A note for you as the attendees coming in. This is a webinar-style Gather so you can see that there are eight of us up here on the screen right now. But we can’t see your videos. We cannot hear your audio, and I told you that we had the chat disabled for a little bit. But now it’s enabled. So if you want to post hellos. If you want to put things in the chat, you should be able to go in, and you should be able to message everyone in the chat and give a hello! Because we would love love, love to hear from you.

Whoa! Look at all those hellos coming in! As hosts and panelists, now we can not only see what you’re posting in the chat, but we can also see anything that you post in the Q & A feature, and we would love for you to keep those hellos, aha’s, positive messages in the chat, and any questions that you have about scholarships, or maybe even questions for our panelists, you would put them in the Q & A feature. We’d appreciate that.

Please remember that a copy of tonight’s webinar will come with closed captions to you in your inbox within 24 hours, and you can also enable closed captions tonight, as we’re going through and having our talk with our panelists. In these spaces, in the chat, when we’re talking here as panelists on Zoom anywhere, we come together as the Highlights Foundation. We ask for your respectful engagement. At the Highlights Foundation, we strive for a safe and inclusive environment. So we ask you to join us tonight with no hate, no harm, and no harassment of any kind.

We are privileged to come together as a community of creatives. We are champions of children’s literature. We are guided by shared care and respect and passion for this important work. In a time that is marked by constant challenges, our mission to center children is more vital than ever. This year marks the 40th year of the Highlights Foundation’s dedication to children, children’s literature and creatives just like you. We’re here to positively impact children by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inform, educate, and inspire children to become their best selves.

Okay. It would be impossible for me not to take a moment here and acknowledge someone who has been such a vital part of this mission, who we lost last week. Christine French Cully was a long-time advocate of the Highlights Foundation, but she was a lifetime advocate for children. She was the editor-in-chief at Highlights Magazine, and transitioned into a position called Chief Purpose Officer in 2018. Chief Purpose Officer. I’ve always loved saying that with Chris’s name. I do believe the word purpose was imprinted on her from the beginning.

Chris served on the Board of the Highlights Foundation and was with us when we renewed our mission statement in early 2020. I have a series of messages with her that I revisited just the other day and there’s a lot of them from that time in 2020. Chris and I got to work together after we had this brainstorming session about the mission, and when George and I were excited to like start sprinkling it out and sharing it with other people, we got some feedback on the mission, and I was being stubborn. I don’t know if anyone can relate when you get feedback: you might be stubborn.

There was a word in our mission, and the word was amplify. And I loved that word so much. I was being very stubborn about that word, and I had some phone calls with Chris, and she sent a couple emails. I have a whole email string with George and I. And I laughed out loud with Chris popping in because Chris kept giving the best advice. She was always there to make something feel possible. She always found value in other people’s opinions, even if they were oppositions, and she always reminded us to assume best intentions. And in there, she said: this has value and has a reason for you to review it, even if it’s for you to gather more evidence about the word amplify.

So when I say the mission out loud tonight, and always I think of her, we’re amplifying the voices of storytellers. And that’s you.

Chris used phrases like “moral compass” and “morally courageous” in daily conversation, especially when talking about our role as adults and supporting the world’s most important people, our kids. Chris lived a morally courageous life and I know that she would be on the call tonight. She’d be in the chat; we’d see her. And I know that, like in years past, after the scholarship Gather, she’d send me an email and her shared excitement for amplifying your stories. She’d be so excited about your voices, and she’d be so excited about the potential for you to reach the world’s most important people.

My heart. I think all of our hearts are with Chris’s family right now and with so many who knew and loved her. For those who never got to meet her in person, they were changed by her because she believed in caring for others. And it’s our responsibility to gather the lessons that she gave and continue to do that hard work.

So I’m gonna gather myself right now during this Gather and join all you in doing this work. I know that we’ll find storytellers who need the support of our mission. They’re ready to be amplified, like Chris would like, so that their work can reach kids. And so I want to give a special thanks to all that Chris Cully offered us here at the Highlights Foundation and I hope that you will all remember her and remember the good work that she’s done.

With the help of fellow storytellers, we want to share these scholarship experiences. We’re going to answer your questions, aand then we’re going to ask you to connect with the Highlights Foundation on our journey for 2025 scholarships, and your connections might be to apply like our panelists tonight have done. It might be to help us spread the word, because last year we had 652 applications. Maybe we’ll get 653 this year. That’s what we’ll go for. At least one more.

Or maybe you’re in a position where you can offer financial support. And of course we would appreciate that.

Here with me tonight on this important session, our team members from the Highlights Foundation. Of course, you know our executive director, George Brown, and our program manager, Alex Villasante, and our program assistant, Molly Chao, is here with us as well. I saw several familiar names from our team pop into the chat. Bobbie Combs and Christina Ousouljoglou, Matt Davis, Rona Shirdan, Gat Galeano, to name just a few of the people from our team who are there.

And of course we have our storytellers here with us; our storytellers probably look familiar. These are, these are scholarship awardees from last year, and are also dedicated and creative authors and illustrators in their own right. We have Tricia Elam Walker with us, you might know Trisha’s book, Dream Street or Nana Akua Goes to School. Tricia, I listened to: you have a great read-aloud from 2020 with Prince George’s school district, the whole library system, and the questions. Some of the questions were from the kids, and it was just wonderful. I encourage everybody to go. I loved that time when when the books were being shared, and we could see all the beautiful artwork, and that book in particular.

Too, we have poet and author Darla Himeles with us as well, Darla, we’re so happy that you’re with us. Can’t wait to talk to you tonight. Picture book, author, and novelist, Hoda Elmasry is with us as well, and Hoda has some exciting things to share with us tonight. And of course Nancy So Miller is with us, who is the author and illustrator of the forthcoming Sun Moon Star from Holiday House, which is due out next year. Can’t wait for that, Nancy. Thank you for being with us.

