OneRedFlower Press is proud to announce the publication of its second picture book: Longhouse Days by Jainal Amambing.

Detailed naive-style illustrations and simple words bring to life memories of a boyhood spent in a Rungus longhouse and a world that is rapidly disappearing.

We are pleased to announce the winners of OneRedFlower Press’s inaugural picture book competition.

The three entries chosen for publication are:

1. Atuk’s Amazing Sarong by Lim Lay Har & Lim Lay Khoon
2. Pasar Malam! by Cecilia Leong
3. Making Acar with Grandma by Cecilia Leong

We were encouraged by the overall high standard of the submissions and would like to wish all the writers/illustrators the very best. We hope they will continue to work on their stories and to see more submissions from them next year.

Publishing editor, Daphne Lee wrote about her experience editing the book in her column in StarMag:

“When I was first shown Emila’s mock-up of My Mother’s Garden, the little girl in it was dressed in jeans and a sweater. I asked Emila to dress her in a baju kurung instead, to better reflect the fact that she is a little Malaysian girl – the flowers and other plants in the garden show the local setting of the story. I didn’t think the girl would look odd in a baju kurung as many little Malay girls still wear this outfit. And also, Malaysian girls and women of all races do too, including as a school uniform.

“Textwise, Emila had written a simple narrative, but also composed rhyming verses for every picture spread. It is very hard to rhyme well. Unless you’re very good at it, there’s a danger that your text will end up sounding forced, clumsy or just plain cheesy. And so I removed the rhyming text, and Emila and I worked to improve the narrative, adding more descriptive details to the text. However, as I felt that the flowers and the little girl’s appearance were enough to give this book a thoroughly Malaysian feel, I refrained from adding any pointedly Malaysian references within the narrative. However, the book ends with an illustrated glossary of the flowers and plants, with their English and Malay names.

“My Mother’s Garden suffers from a slight oversight in that its spine doesn’t bear its title. This will make it hard to pick out when it’s sitting spine-out on bookshelves. Well, as Linda said to me, let’s hope it goes into second printing so we can add the title then!” ~ From Tots to Teens, StarMag, 16th Mat, 2010.

The piece appears in full on Daphne’s blog The Places You Will Go.

To find out more about the author/illustrator, Emila Yusof, visit her blog.

What we’re looking for:

• Original stories set in Malaysia, with Malaysian characters, and that reference and reflect Malaysian life and culture.

• Authors and illustrators who are familiar with and love picture books, and who wish to tell stories in this format.

Categories
A. Picture Book comprising pictures and text
In this category a completed picture book should be submitted. It should comprise not more than 1000 words and should be fully illustrated. Authors and illustrators may work together to submit an entry to this category.

B. Text manuscript for a picture book
In this category, an author may submit a manuscript for a picture book. It need not be illustrated, but it must be a complete story comprising not more than 1000 words. If an entry in this category is selected, the editors will be responsible for pairing it with a suitable illustrator.

C. Textless Picture Book
This category is for picture books that tell stories without text.

Rules

• The contest is open to Malaysian nationals and residents only.

• The competition is open to both published and unpublished authors and illustrators. Stories and illustrations must be previously unpublished.

• There is no limit to the number of entries submitted by each writer and illustrator. Each entry must be accompanied by a separate entry form, which can be downloaded from this website.

• Each story, illustrated or not, should comprise not more than 1000 words, but there is no lower word limit.

• Stories should be written in either English or Bahasa Malaysia.

• For category A, text and illustrations should be laid out as if in a picture book, on any paper no smaller than A3 in size. Illustrations can be in any medium.

• For category B, your manuscript should be clearly typed or printed, using 12 point Times Roman font, on one side only of A4 paper, and double-spaced.

• For category C, illustrations should be presented on any paper no smaller than A3 in size. Illustrations may be in any medium.

• No stories or illustrations will be returned, so make sure you keep copies of your entries.

Prize

• Three winners will be selected for publication by OneRedFlower Press.

• The entries in all three categories will be judged collectively.

• The judges will wish to make an unbiased decision on all the entries, so please ensure that only the story title is printed on the story/illustrations.

• The closing date for all entries is 30 April 2010.

• The winners will be announced in July 2010.

Selection

• Publisher, Linda Tan Lingard, renowned artist and picture book author/illustrator Yusof Gajah, and OneRedFlower Press publishing editor, Daphne Lee, will select the three winners.

• The winners will be published by OneRedFlower Press.

• The publisher and editor have the right to edit the works selected for publication.

• Authors and illustrators will retain copyright of their work, with publishing rights assigned to OneRedFlower Press.

Entry forms

• Entry forms are available here.

• Entries are to be sent by post to:

OneRedFlower Press Picture Book Contest
c/o Yusof Gajah Lingard Literary Agency Sdn Bhd
24-2 Medan Setia 2,
Plaza Damansara,
Damansara Heights,
50490 Kuala Lumpur

• Faxed or emailed entries will not be accepted, and manuscripts will not be returned.