Contest Alert, Plus a Little French Humor

First, the CONTEST ALERT! Actually, there are two opportunities for you YA writers out there. Firstly, the diversity-friendly publishing company Lee and Low, who pioneered the New Voices picture book award, are now presenting the New Visions Award for unpublished MG and YA authors! The award is

for a middle grade or young adult fantasy, science fiction, or mystery novel by an author of color. The Award winner will receive a cash grant of $1,000 and our standard publication contract, including our basic advance and royalties for a first time author. The deadline this year to submit manuscripts will be October 30, 2012.

Unpublished authors of color, GET OVER THERE and submit your manuscripts!

The second opportunity is not so much a contest, but it IS a publication, and it's new, and they welcome writing for young readers. Antioch University Los Angeles's MFA program has a new literary magazine, Lunch Ticket, and they're currently accepting submission for their second issue. The call for subs said they're ESPECIALLY on the lookout for good writing for young people, so GO! Submit your short fiction, essays, poetry, etc. And check out the poem by G. Neri in their first issue, posted online. There's also an interview with Francesca Lia Block, for you Weetzie Bat fans. (Hat tip to our occasional co-blogger, Jennifer, for finding this one.)

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Lastly, for your amusement, via the Expression Online newsletter comes TERRIFYING FRENCH CHILDREN'S BOOKS. Jenny Colgan has blogged about several of them on Storify and they are something to behold. Evidently the Roald Dahl aesthetic is quite popular there...so go, be entertained and/or disturbed.