We’re going to share stories. We’re going to open up, and we’re going to talk about how all of you who are watching can join like our panelists and finding the scholarships that are just right for you. We’ll have a little conversation. As I said, we’ll hear from George. We’ll go through the scholarship timeline, and then we’re going to get to questions. Alex, are you already looking at the sheer number of questions that are in the chat? Alex is going to help us with the Q & Afeature in there and moving things along. So I will remind you: put questions over in the Q & A feature. Let’s list our Ahas and Hellos, and such kind comments and hellos from people all over in our Highlights Community in the chat.

Our scholarships are awarded in three distinct criteria, seriousness of purpose, especially in your impact on the lives of kids and teens; talent or promise in your sample writing or illustration; and finally on financial need, and this year we hope to find over fifty storytellers who want to join the Highlights Foundation in 2025 for workshops or personal retreats. With them we’ll invest about $75,000 in scholarships to support them on their journey.

I would say, finding storytellers who are not only at the place in their journey where they’re ready for this, but they’re also eager to join this particular community. Because the Highlights Foundation is a little bit different. I’ll use Chris Cully’s phrase here: we’re looking for those writers and illustrators with that moral courage, that moral compass that directs us towards positive impact on kids, right? And we’re asking the question during the scholarship time: are we the kind of organization that can reach out and help support you? Are we the kind of place where

I hope so. The four panelists that we’ve gathered tonight have answered yes to both of those questions. So let’s get to talking about their experiences. I’m going to start with Nancy because I think, Nancy, it had applied for a very specific scholarship, had also applied for a very specific experience. And, Nancy, I don’t know if you know this or not, but we didn’t always offer scholarships and personal retreats. They are a fan favorite at the Highlights Foundation, but we didn’t always have them as scholarships. So you were the recipient of the Asian and Asian American Voices Scholarship. You came to the Highlights Foundation for a personal retreat.Can you share with us just a little bit about what made you apply for a personal retreat scholarship, and also tell us a little bit about your experience, because some people who are gathered tonight might might not even know what a personal retreat is.

Nancy So Miller:
Oh, sorry! I just had to unmute myself. No, it was, it was amazing. I have to say that the reason why, I guess, to start off. Why I applied for that particular scholarship was that I had a friend of mine who encouraged me, and she had actually been awarded a scholarship as an author illustrator at a workshop. And she said, No, you should really consider doing it. And so that encouragement, I was like, okay, let me try and let me see if I can find a scholarship that fits what I’m looking for.

And I found myself thinking that time for me was of real value, to have that dedicated three days alone. Because I’m a mother. I am also a art teacher, and yes, a wife, and other commitments and things, and so I felt like I wanted to embark on this journey of trying to write a middle grade novel, and I felt like I was going to be too distracted in even starting where I was at home. And so the Highlights personal retreat was the perfect way to start it off, and it was such a wonderful experience to be around a grouping of authors, illustrators that were so passionate. I felt their passion just like when I go in and ate breakfast, lunch or dinner, and congregate together with these amazing talented individuals that were coming from all over and, and writing all kinds of different things, and we’d have a great time chatting. And I was so inspired by what they were doing, I knew that I was like, Okay, I have to be on my “A” game. So when I go back I am going to work really hard because they’re putting their hearts and passions into what they’re writing, and I could feel that and that energy, that warmth, I was like, wow! This is fantastic.

Alison Green Myers:
I love that, Nancy and I love the way that you–so first off, and I see questions coming in about the personal retreat. It really, we used to call it an unworkshop, right? And it was rebranded. Christina Ousouljoglou, I’ll say, was the one who was like: but really, what is it? And it’s like, it’s a retreat, but on your own. And so it started to be called a personal retreat after that, instead of an unworkshop, and I love the way that you described it, because it really is, it’s time for you to focus on what you need to and what you want to focus on. There are opportunities, though, to be, still feel like you’re in community. I feel like when you sit down at a meal, you know, people are checking in on you: well, what did you do today? And did you get something accomplished, or whatever that accomplished might mean for you. And you might end up talking with someone who, you know, if maybe if you were trying to work through this middle grade novel all on your own, maybe you wouldn’t have shared that opportunity, or that, you know, you would have kept that in, and it was like an opportunity to discuss and, and share. So I’m so glad, you know, what I think that: did you end up doing any art while you were there, too? Did you go down to the art coup? No.

Nancy So Miller:
I did go to the art coup, but I just ended up writing the whole time. I was like, it was like, it was like a fire was lit underneath me. And I was like, I’m just gonna keep writing as much as possible with the time that I have.

Alison Green Myers:
Yeah, that’s so great. And so our personal retreats, there are specific scholarships that are dedicated towards the personal retreats. And then there are, you know, open scholarships that say, choose whatever path you would like to take. You happen to have been awarded the Asian and Asian American Voices, and that said you could take a workshop, you know, online, in person, or you know, you could take a personal retreat. And you know you made that decision. Some people will stay for those three days. Some people, some of the personal retreats are a little bit longer, but it’s just really that dedicated time. And hopefully have you fed with things that will just, you know, fill you, fill up your creative juices, I guess.

Yes, Nancy is nodding there, but there was some good food hopefully while you were there. Well, Nancy, thank you so much. I hope that if people have questions about the personal retreat, maybe you’ll stay on with us as we talk about some of the different types of scholarships, and you can share some information. Your debut book, did you say? 2026.

Nancy So Miller:
Yes, yes.

Alison Green Myers:
And that one is a picture book. Yeah, so congratulations on that. And we can’t wait for the middle grade novel as well.

Nancy So Miller:
Well, thank you, Alison, so much.

