Debra Tidball is the author of award-winning picture books and short stories, plays and poems that have been published in anthologies and The School Magazine.
WHAT CYA CONFERENCE DID FOR ME
After a picture book manuscript of mine fell through acquisitions with a publisher in 2020, I included it an assessment at the 2021 CYA Conference. My assessment was with Nancy Conescu with Berbay Books who liked the manuscript and invited me to revise and submit, which I did. On reflection, however, Nancy didn't think the manuscript was the best fit for them, but she offered to send it to a friend of hers at HarperCollins, who subsequently went on to offer me a contract for it - a picture book, Lights Out, Little Dragon! with illustrations by Rae Tan, that came out in 2024! I am so thankful to Nancy for her thoughtfulness and kindness, and the CYA team for the opportunity.
But I also credit CYA with starting me off on my publishing journey! Way, way back, over ten years ago, I sent my first ever manuscript out into the world, and started acrruing rejections. Then, I sent it in to the CYA competition. It didn't place, but what I love about the competition is that you get two perspectives. One judge didn't love it, but it still scored well. But the other judge loved it and gave my manuscript 100%! This was all the encouragement I needed to keep sending it out to publishers, which I did, and When I See Grandma, illustrated by Leigh Hedstrm, came out with Wombat books in 2014.
CYA offers fantastic opportunities for creators, and I'm thankful to all the team!
