Congrats to Neha Rawat for Winning the SCBWI Portfolio Showcase!

Coreyartus

Hey, folks--just wanted to let you know that one of our own, @Neha-Rawat won the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) Summer Spectacular Portfolio Showcase that just wrapped itself up a few minutes ago. Out of around 450 participants, she was one of two Grand Champion winners! Here at SVSLearn, she was a featured student for February 2020!

You may recall a couple weeks ago, Neha created a thread that actually asked if participating was worth the experience... I wasn't too optimistic, but I have to eat my own words as it obviously worked for her!!! She wins free admission to the next virtual conference in February, meetings with three art directors, and a $1000 gift certificate to Blick Art Supplies.

There was a group of us on Instagram DMing each other as we watched the sessions (thank-you so much @Coley for setting it up and corralling us all together), and we had a great time! It was nice touching bases with everyone as the event unfolded. Apparently, the usual attendance for the conference held annually in LA is around 1200, but because everything was online this year they had over 4000 participants from all over the world. Neha's work was seen by thousands of people.

You can see Neha's showcase here. Judging criteria included: 1) children's book publishing appropriateness, 2) consistency of a strong illustrative "voice" throughout, and 3) a fresh and unique style.

The entire collection of illustrators can be found here. It's a great resource, and useful to see what imagery other illustrators are including in their portfolios. It will be available through the month of August.

Congrats again, Neha!!!

TessaW

Oh my gosh!!!!! That's amazing news!!!! Congrats Neha!!!

Coley

Thanks for posting, @Coreyartus and we are all sooo happy for you @Neha-Rawat ! This is so wonderful ️ . Soooo well-deserved! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

Jeremy Ross

Thank you @Coreyartus, and HUUUUGE CONGRATULATIONS to @Neha-Rawat!!!! Well-deserved!!!

danielerossi

Awesome news! Congrats @Neha-Rawat!

Lovsey

@Neha-Rawat Wow! Congratulations - well done on such an honour!

cshillustration

Congrats @Neha-Rawat! Loved scrolling through your SCBWI portfolio!

NessIllustration

Wooooooow, congrats @Neha-Rawat ! That is an impressive feat!!

KathrynAdebayo

That’s so wonderful!!

K.Flagg

That is so awesome! Congrats Neha! Well deserved win.

Neha Rawat

Wow! Thanks @Coreyartus for such a wonderful and organized post!

THANK YOU to everyone for your wishes! This was really unexpected for me so I was equally shocked at the results!

But most of all, I want to thank @Will-Terry @Jake-Parker @Lee-White for SVSLearn! The day I discovered SVS was pretty much when my career as a children's book illustrator started an upward incline. You are all amazing teachers and the passion and knowledge you, and the other instructors share through SVS is exceptional. I'll be forever grateful to everyone who makes SVS possible!

*** ALERT: LONG POST AHEAD ***

A lot of people have doubts about if it's worth becoming an SCBWI member. I just wanted to share my experience with it.

Firstly, I would like to mention that members from India get almost a 50% discount on their membership/renewal fee in lieu of being from a UN Developing Nation.
My registration fee for the SCBWI Summer Spectacular event also had a 50% discount. For any additional registrations (like the portfolio showcase), I paid the full price.

So I've been an SCBWI member for almost a year now and honestly, I haven't reaped many benefits of it because the India chapter is not that active.

As for online resources, they send a monthly and quarterly magazine with articles etc. to all the members, but I've never read one to date

I'd been submitting my work for their monthly "Draw This!" and their Feature contest but I observed the artists who usually got selected had a very distinct style (it's hard to explain) but I felt that my style didn't fit in. Anyway, it's not AS discouraging when you don't know who you're up against, so I just kept on drawing hoping to create a portfolio worthy piece (just like with the SVS challenges). In fact, one of the month's Draw This! topic was "Masks" for which I created a piece that made it to my portfolio for the showcase! (The girl putting on a face mask in front of the mirror - just did a different take on "Masks")

My main takeaway from the SCBWI membership came earlier this year when I had my portfolio ready to share with publishers and agents.

Their "The Book" publication is a good source for the latest market surveys with names and contacts of all the important ppl in the publishing industry.
Secondly, their online digital workshops that were made freely available to all members during the lockdown. A couple of them were really informative. Though I'm not sure yet if they will continue this trend post-pandemic.
You don't need to be a member to attend any SCBWI events, but you do get a discount on the registration fee if you are one. For me, it was this event, but if you're in a region that is active with local events, it should be applicable to those too.

SCBWI is great for networking and getting your work in front of the right people. I personally feel (being from a not-so-active-region) it's more advantageous when you think you're ready to showcase your work (unless you're someone who loves to consume a lot of information that only members will have access to). There are indeed a lot of publishers, art directors, agents who will see your work. You basically have to weigh out your risk-reward ratio.

I will be sharing another long post about how I went about creating my portfolio and any helpful links that I found.

Again, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! This forum has instilled a lot of confidence in me and has helped me grow as an artist.

LauraA

@Neha-Rawat Whooooaaaaaaa!!!!! Congratulations!!! And you totally deserve it!!!

And thank you so much for that well-organized post of whether it's worth it to join SCBWI. From what I gather, it would have been useful to join up until now even if one is from a place that doesn't have a chapter, but that moment seems to be passing or to have already passed. Is that correct?

I'm looking forward to reading your future portfolio post as well!

Nyrryl Cadiz

@Coreyartus i am so happy for you @Neha-Rawat !!!!! you go girl!!!!!

deborah Haagenson

Wow! Congratulations!! Thank you for sharing this information with us too! I am so happy for you!!

eriberart

Awesome! Congratulations!!!

demotlj

Congratulations and well deserved! I always look forward to your submissions in the monthly contest because I love your style.

Neha Rawat

@LauraA said in Congrats to Neha Rawat for Winning the SCBWI Portfolio Showcase!:

From what I gather, it would have been useful to join up until now even if one is from a place that doesn't have a chapter, but that moment seems to be passing or to have already passed. Is that correct?

Thanks, @LauraA! Technically, all the recordings of the Summer Spectacular event will be up on the SCBWI website for all of August. But only the people who have registered for the event will be able to access it. Even if you register as an SCBWI member now, I don't know if your registration for the event will be accepted considering it's over, even though the link is still live. Maybe you can email them and find out?

None the less, the next event is scheduled for February 2021. So that gives you good time to work on your portfolio and maybe you could consider joining/attending then!

Rachel Horne

@Neha-Rawat well done - that is totally fantastic!! 🥰

holleywilliamson

@Neha-Rawat Congratulations! It was so exciting to see someone win who I “recognized!” Your portfolio is beautiful and the prize is well deserved!

JoshuaDages

Congrats @Neha-Rawat! Your showcase is so inspiring!