Five Children’s Book Illustrators Named Finalists for 2014 Bull-Bransom Award by National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole
(PRWEB) March 18, 2014 -- The National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyo., has announced five picture books that have been selected as finalists in the national 2014 Bull-Bransom Award competition for best children’s book illustrations with a wildlife or nature focus. Finalists for this year’s Bull-Bransom Award are as follows:
• Cheer Up, Mouse! by Jed Henry, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2013
• FROG SONG © 2013 by Brenda Guiberson. Illustrations © 2013 by Grennady Spirin. (Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. All rights reserved.)
• if you want to see a whale, story by Julie Fogliano, pictures by Erin E. Stead, A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2013
• Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, by Peter Brown, Little Brown and Company, New York, 2013
• I’m the Scariest Thing in the Jungle, written and Illustrated by David G. Derrick, Jr., Immedium, 2013
Illustrators of the five books are under consideration for the award, which is presented annually by the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyo., to recognize artistic excellence in children’s book illustration that takes the natural world as its subject. The 2014 winner of the Bull-Bransom Award will be announced at the museum on May 1, 2014, as part of its Celebration of Young Artists event, with the winning illustrator invited to attend.
“I really enjoy looking at and helping do research on all of the books that we consider for the Bull-Bransom Award,” says Bronwyn Minton, assistant curator of art for the museum and a member of the finalist selection panel. “It’s fascinating to see the different illustrators’ approaches to portraying animals.”
In 2013, Eric Rohmann won the Bull-Bransom Award for his illustrations in “Oh, No!” (Schwartz & Wade Books), written by Candace Fleming, a compelling read-aloud story about a pack of animals getting into a mess as one after another falls into a deep, deep hole with a hungry tiger looking on. “My interest in art has always been entwined with my love of the natural world,” says Rohmann, who drew inspiration and detail for “Oh, No!”’s lush rainforest setting from a trip he took to Southeast Asia.
The 2012 Bull-Bransom Award went to Sylvia Long for A Butterfly is Patient (Chronicle Books), written by Dianna Hutts Aston. In addition to Rohmann and Long, past winners of the annual Bull-Bransom Award for excellence in children’s book illustration include Kevin Waldron for Tiny Little Fly (2011) and Jerry Pinkney for The Lion & the Mouse (2010). Each year, past Bull-Bransom winners are invited to serve on the judging committee to select the new winner.
Created in 2010 by the National Museum of Wildlife Art in the tradition of such prestigious children’s book illustrator honors as the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King and Hans Christian Andersen awards, the Bull-Bransom Award is named for Charles Livingston Bull and Paul Bransom, among the first American artist-illustrators to specialize in wildlife subjects. Both artists had tremendous impact on younger masters of wildlife art including Bob Kuhn; both created numerous children’s books during their careers, including contributing illustrations to different editions of Jack London’s classic Call of the Wild; and both are well represented in the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s permanent collection.
The Bull-Bransom Award is presented in the form of a medal engraved with wildlife images by both Charles Livingston Bull and Paul Bransom. A $5,000 cash award also is presented to the winning illustrator, who is invited by the museum to personally attend the Celebration of Young Artists award ceremony in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The award is given annually to a living North American children’s book illustrator for a book published during the previous calendar year.
COMPANY INFORMATION:
A member of the Association of Art Museum Directors and the Museums West consortium and accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the museum, officially designated the National Museum of Wildlife Art of the United States by an act of Congress in 2008, provides an exciting calendar of exhibitions from its permanent collection and changing exhibitions from around the globe. A complete schedule of exhibitions and events is available online at http://www.wildlifeart.org. The museum is also active on Facebook and on Twitter at @WildlifeArtJH.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Darla Worden, WordenGroup Strategic Public Relations, 307.734.5335, darla(at)wordenpr(dot)com
Darla Worden, WordenGroup, http://www.wordenpr.com, +1 307.734.5335, [email protected]
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