June 6, 2016 (New York) —We Need Diverse Books™ is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2016 WNDB Internship Grants. In the program’s first year in 2015, grants of $2500 were awarded to each of five interns from diverse backgrounds working in children’s publishing. This year, thanks to a recurring donation from the LJTJ Fund and a generous gift from author Emily Jenkins, WNDB planned to award ten $2500 grants.

However, there was such excitement about the program that additional donations from two WNDB team members, plus a gift from HarperCollins editor Jordan Brown, and another gift from New Leaf Literary, allowed WNDB to add an 11th grant at the last minute.

The following 11 interns have been selected for the 2016 WNDB Internship Grants:

Alexandra Hightower, NYU, to Writers House Literary Agency
Rafiatou Ouro Aguy, Hamilton College, to Simon & Schuster
Talia Chaves, Montclair State, to HarperCollins Publishing
Maya Marlette, Wellesley College, to Scholastic
Pia Ceres, Brown University, to Lee & Low Books
Jessica Harold, American University, to Nancy Gallt Literary Agency
Erin Siu, NYU, to Macmillan
Sophie Erb, Pratt College, to Macmillan (art department)
Jocquelle Caiby, Baruch College (CUNY), to Serendipity Literary Agency
Rae Chang, BYU, to Donald Maass Literary Agency
Manny Blasco, Rutgers University, to HarperCollins Publishing

“We had so many excellent candidates for the grants, it was difficult to choose the winners,” said Linda Sue Park, Honorary Chair of the WNDB Internship Grants Committee. “We’re also very gratified by the enthusiasm of our publishing partners to hire diverse applicants.”