FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Minneapolis, MN) Kate Shannon’s children’s board book, Hey, Baby, Look! was honored last night with three finalist’s medallions at the 25th Anniversary Midwest Book Awards, sponsored by the Midwest Independent Publishing Association. Winning categories included Children’s Nonfiction, Children’s Picture Book, and Graphic Illustration. Backed by brain research and ideal for ages 0-3, Hey, Baby, Look! is filled with interactive fun for reader and child.
Last month, Shannon also won the Beverly Hills International Book Award for Children’s Nonfiction, the Indie Book Award for Children’s/Juvenile Nonfiction, the 2nd place award for Children’s Books at the San Francisco Book Festival, and the Gold Medal in the Children’s Picture Book (0-3 years) category at the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Awards, which is sponsored annually by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). The IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards are recognized as one of the highest national honors for independent authors and publishers. Winning books are selected based on the judgment of over 150 book publishing professionals in fifty-five different categories.
“I wrote my first children’s book when I was five and my second when I was 35,” says Shannon. “Three decades can be a long time to wait for something to come around again, but when it’s meant to be, it will surely find its way. I’m thrilled to share these honors with talented illustrator, Morgan Owens, and our amazing project manager, Book Bridge Press.”
A graduate of the University of Minnesota and Indiana University, Shannon’s publishing company, Blue Dream Books, is an independent house of writing, art, and imagination. Seeking to help multiply moments of joy and connectivity, Blue Dream Books carries messages of aliveness, gratitude, reflection, creativity, learning, play, and possibility. With another 24 lined up behind it, Hey, Baby, Look! is Blue Dream Books’ first published book. Originally from Elkhorn, Wisconsin, Kate now lives in the Twin Cities with her young family.