After winning a spot in the Illustrator Showcase of PBParty the past two years (2024 & 2025), I was honored to have Mindy Alyse Weiss invite me to be a judge this year!
What Is PBParty?
PBParty is an annual contest is for unagented writers and author-illustrators. It’s a unique opportunity for picture book creators to immerse themselves in the community, and in the process of developing a manuscript or dummy book ready for agents and editors. Winners are featured in an online showcase that is reviewed by dozens of professionals. It is a highly anticipated event, because it presents a curated selection of standout, unagented creators in one accessible place!
Honestly, that immersion is just as much a prize for the participants as the potential of an agent or editor request. The ranking parties are a unique chance to read a lot of unpublished manuscripts from a variety of fellow creators, get a sense of which of your stories resonate with people, and there are opportunities for critique groups to form.
What makes it special?
Winners are placed in an online showcase, and dozens of literary agents participate in reviewing the art and stories. It is a big draw for industry professionals, because in an environment where the crushing volume of queries, submissions and AI slop has become an issue, PBParty is able to exhibit the cream of the crop of unagented creators’ stories in a format that makes it easy to discover them. Industry inboxes are getting tens of thousands of emails, making it impossible to get through everything, and I’ve even heard one editor confide that they had to get permission from higher ups to delete their entire pending inbox and reset, since they could not possibly open and review the thousands of submissions.
In vetting and presenting a selection of many of the best stories and creators of the year, PBParty takes some work out of the process of finding new talent, and the value shows in the number of professionals who take advantage of requesting from the finalists – right in the showcase.
The heart behind it:
I know everyone involved is deeply positive and enthusiastic about uplifting the community of people trying to create meaningful reading experiences for kids. I’ve helped a bit behind the scenes after being honored as an illustration showcase finalist (we are making a lookbook of winning illustrators), so I’ve seen firsthand the inspiring amount of care and effort Mindy and Sylvia Chen put in. ❤️
All of the judges are volunteers giving time to support the community.
We had a prep kickoff Zoom – and it went over 3 hours with the Q&A, a testament to how much thoughtful information and support they provide. It was recorded, so give it a watch if you are preparing to enter, or just interested in the process of querying a book – Sylvia and Mindy’s slides include statistics on the types of stories submitted vs. the stories being requested, and what agents are saying they are looking for this year:
- Passcode: Xr3m*u$S
I’m thrilled to be able to continue to participate in PBParty with Mindy & the team despite being agented, and looking forward to reading many manuscripts and dummy books. Hopefully we will help people showcase their talent and join the community! I’ll post updates about the experience in the coming months.
If you have questions, reach out to me on Bluesky: @boringstorybook.com.
Or join the PBParty Facebook group.
All information on entering the contest can be found on Mindy’s website.
https://mindyalyseweiss.com/2026-pbparty-contest/
Important dates:
- The submission deadline is March 17, 2026 (St. Patrick’s Day).
- Finalists announced mid-to-late April.
- Showcase and agent/editor round should be up between May 4-8
