You’ve all worked hard getting your entries ready…and it shows! I’m happy dancing for the finalists and am excited for the agent and editor round to start on Monday, March 10. The judges and I love your entries. We can’t wait to share them with at least 65 agents, editors and art directors…and cheer you on.

Huge thanks to our amazing judges. This wouldn’t be possible without their hard work (I saw them on the PBParty spreadsheet day and night this past month). At the end of our duke-it-out-for-final-spots Zoom (which was almost 4 hours long and finished around midnight), we recorded a message for everyone who entered. Passcode: 3A$26nGM

I’m sending hugs to those who need them. (((Hugs))) Having to turn away so many incredible entries hurts my heart. I know how hard it is to be hopeful for a contest and not make it in. I remember how crushed I was when I didn’t make it into a mentorship program. But I kept trying and hoping and signed with my agent soon after! Keep writing, revising, taking classes, workshops, etc. And if possible, see if you can get a mentor. The PB Rising Stars Mentorship applications open March 7! Learn more about it with this Meet the Mentors plus Q&A replay. I hope everyone who didn’t make it into PBParty will go for it. If you’re a finalist, you can still apply with a different manuscript–but it would be great to choose mentors willing to work with agented creatives…because I hope you’ll have a shiny new agent soon. Fingers and toes crossed for you!

It was so difficult whittling over 1000 awesome entries down. We ended up with 55 finalists and 20 in the Illustration Showcase. Yay! But that still makes way over 900 people we sadly couldn’t place in the finals. This is the hardest part for me. I teared up taking entries out. But we need to in order to keep the agents and editors coming back year after year.

Please know that you are so talented–your entries brought us so many laughs, heartfelt tears, new knowledge, and tons of joy. We had to pass up lots of wonderful ones. I’m so proud of each of you for entering! We hope your manuscripts are way stronger between all the PBParty tips and making sure the first 70 words dazzle. It was an honor seeing that we were the first query for some of you. That’s a HUGE step forward and reason to celebrate.

I hope reading through the entries starting March 10 will help sharpen your writing and query skills even more. So many writers have told us they learned how to write a query from the finalists…which is one of the reasons we keep it open to the public. It’s like taking an intensive in strong beginnings, language that sings, great hooks, amazing writing, and professional queries.

It’s not too early to start working toward next year’s contest! It’s always wonderful seeing writers and author/illustrators getting stronger and stronger every year until they become a finalist. 

Keep working with your critique groups to make your manuscripts shine as brightly as possible. You can also get fresh eyes each month on the PBParty New Draft Challenge & Critique Train. The next one is March 20 – 22. Maybe the draft you write during the challenge will be the PB that gets you an agent/editor!

We’re thrilled to put together picture book critique groups for anyone who is interested (even if you didn’t participate in PBParty or are agented). Sign up here!

*Honorable mentions will be shouted out after the showcase ends!

It was exciting to see lots of PBParty honorable mentions in the queries…and some of them are 2025 finalists! Each time you polish up manuscripts and send new hope out, it could be a huge step closer to a YES. And we can’t wait to celebrate with you!

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And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for…

Here are the titles of the 2025 PBParty finalists!

This is the order they’ll appear in the agent/editor round. They’re in different colors below just to make this long list even more exciting. 🙂

Yechu and The Sacred Frog
Sleep Voyages
A Knight To Remember
Welcome Home
Mail Hugs: How One Little Boy Inspired A Community
Beauregard’s Books and Brains
Girlhood Is…
A Delicious Dozen: A Celebration of Cookies From Around the World
Book’s Story
The Shaktis Within Us

Maple’s Mirror Family
Who Comes Out Under Full Moon’s Light
Flight!
Walking for Sissy
The Miracle Toilet: How Reverend Henry Moule Invented a Loo That Saved Lives, Protected Rivers, and Made Compost
Ick! Eww! Ahh!
The Edgecomb Jar
Tracking Santa: The Gift of NORAD’s Holiday Tradition
Building a Better Wheelchair
The Violinist of 9/11

