Selected from manuscripts submitted for individual critique at the RMC SCBWI Letters and Lines Conference each fall, the Golden Pen Award is given to the manuscript deemed most promising for publication. Critique faculty from the conference determine the nominees. A panel of SCBWI regional team members from other regions make the final selection.
The winner will receive free admission to the following year’s conference. Only manuscripts submitted for conference manuscript critiques by full-time conference attendees are eligible; see deadline and submission guidelines, available each year in mid-August. There is no prior application process for this award.
2020 Golden Pen Award Nominees:
| Name | Title of Manuscript | Category |
| Rachel Jensen (Winner) | Black Lake | Young Adult |
| Dea Brayden & Lindsay Ellis | Mary Katherine Declares Independence | Picture Book |
| E.E. Duncan (Runner-Up) | I Am the Boss of Me! Rattlesnake Kate Earns Her Name | Picture Book |
| Darcee Freier | Pancake Summer | Picture Book |
| Trish Holland | Creatures of the Mist | Picture Book |
| Ariane Peveto | The Words We Know and Love | Young Adult |
| Nancy Derey Riley | Fly Anxiety | Picture Book |
| Judith Robbins Rose | Burn | Young Adult |
| Wendi Silvano | Rexarina | Picture Book |
2019 Golden Pen Award Nominees:
| Name | Title | Category |
| Shelly Steig (Winner) | The Truth (Sort Of) about the Iceberg | Middle Grade (fantasy retelling) |
| Margaret Cate | The Stained-Glass People | |
| Kori Chubb | Last Chance | |
| Ana Crespo | Positively Differently | |
| Jolene Gutierrez | Days of the Dead | |
| Katherine Hahn | Glen Hollow | |
| Vanessa Hofmann | Lost Without Words | |
| Mary Kuehner | No More Carrots | |
| Laura Mitzner (Runner-Up) | The Island of the Diamonds | Young Adult |
| Natasha Vizcarra | Dez and the Volcano | |
| Susan Wroble | How to Become a Miracle Fossil | Picture Book (Nonfiction) |
2018 Golden Pen Award Nominees:
| Name | Title | Category |
| Kristen Crowley Held (Winner) | Ghost Wanted | Middle Grade |
| Nancy Bentley | Field Trip! Field Trip! | Picture Book |
| Ana Crespo | The Girl and Me | Picture Book |
| Kellye Crocker | My Dad’s Girlfriend and Other Colorado Catastrophes | Middle Grade |
| S.Y. Knoll | What It Takes | Young Adult |
| Nancy D. Riley | Cupid’s Tango | |
| Sadee Schilling | Storm Skye | Picture Book |
| Teri Shuch | Up and Away | Picture Book |
| Sally Spear | Too Loud Lizzie | Picture Book |
2017 Golden Pen Award Nominees:
| Name | Title | Category |
| Laura Perdew (Winner) | Undercurrents | |
| Cara Davies | Homestead | |
| Megan E. Freeman | Lone Girl | Middle Grade |
| Ashley Hastings | Blame It on the Cow | |
| Katy Hess | The Pirate’s Hand | |
| Lori Himmel | Waiting for Kai | Picture Book |
| Ann Morris | Thin | |
| Paula Obering | Grizzly Bird | |
| Nancy D. Riley | Chaska and the Great Flood | |
| Laura Wynkoop | Deer, Bear and Bicycle |