Alison Green Myers: Yeah, thank you. So, so Nancy’s talking about one type of experience here, and that would be the personal retreat. And so that is kind of choose your own adventure when you’re at the Retreat Center. It does not have lecture that’s involved with it. You’re bringing your project. You’re getting your work done. You’re gathering in community at meals, and maybe after dinner sometimes. But for the most part you’re kind of creating your own path.

We’re going to kind of switch gears a little bit because we’re going to go from a totally unstructured program into a program that is heavily structured. One of our core programs at the Highlights Foundation has always always been our Summer Camp. Summer Camp builds off the vision of our founder, Kent Brown. Kent hosted these historic July sessions at the Chautauqua Institute in New York, and there, which is one of the first experiences I had as a student at the Highlights Foundation, Kent made sure that writers and illustrators had one-to-one mentorship, that there was a variety of breakout sessions, so you could kind of taste and sample all different things. Fiction, nonfiction, a little bit of illustration, all sorts of things.

But my favorite part of Kent’s initial vision of these summer camps was that he would have an inspirational keynote that kind of gave you a welcome every single morning each day at this camp at Chautauqua, and we’ve really tried our best since moving that whole experience to the Highlights Foundation Retreat Center to bring that same experience, those inspirational keynotes, those breakout sessions that really help you just create an,d and get words or images down on paper, and then also that one-to-one mentorship which really can’t be beat. You have an opportunity to not only provide something at the beginning, but then to meet again and take a look at changes that have been made, and so we still have our summer camps in July as an honor to both Kent and to the Chautauqua Institute, to historical legacy.

But now we have a Summer Camp for Illustrators, and we have a Summer Camp for Writers. And our next panelist is going to talk a little bit about that very experience. So Tricia was with us in 2024 at Summer Camp in Writing. I was delighted to get to know Tricia there, hear many of Trisha’s stories. I got to be in a small group situation with Tricia. And one of the things about the small group discussion is that everybody is sharing with one another and getting a chance to help and build upon one another’s stories, and Trisha was so generous in that with other writers, as well as bringing her own writing to it. So, Tricia, I’d love for you to tell us like, what made you even decide to apply for a scholarship? We heard Nancy was encouraged by a friend. Maybe this is friend tapping or something. And then what made you select Summer Camp? Did you have any help picking that one?

Tricia Elam Walker:
Okay. So first of all, I do want to apologize because I’m in a public place, and so there may be some noise in the background. But in any case, I came to this, this forum last year and so I heard all these wonderful reports about all the different aspects of Highlights and the scholarships. And I just got so excited about it that I thought, Okay, I’m going to apply for one of these. And I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to apply for, because they all sounded amazing. But you know, when I thought about it, I knew that I’m pretty new to children’s books, so I felt like I wanted some feedback on what I was writing, and I wanted to meet other writers. And I loved the idea that it was going to be keynotes. You know we were going to be learning some things. There would be the workshop forum as well as one-on-one. So I opted for the Summer Camp, and it was a great decision for me. After listening to Nancy, though, now I want to do the personal retreat, so we’ll see what happens next.

But the Summer Camp was just, it was more than I could have imagined. It was just this smorgasboard of all these different things. Everybody was great. People were so friendly and warm and generous with information and sharing. I mean, you know, we got everybody’s phone number, and some people have actually kept in touch. So that’s been great. People were generous in the workshops with their comments about each other’s stories. I loved reading everyone else’s work, because, you know, you always learn about writing when you read other people’s stuff as well. I had a wonderful one-on-one mentor who was super helpful with me and very generous as well.

The keynotes were amazing. I was just, I couldn’t even get my notes down fast enough. Everyone was so professional. The amazing Powerpoints, as well as you know, the personal stories of people’s journeys. The accommodations were amazing. I was in a quaint little house with a couple of people, and that was fun. We had, we did have a big sn–rainstorm, as you may recall. But that was, that even that was cozy. The food was wonderful. There was a lot of food. There’s food everywhere. I don’t know how, you know, whether that’s helpful or not. But that was a wonderful thing. It was a bit of a trek to get there, and I also did get a tick bite. So do pay attention to all that information, because it’s really important.

But it was fabulous. I don’t even know what else to say. It was fabulous.

Alison Green Myers:
Well, I appreciate what you said, and I think it does set things up so–as you’re saying, too, the personal retreat is very different, because your day was heavily scheduled. Of course the meal times were set, but we did start every day with a keynote. There were breakout sessions. You were in small group discussions. There was time to do some writing, and the only reason that I know that there was some time to do some writing was because people brought in a project at one state in a draft, and had time, then by the open mic, when people read their work, it was unbelievable the kind of changes that people made, and, and that open mic night, the reading was just so powerful. And it’s always that first–whether it’s Summer Camp or one of our other Retreat Center workshops, it’s always interesting, because that first night, you know, you could, I mean, you could do a thousand icebreakers. But there’s something about creating together. And so it takes kind of like, once we’re asking questions, and we’re hearing the keynotes and getting into sharing our work, suddenly that bond is made. And, and you know, it becomes really easy. So how’s how’s the manuscript going that you were working on?

Tricia Elam Walker:
It’s out in the world waiting. I’m waiting to hear back from 2 editors, so…fingers are crossed.

Alison Green Myers:
Oh, great! Well, it was really special, and and we were so glad to have you there. It’s great to see you tonight, too.

Tricia Elam Walker:
Thank you so much.

Alison Green Myers:
Thank you. Thanks so much.

Tricia Elam Walker:
Apply, apply, apply!

