Caldewash Awards!!

Proud to be a Pryor this week!  Our elementary school hosts children's book authors almost monthly.  This came as a pleasant surprise being new to Washington Elementary this year.  I think the proximity to NYC gives them ample opportunity to bring authors in.  What ever the reason, I love it.
Each year, the school has something called the Caldewash Awards, fashioned after the Caldecott Awards for illustration.  I urged, persuaded, coaxed...almost bribed, my kids to participate.  Being new to this project, I had no idea what to expect.  Well, I soon found out.  This is BIG at the school.  Olivia is a natural artist and we see her art expressions growing daily.  We are in awe, mainly because neither Dave nor I, have an artistic bone in our bodies.  That being said, we can appreciate art and truly appreciate Olivia's talent.  I wanted her to at least participate to get some type of award to say "you're good" from someone other than mom or dad.  She did not care to write the story, so Zach came to the rescue.  The rules said up to two people could work on a book.  Perfect.  No help from parents, even more perfect:-)

We submitted the book, 'The Different Dragon', in March, right after Spring Break.  Months went by and we almost forgot about it.  Until....I received an invitation in the mail to attend the awards ceremony.  They didn't tell us what award, but we were invited.  What I didn't realize was that anywhere from 25-50 books are submitted from each grade and only 4 are picked to get Honorable Mention and only one book wins first place.

Well.....our first year at Washington and Olivia and Zach won FIRST PLACE for 2nd Grade!!  Dave and I were so proud of them.  They recieved medallions with their names engraved.  I think this was a great accomplishment and a huge moral booster for both kids.  This makes Zach's 2nd time on the big stage with the Spelling Bee and now the Caldewash Award.  It finally sunk in for Olivia on our car ride home.  I saw the smile finally open up on her face.  She did it!

It was funny, as she thought about it, she said, "you know mom, that wasn't even my BEST work".  Yes, I know, but I wasn't going to say that because it was still good.  "Olivia, you are going to knock their socks off next year!" And to that end, keep on churning out 5 pages of artwork a day.  Oh, you should see the stacks.....