Morris and Buddy Strut Their Stuff
Pest Problem
Palm Tree Passover
Bookaneers
Koi Joy
City of Murals
The Story Tree
I Swim For Freedom
A Forest is Just a Forest Until. . .
Pepito Park’s Perfect Game

Free From Hunger-Yuan Longping and His Incredible Rice
The Masqued Tea Party
Smarty Plants: Wonderful Ways Plants are Smarter than We Think
Mission In Space: Saving The Hubble Space Telescope
Between
Alicia Pérez Will Absolutely, Positively Not Read Today!
Karen Kept Swimming
Growing up Blueberry
Hidden Lens: The Secret Photographs of the Lodz Ghetto
Goldihooks and the Three Buccaneers

A Termite Ate My Homework
NONNO’S GNOCCHi
Dear Math
Cloud’s Stormy Mood
Words As Wings
What Are You?
Brody Dreams of Pizza
MOSS
For Now, Home
Herb’s Garden

The Watchtower of the Savanna
Summer Folk
Honey Tea for Alice
The Flamingo House
Yumiko’s Wish

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Here are the titles from author/illustrators who will be featured in the Illustration Showcase (each will have a number and two illustrations in the showcase…editors and agents will request by number).

Flying With Hope
Count Rainbow
Scheming For Ice Cream
Mr.Wart’s Great Adventure
Take it Slow, Mo

Notta Zoo
A Wolf’s Trouble
Sarah Sassafras: Detective Extraordinaire
Zorie and the Dragon
Hoppy Blew Away

The Day I Lost My Name
I Will Not Like The Beach…Probably
Curly The Climbing Croc
The Sock Gobbler
The Moo Mystery

How to Be a Star (Some Dreaming Required)
Mimi and the Space Pirates
The House of Collectives
Punk Pre-K!
The Leaf Thief

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Congratulations!

Even though we don’t include names…you’re all welcome to shout out to the world which entry is yours. You can link to it once it’s up, too!

Please make sure people know comments on entries are only for the agents and editors (but we can all cheer for you on social media). Finalists who would like to reply to a request may comment, too.

If you’re a finalist, look for an e-mail from me by Thursday morning. If you don’t see it, please check your Spam. If it isn’t hiding there, contact me so I can share important information with you. 🙂

One note about the agent/editor showcase that starts on Monday, March 10. A little before midnight I’ll make the entries go live, one by one, to make sure they’re in the right order. They will probably ALL show up in e-mail notifications if you’re subscribed to my blog. You can easily follow some of your favorites that way…or delete all the e-mails and just look at them on my website. Whatever works best for you. I can’t wait for you to see them!

PBParty brings me so much sunshine. I love helping make publishing dreams come true. I couldn’t possibly do all this alone. Ninja Superstar/Judge Sylvia Chen puts so much into judging and creating spreadsheet magic that not only makes it easier and more fun to see how voting is going…but saves me days and days of doing everything by hand. I always double check dates with Sylvia before planning the PBParty contest dates…because I can’t imagine the contest without her. Congrats on the cover reveal for your new picture book, illustrated by Thai My Phuong. It’s absolutely stunning, Sylvia!

Thank you to the hard-working judges who not only spent a month voting on over 1000 entries, but helped participants with tips, how to resize images for the Google entry form without losing quality, and so much more! Along with Sylvia, they truly are a dream team, and I’m honored to work with them. Thank you Brittany Pomales (whose debut picture book will be out soon–wahooo), Marietta Apollonio, Aixa Perez-Prado, Jenna Waldman, Stacey Byer and Teresa Rodrigues.

Thanks to Callie Dean and Becca McMurdie for putting together amazing Ranking Parties and critique groups. Everyone has been raving about them, and I’m excited for new groups to form soon. Great critique groups are priceless!

Thank you to PBParty Designer, author/illustrator Melissa Escobar, for creating the PBParty contest logo, invitations, discussion cards, etc. I love them so much. 🙂

If you aren’t on the finalist list…what are your next steps? A mentorship? Class? Awesome new goals? I’m crossing my fingers and toes and hope your YES is around the corner. (((Hugs)))

Huge congrats, PBParty finalists! I’m sending tons of good luck fairy dust your way. How are you going to celebrate?