Alison Green Myers:
I do want to say the Summer Camps are listed. So even if you’re–one of the things with the scholarships, like Tricia didn’t have to tell us during the scholarship: I’m going to Summer Camp here, you know. You need to apply for the scholarship, and then you have a chance to look over all the offerings that we have, and you can kind of take your time to make that decision. I would say, apply, and then use the funds in the way that it best fits your life. You know when it when it comes through that time. But the Summer Camps are listed on our website already. All of our on-campus offerings are listed on the website already for 2025, we have our online classes through February listed on the website. And then, as this month rolls on, we’ll continue to add more of the long-form online courses. But you’ll start to kind of see the way that the year is shaping up throughout.

So, so we encourage you to go to the website and take a look at that. And you can even see some quotes from people like Tricia, who took the Summer Camps last year, and there’s even some short clips. There’s even some short videos and things like that. The Summer Camp faculty does change a little bit every year. And so there are some of the faculty that were with Tricia last year, and there’s some new faculty this year as well. So we’re excited about that.

So I think we’re gonna we’re gonna kind of move from one part of the panel which was our in-person programs to the last two panelists are gonna talk a little bit about online opportunities, which I think is a nice balance, because it’ll give a showcase for your learning style, what you like to do. Trisha even mentioned the the travel to get to the Retreat Center. Nancy mentioned having kids, children at home. And so sometimes online classes are the best choice for learning the way that you need to learn at this time, and we want to support you in what you need on your creative journey.

So our online programs are varied, and I would love to start with Hoda for this one. Because I think we’ll start with a traditional online course. Most of our online courses–we do have something called minis, which are two nights–our online courses that people traditionally use their scholarships for are somewhere between four weeks and ten weeks. And I believe the one Hoda that you were in was six weeks. So we’ll talk a little bit more about that. Hoda is a picture book author as well as a novelist, and I’ll say I feel privileged; I’ve gotten to know Hoda’s novel well, because she’s currently enrolled in our partnership that it’s funded through the Doris Duke Foundation, Building Bridges. And it’s part of the Muslim Storytellers Whole Novel. And so we’re just getting to the point where the whole novels will be turned in soon. So this program started in September 2024. It finishes in May of 2025. But the submission of the novels is in February. So we’re just a few weeks away from that. So I’ve gotten to see lots of snippets of this novel.

And that’s for feedback on an entire novel. And we’re actually going to talk about Whole Novel shortly. So let’s focus, Hoda, instead of that experience, because you, I think, must have known you were in that. And you also then decided that you were going to take an intense 6 week novel class, which…

Hoda Elmasry:
At the same time. It was Sundays and Thursdays, and it was wonderful. I loved it.

Alison Green Myers:
So, Hoda, how did you decide to apply for a scholarship? And what made you select the online course that you selected, especially as someone who does both picture book and novels? So that would be interesting for people who write in lots of genres.

Hoda Elmasry:
Yeah. Thank you so much, Alison. I’m just gonna kind of piggyback on something that you said earlier. The Highlights Foundation is, it’s really wonderful. She’s not just saying that it really is wonderful for those who had the chance to do it. You already know this for those who haven’t. I’m telling you; I’m not paid by them. So I’m telling you honestly: the staff, the faculty, everyone is so incredibly supportive. And that that’s really important for me, because writing is, it’s a very vulnerable thing to put your work out there, and they were so incredibly supportive. I like, I have, there’s a picture book I had many phases of the manuscript that I’m working on that kind of morphed into this middle grade novel, and even after that I still had that, you know, that creeping insecurity: am I really a writer? And it’s like they have a sixth sense, because so many times they would just like–unprompted–be like: Yes, you got, you’re all writers. They would just like reinforce that. And I’m so appreciative of that.

And knowing how wonderful Highlights is, that’s kind of what spurred me to apply for a scholarship. And, like Alison, was saying, for me, the online one made the most sense. I have two kids at home. I work part time and just time-wise, this felt like the thing that was most manageable. And having gone through another online program, I know that the content is like top notch. So this is just the thing that worked at my pace with my schedule.

So I went ahead and I applied, and I got it, which was very exciting. And I was like, Okay, what do I do now? And of course, because Highlights are like, okay, we’ve got a Q & A webinar, we’re not gonna leave you hanging so I joined that to kind of find out what the options were. And then I ended up just asking around in a critique group which was formed via another Highlights program. I’m telling you guys really that awesome, there’s so much community building and my critique group partner told me about the Line Editing for Middle Grade and YA, she spoke, she said the content was great, the instructor was great, and I’m her critique group partner. I read her work. And it’s really good. So like, Okay, I’m gonna go apply, or or I’m gonna go select that one, and and I did, and she was right.

It was so wonderful. Jen Gennari, she’s the instructor, she is, she’s the library herself. She knows. I think she has read every middle grade book that’s been published in the past like 15 years. Every,every class she’d start out by saying, “put in the chat, what book you’re reading.” There was never one time that she didn’t know and have read and have insights on the books that people put in the chat. It was amazing. This course. Honestly, it could work for someone who’s still kind of figuring things out or someone who’s polishing off their manuscript and usually think line editing, that’s like something that happens at the end. But I learned so much from it, and I wish I had that kind of at the beginning of this process, so I wouldn’t have to go back and revise quite as heavily. But it’s wonderful.

We talked about character arcs. We talked about dialogue, even we got feedback on our pitch for our novel, which was so helpful.And I’ll just talk for a few seconds about how it’s structured. So it’s a one-hour weekly Zoom call, and then you have, like a homework assignment related to that call. And don’t, don’t be like scared off by the term homework. It’s like a low time commitment: you take like 150 words of your work in progress, and then you just apply what you learned. For me what was kind of the intimidating part was putting my work on a discussion board for everyone in the class to read. But it was an incredibly safe experience. Jen is, she’s equal parts caring and constructive. She was so supportive and so encouraging like every time she’d resonate. I’m like, oh, I didn’t think about that, and I felt so motivated to just go back and and fix my work to make it more clear and crisp.

