The third round of the ABC's Children's Picture Book Competition has started. The judges have nominated the finalists but you, the reader, will choose a winner - that author/artist team who will walk away with a publishing contract!

The competition has author finalists and illustrators from 14 different states and two foreign countries.

To view the finalists in the competition and vote for your favorite, please visit the competition website. (Note: the finalist stories won't be posted online until midnight Sept. 15th, so please mark your calendars!).

The two-week voting period starts September 16, 2007 and will continue through midnight September 30, 2007. The winning author/illustrator team will be announced October 8, 2007.

This competition has received some criticism because of the online public voting; after all, how is one sure that people are voting for the best story and not for the author they like or know? But this is part of what makes this competition different from the rest. In the tough world of children's book publishing, marketing and promotion are extremely important and publishers aren't willing to take a risk with authors who just sit there and wait for their book to sell on its own. The logic behind this is that if the author is able to persuade people to vote for their story, they are able to persuade them to purchase their book as well. In this sense, the winner of this competition must be an aggressive book promoter. 

The next round of the competition starts in conjunction with the 3rd competition vote, so those of you interested in competing for next year, refer back to the website for the rules and guidelines for the next round of competition.

For more information, please contact Rita Mills at 713-937-9184 — 281-744-0626 (cell) or rita@bookconnectiononline.com.