So, after the course was done they left all of the content available for at least a month. It might have been even more than a month, and for me, that was where most of my learning happened. Obviously I was taking notes during the live calls, but I went back and I rewatched all the videos and it was like light bulbs just going off left and right, because I could like have the time to process. I would pause. I would like go back to my manuscript. It was just I would take like screenshots like, oh, I love this, and I want to read this book, too. She would have like so many snippets from books. So it was really wonderful.

And I remember towards the end of the class, thinking I would love for Jen to read more than just 150 words of my work. I’m not, I’m not joking, I had that thought as I was dropping my kids off at school. Literally the next morning, Delia not next morning, like within that same morning, Delia, the moderator, was like: Included in your scholarship is a 10 page post-course critique with Jen and a Zoom call! Like, sign me up. I like zoomed the the paper off to her, and that was so helpful. You know, when you’re writing something you’re, you’re like really close to it, and you you can’t see what’s missing or what’s not clear. And Jen was able to like zoom in on those parts that just needed to be clarified a little bit, just needed a little bit of explanation, just something to like engage the reader even more. And it was just an incredible class.

I highly recommend that you just take the leap, go ahead and apply at a minimum. Honestly, just going through the application process that forced me to like look at myself as a writer, think more critically about about my writing, and that just improved my writing in itself, just applying for it. So I encourage you to apply, and and I wish you good luck.

Alison Green Myers:
Hoda, thank you so much. There are so many things that I want to talk about that you said. One, I’m so glad that you said that piece about the benefit of applying. Someone on last year’s Gather said the same thing, and I do think it’s true: the way that the scholarship application is structured, it’s not just a submission of your work that, the submission of your work, is what we call the talent or promise. So we’re not looking for a polished piece necessarily, but we’re looking for that promise towards the improvement. I mean, you’re going to go to a class, and you’re going to improve on your work, but the narratives are really structured around like, why, why do you want to create for kids? You know, what is your background? What are your hopes and your goals, you know, and and in different cases, you’re your’re adding things to it that’s different than just listing a CV: Here are some magazine articles that I’ve written. Here’s a, you know, a collection of books and things like that.

It’s kind of digging more into..we call it the seriousness of purpose. Like, where are you? It doesn’t matter if you have an MFA, it matters how much you care about creating this story and getting your story out. We really believe in what you’re telling is something that someone else can’t, and so show us that story and show us who you are, so I’m so glad you brought that up. I do want to say, too. You were talking about Jen’s class. I’m in the…right now I, I can kind of feel Alex smiling behind her hidden screen that’s up on the top row there, because we…Jen Gennari is a phenomenal teacher, Jen Gennari and Lisa Moore Ramée are combining to teach that class together. We’re renaming the class because of exactly what you said that, that line editing idea: people kept thinking it could only be something useful at the end of their project. And really we had people coming in who maybe had a first draft, or maybe had a partial draft, but they were at the point where they knew they wanted to dig into things like dialogue. And, you know, like really fine-tuning and really looking at things. So I’m so excited for kind of the version of that course in the way that you just described what it is, and the powerhouses of Lisa and Jen teaching that class together. So we’ll keep you posted on that.

So thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks for sharing about the online courses. We’re going to kind of keep going with online courses here. S,o so far, we’ve talked about people who might be applying for personal retreats like Nancy’s experience. Tricia and Hoda’s experience fall into that category of people who will be applying for workshops, and it could be a workshop in person at the retreat center, like Summer Camp. Or it could be online like that six week course that Hoda was just talking to us about. And if they have feedback experiences, critiques, they’re included within that for the scholarship recipients. So you know Hoda was talking a little bit about that as well.

There’s a third category of scholarships that you can apply for, and those are our Whole Novel Scholarships, which is a little bit different. The Whole Novel Scholarship is a very structured program, and, as the title would suggest, it is meant to give you a review of your whole novel. This is at a different point. I think when you are writing, when you’re a novelist, when you’re finishing a full novel, there are lots of opportunities for you to submit 10 pages of something or little snippets of something here and there, but sometimes you get to a point where you really want to be able to look at the entire novel from beginning to end.

And so Darla decided to apply for the Whole Novel Scholarship this year. You have to make the distinction that that’s what you’re going for when it comes to the whole novel. And Darla then, once awarded the Whole Novel, decided that they would do the online Whole Novel program. So each year we have two online Whole Novels and two in person Whole Novels. As the name suggests, the, you will get a review of the whole novel, but the experience is slightly different between the retreat and the online version. So I would love Darla for you to tell us a little bit about; I think you applied with a novel in verse. I know that you’re a poet, and you’ve been working on this novel in verse. You got to the point where you felt like: it’s time for the whole novel to have a review. What was it like to apply for a scholarship? Had you applied for scholarships before, and tell us about about your experience.

Darla Himeles: Yeah, I mean, I’m, I’m another Highlights Foundation super fan. I mean, in every step of my journey, when I’m looking for the next thing I need to level up my craft, there’s another offering from Highlights that is just what I need.

And I got to this point. I did a novel in verse class. I did a couple minis. I just kept absorbing all of this learning as I was working on this novel in verse, and like so many people who are attending the webinar, I’m sure I just felt so motivated to write a story that I wish I had had when I was a young person, you know, and that motivation just kept driving me. And, like Nancy, I had a friend who had gotten a scholarship, say you should consider applying.

And I, I it never occurred to me I don’t know what I thought: that I had to be more qualified, or that I had to be somehow different than I am, and I came to this, you know, this same event last year, and I heard about the Whole Novel Workshop Wcholarship. I read about it, and it was, it’s just what I needed. I had revised my whole manuscript a couple of times. I had done all that I could do with my current skill set and knowledge and I think I wrote in my application materials, which I poured my heart and soul into, like this would be a rocket ship for me, you know. If if I could, if I could just do this, I know that my manuscript will just take off, and yes, it’s highly structured it was, I was so overjoyed when I got it. Highlights is just such a source of support and community and inclusiveness, and I will say that like as a queer person sometimes I don’t know if I’m welcome in certain spaces. Do you know what I mean? And I have never felt that way at Highlights, and I felt just so. just so grateful for the community that that I found.

I know I’m rambling is because I’m so excited. But the class, I mean. It’s highly structured every single week, as you’ve already heard from Hoda and Tricia and everyone. It’s just exquisite materials, extremely wise counse,l excellent organization to every lecture, great assignments between, amazing critique groups. You know, I, all of my kidlit people I’ve met and have relationships with are through Highlights classes, including the Whole Novel.

And then that one-on-one mentorship, you know the, I was paired with Gloria Muñoz, and I got to have a one-hour…She read the whole book, wrote me, you know, I don’t know 7 or 8 page letter–I mean what a gift. And then we got to talk for an hour and that was the rocket ship. Like all that learning and that conversation I converted into a to-do list of revision notes, and it’s like it was like a 170-something items long. And I have just learned so much; with every single revision I hear her voice. I hear the other teachers. I, I just can’t praise the format enough. It was amazing.

Alison Green Myers:
I love that, and I love the reminder that you were paired with Gloria as well. Because talk about a a powerhouse team, you know, and then to talk about a novel in verse together. That, how, how wonderful! I do love that! The, the on…so the in-person Whole Novel is a little bit different because it doesn’t, it, it doesn’t have the same pacing. So people who tend to apply for the online Whole Novel might still have, you know, a little bit more writing to do to finish their novel. Let’s say, you know, and you’re using some of the, that online course lead-up as you’re finishing up some of those pieces, and then you’re getting that submitted. And you’re still getting that the whole letter. And, like you were saying, a 7 or 8 page letter, when you look at that, and there’s as many shimmers, There’s as many glimmering moments that your reader is pointing out, as there are questions that are trying to guide you towards, because when you get to that point you are ready. You use the term rocket ship. It’s like you’re ready for it to go like this so that you can lace it all back together so that you can bring it all back together, and that’s, to have somebody…

Darla Himeles:
Suddenly I can’t hear you…oh no!

Alison Green Myers:
Oh, probably me!

Alison Green Myers:
Can you hear me?

Darla Himeles:
I can’t hear you. What happened?

Alison Green Myers:
I don’t know.

Darla Himeles:
Oh, there you are okay. Oh, my God! Panic!

Alison Green Myers:
Oh, Sandra said, they can hear us both, so we should be okay. One of the things, too, is that I know that when your book comes out, Gloria is going to be just as excited as you are, maybe even more excited than you are. That’s the thing. I think when your reader starts to get invested, and those Whole Novels are at such a level that they’re just ready to like, you know, go off and and get picked up for readers. So I love that. I would say the same thing that I had mentioned with the Summer Camp programs: just being able to go on and look at what’s included in that.

Our Whole Novels are listed right now on our website, and you can kind of go in and see. You can see the full lineup for the online Whole Novels. You can see the full lineup for the in-person Whole Novels, and you can see the way that that they’re structured and kind of decide what you need. During that time, I think, probably for you during that time, too, it was probably good for you to be home, too, during during that piece. So hopefully, we’ll get you back to the retreat center then soon, too.

Darla Himeles:
I would love that.

Alison Green Myers:
See there? So,so I really hope that you know, our audience members, everyone’s heard–whether it’s Nancy’s perspective or Darla’s perspective, or Trisha’s or Hoda’s–what we’re investing in is you. What we’re investing in is what you need. And that’s what the scholarships are really about. The scholarships are meant to be an investment in what you need to get to the next stage in your writing. And so 2025 is going to be another big year of that.

I do want to bring on…After talking to our panelists and hearing all these experiences, I see so many people in the chat saying, yes, that’s the one I want, or yes, that’s why it’s so great to hear from other authors and illustrators about their specific experience. But before we get to the scholarship timeline, I do want to invite George Brown to come on. George Brown is our executive director. George has really helped to grow the scholarship program to what it is today. The scholarship program today is vastly different from when I applied for a scholarship in 20…oh…2006, I think, or 2005, when I came to the Highlights Foundation. He continues to kind of push on what it can be next, what the next iteration is. And so, George, I can imagine you’re feeling excited, and you’re ready for this year’s launch, so I hope you’ll share a little bit with us about your excitement.

George Brown:
Alison we first met when you were visiting the Highlights Foundation on scholarship. I remember that dinner quite well. Darla calling, being a super fan of the Highlights Foundation, I love that. I thought I was the only one who was a super fan, so it’s great to have other super fans. Hi, everybody, welcome! My name is George Brown. I am the executive Director of the Highlights Foundation, and this is the most exciting time of the year for us. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we measure our work and our worth upon our mission. And Alison talked about that mission of positively impacting children by amplifying the voices of storytellers. And we measure also the impact that we have.

And the scholarship program is really one of those great pieces of impact at the Highlights Foundation Alison mentioned, we are celebrating our 40th year here at the Highlights Foundation. And so that’s pretty fun to think about that. We have been able to serve storytellers, for now that’s I think you would call that two generations of storytellers. I remember I was 8 years old when I went to that first Chautauqua in tote with my father and my stepmother on their honeymoon, and so I have fond memories of the early Highlights Foundation, and have been connected, and a piece of that, ever since.

Alison also mentioned our friend Christine French Culey, who passed away recently; editor-in-chief of Highlights Magazine, and we were thrilled to be able to create with some of her loved ones the Christine French Cully Love of Reading Fund at the Highlights Foundation, and thinking about 40 years of the Highlights Foundation, thinking about our mission to positively impact children and thinking about this love of reading lik–it’s all pulls together into this idea that we can make a difference in a child’s life. We can help children, who are the world’s most important people, become their best selves through the stories we tell.

In reflecting on 40 years. I also think back to the people who have helped to make the Highlights Foundation into what we are today.

And okay. Am I back? Can you hear me again, Alex?

Alison Green Myers:
Yeah. Sounds great.

George Brown:
Sorry about that. So I think back to the Highlights Foundation of 40 years, and the people who have been a part of that and that all started with the beginning of the scholarship program. Way back in the early days there was a person who pulled my father aside and said, I love this experience so much. I want others to have this. I want to create a scholarship, and so to be able to think about one person, one scholarship. Now to being able to provide over 50 scholarships this year. It’s really amazing to look at how that program has grown.

The other thing that’s pretty fascinating, is Alison was getting us all pumped up for the ALA bookaAwards, which is coming up. And right, that’s like the superbowl of the kidlit industry, and she mentioned, we love to watch that as a group and celebrate people we know, and a lot of the award winners would often be faculty people who have taught at the Highlights Foundation in the past. And now, she said, we’re seeing some of the award winners are students of the Highlights Foundation, right? And so some of those are scholarship winners, and so to be able to celebrate on that big stage and think about award winners who have been through the Highlights Foundation. It’s really just a. it’s a, it’s a fun way to think about and celebrate the impact of the Highlights Foundation, and especially the scholarship program.

So I hope you all apply. We look forward to reading your applications. We’ve been doing lots of work on the back end, improving the application process. This year we’ve been reaching out to our friends and faculty and donors to be a part of that review process. And it really is a big community effort. And it’s really the greatest piece of impact that we do at the Highlights Foundation that really embodies the mission and the community of that all. So thank you. I’m looking forward to seeing your applications.

Alison, that’s that’s it from me. Can we roll on the questions?

Alison Green Myers:
I know there’s so many questions there. Alex is coming on, too. I’m going to to say that I’m gonna add a bonus video to the video that goes out and it’s not gonna be live. It’s gonna be a canned video.I’m saying it now, so that Bobbie knows because Bobbie is going to help me with the video tomorrow, and I’m going to do a walkthrough of the scholarship application in that video so that we can get right into questions. I don’t want to run too far over. The next thing that I was going to do is talk about going through the actual scholarship application. As George said, we’ve done a lot to improve the scholarship application itself. And so hopefully you’ll get there. Molly’s going to be posting the link. We’ll be sending the link out as well. But also I’ll put a short video together that just shows that step by step, through the application process.

So with that I would invite everybody to come in from the panel, and we’re going to have Alex lead us through some wonderful questions from the chat. See how many.

Alex Villasante:
So many good people.

Alison Green Myers: Alex, there, so I’ve I’ve been answering a few while George was talking.

Alex Villasante:
Molly and I have been backstage trying to answer as many questions as we possibly can, and they’re coming in faster than I can type. And I can type pretty fast. So you guys are great with all your wonderful questions. Thank you for that, and thank you to the panelists for just again and again, you inspire us with your stories of how you are creating this magical work for children. I always get choked up when I hear your stories. So thank you for sharing those. So one of the things that comes up again and again in different formats is, you know, how can you say a little bit about how decisions are made. So what is, is the the criteria for, you know a a good application, and you talked a little bit, Alison, about that seriousness of purpose. Can you expand a little bit on that? I think a lot of people have questions on that. What makes that, that good application.

Alison Green Myers:
Yeah. So I think one of the things to, when people we, we kind of, I mean, the panelists are kind of an example of this right now, because we’ve asked you to come back and talk tonight. But we also ask you several things leading up to your experience, and after your experience, too. And one of the things often that people will ask us is, how was, how was I selected? You know, I think that’s a very “creative mind” thing to ask, too. Like, how was it me? How was I selected for this? And I would say that one all everyone here talked about the heart that they put into their application, and there are a lot of narratives.

So when the, we have a review committee that’s made up of children’s book authors, illustrators, editors, agents, former students, faculty, scholarship recipients, donors. We have this huge scholarship review committee and multiple people take a look at the scholarship applications. And that is because when you’re looking at art, when you’re looking at people’s work, there is some subjectivity to it. So it’s nice to have multiple people reviewing that, right? And people that aren’t necessarily I mean, Alex, I think you and I, we see someone’s application come in. And we’re like, remember, when they came with the story about the slug, and I love it, and we could talk forever about that. So it’s better to have people who maybe aren’t as invested in the slug as Alex and I are.

So the scholarship review committee will get a selection of books that we try and match based on that scholarship reviewers’ level of interest or talents themselves. So like Darla sent in a novel in verse, we’re looking for people who have experience with novels in verse to be reading lots of the novels in verse applications right? And so then they’re providing a ranking that we have, a ranking of one to 5 that we have. And then also a narrative response. They read every narrative response, and then they write their own response. So that we’re not just looking at the score that was given. But we’re also looking at that bit of feedback that’s been given because part of this, we’re not awarding…George was just talking about a book award. Right? We’re not awarding something for the product. We’re offering an award for the creative. And that’s different. We’re not looking for a polished piece. At this point, we’re looking for someone who we can really help, somebody who, at one of our programs, or in the community, or like Nancy was saying, I, I have to have three days of dedication to this project if I’m going to make changes to move forward in this project.

And I was saying, we’re looking for 50 people in the 650 people who applied last year. I wish we would have had the funds to give to, you know, three times as many people as, as we were able to give. So, taking your time, filling out each part of the application, knowing that your narrative responses, that seriousness of purpose, is as impactful as the promise and talent that is in your submission, and knowing that several people and people who are familiar with the type of writing that you’re doing will be taking a look at that.

So that was probably a word salad there for you. But.

Alex Villasante:
That was…

Alison Green Myers:
And I threw in slugs so…

Alex Villasante:
That’s a book we have to eventually write.

Alison Green Myers:
Obviously.

Alex Villasante:
Slugs. Yeah, but I do think that you know, part of that narrative piece is telling us where you are. So like, as Alison said, it’s not the book, and this is not finished, and it’s not published. Necessarily. We had some questions about pre-published authors and illustrators and published authors. It’s the seriousness of purpose, and we want to hear from you where you are on your journey. If you’re an emerging creative, if you’re an established creative, we want to hear where you are, so that we can say, this is something that we can help you, as Darla said, get to that next level, like level up. That’s really what we want for all of you.

Okay, I could babble on, too. A couple of, there was a quick question, which I think, we answered, but it kept coming up about registering for a workshop that is available. Now, in case the, you know, it would sell out. Something like a Summer Camp or you know, and, and the recommendation. But I want to see it because it keeps coming up is that you know, if you do, you want to do that, Alison?

Alison Green Myers:
No, go for it.

Alex Villasante:
Okay, just that, that if you apply, we encourage you to apply for that workshop, and you can also register for that workshop. And if you do receive a scholarship, we’d be happy to refund you that registration, so you can still save that spot for yourself, if you feel like this is something that you definitely want to do. But you still want to apply for a scholarship. We recommend that.

And then, there’s another one that says, you can select…Or this might be an answer. Is Harlan in this chat, answering questions? She’s in there answering questions.

And then submitting work. I think we, you know, I mentioned this again in the chat, but we had a couple of of people coming in and out and asking different ways. You know, your, the best work that you can, that you can put together. It doesn’t have to be perfect if you, if you, it’s your, it’s your polished piece, but it might be something that you’re just starting: a novel in verse, or you’ve just started creating a dummy for a picture book–the best that you can make it. That does show that serious of purpose and seriousness to this to, to creating for children. That’s what we want to see.

So. Yes, it is Harlan in the chat answering questions. I love that, still wonderful. So I think that’s, that’s all of the ones that I’ve had put out. We answered 47 questions. There’s still some more coming in. I’m afraid I don’t know if we have…

Alison Green Myers:
Two big ones there that I think I’ll answer. And then what we’ll do, what we do every year is we take a look. We download the questions that are in the chat. We combine all the common ones, and then we’ll have that in the blog post afterwards, so you will get a response to all of the questions that are in here. One question that I see that’s popped up both in the chat and over here is about travel and travel stipends. There is, in the…if you’re thinking that you’ll be using your scholarship to travel to the Retreat Center, there are a limited number of travel stipends, and you can click a box that you’d like to be considered for a travel stipend. There’s like three questions that are included in that and we certainly encourage you to add that into your scholarship application. If that’s something that you would need in order to come to the Highlights Foundation.

And then someone else asked in there, if you received a scholarship previously, should you not apply for a scholarship this year? We we do not have limitations on applying for scholarships. We invite you to apply to a scholarship and you know, and, and use it as you need it if you are awarded one. We have had people in the past who have won a scholarship, you know, 2 years in a row or so. Maybe you’re…

Alex Villasante:
Or a few years in between. Yeah, yeah.

Alison Green Myers:
So.

Alex Villasante:
We encourage you to do that? Yeah.

Alison Green Myers:
Okay, and then it looks like there’s some–thank you for pointing out–it looks like there’s some clickable things that that people might want to to look in and find more information about as well, and we’ll make sure that all of that is working, George, before I wrap things up. You wanna jump…

George Brown:
Yeah, I, I see. Michelle had a question about the clickable link to the Overlook Foundation and people asking about. I think it’s important to understand the way the process is set up is you don’t actually have to decide which scholarship is just right, for you. Just fill out the application. And it doesn’t really matter. We also had a question about multiple identities and which identity; we do have some identity-based applications. We have some specific for picture book, etc. But really, that’s part of the pairing we do at the end where we try to match you up with a scholarship that seems like it’s just right for you, but we’re not asking you to put the burden on yourself of trying to read all 45 different named scholarships, and decipher the difference between one or the other. So I think that’s important. When you’re applying, just apply, and we’ll do the sorting part for you.

Alison Green Myers:
I think that certainly is hopefully part of the message tonight is: apply. Please apply. We would love for you to apply. If you haven’t heard it yet, we’d really love you to put an application in. I do want to thank you, Alex, for coming on with those. There’s no way that we’ll get to the other 50 that are in there, but we’ll make sure that we answer them by hand and get them out to you all as soon as possible.

I do want to say I am grateful to all have who have been a part in making this year’s scholarship program come together. It doesn’t just start in January. January is where we put the effort out into the world. But there’s a lot that happens behind the scenes. We have a wonderful team here at the Highlights Foundation. Of course, part of it as George has shared, was Kent Brown’s vision. I’d love to say it’s a lot of Chris Cully’s heart.

We have incredible donors. If you do click through the scholarships and some of those name scholarships and scholarship stories that we have, you’ll see so many names of so many caring people who have donated funds for scholarships, for creatives just like you. Just like me.

Our students: thank you. Thanks to you, our review committee, big thanks to you, you have your work cut out for you every year, so thank you very much, and thanks so much to Nancy and Hoda and Darla and Tricia for being here with us. We appreciate you, Molly. Thank you so much for getting every link in the chat. All of those things, responded. I should also thank Harlan. Harlan, thanks so much for jumping in there and getting so much.

Thank you all for joining us tonight. We hope that you find the best way to get involved. Remember, that could be to spread the word. You heard a lot of friends’ friends who shared with friends: we’re into that.

Provide support if you can, and apply, please apply. The scholarship deadline closes on February 10th, and we hope we see your application in the bunch. Until then:stay safe and take good care of one another.

Good night. Thanks, everybody.