Illustrator Jieting Chen Wins Christopher Award For a Book

White Plains, N.Y. illustrator Jieting Chen won Christopher Award for The Dog That Gave My Brother Words (ages 7 and up, End Game Press). It is one of 12 books for adults and young people as the Christopher Awards program marks its 75th year. Wendy Hinote Lanier, Lindale, Texas, is the author.

When a nonverbal child with autism receives the gift of a therapy dog, he speaks for the very first time, moving his sister and parents to tears. Their meeting is magical. The book promotes a greater understanding of autism spectrum disorder and leaves the young reader with the satisfying sense that boy and dog are destined to do great things together.

Jieting Chen is an acclaimed 2D animator, illustrator, and designer, whose prolific career is marked by versatility and creativity. She has a Masters of Fine Arts in animation from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and has collaborated with such publishers as Penguin Random House, Macmillan Publishers, and Oxford University Press. Her freelance projects include book illustrations, animation, and design. In addition, she was art director at Benchmark Education Company and a freelance graphic designer at World Publishing Corporation. In the field of animation, her independent films have received countless awards. “Le Couple,” won the Audience Award of Animated Short at the SENE Film, Music & Arts Festival, and an Honorable Mention for Best Animated Film. "Good Morning” was honored with the Royal Reel Award at the Canada International Film Festival; “Audition” won the Best Animation award at the Big Mini Media Festival and received accolades at the Lima (Peru) Film Festival, to name a few. Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions, such as the Eyeart International Exhibition at the United Nations and the Tribeca Art Night in NYC. Her watercolor series has been selected by prestigious art fairs and galleries around the world.

Wendy Hinote Lanier is a former elementary teacher, award-winning author, and certified speaker who writes and speaks on a variety of topics related to children, writing, parenting, and Christian living. She writes both fiction and nonfiction for children, and crafts articles and devotional pieces for adults. Her resume includes titles for End Game Press, Sleeping Bear Press, Iron Stream Media, North Star Editions, Focus Readers, State Standards Publishing, ABDO Publishing, Lerner Books, KidHaven Press, Lucent Books, and Capstone Press as well as articles in on-line and print publications such as Highlights for Children and Clubhouse Magazine.

She received a B.S. in Speech Pathology and Audiology, an M.S. in Speech Language Pathology, and an M.Ed. in Elementary Education. During her teaching career, she spent more than 18 years in Texas public and private schools specializing in science, social studies, and language arts. The quintessential Texan, Wendy firmly believes everything is bigger and better in Texas. And, like most Texans, she knows a thing or two about telling a good story.

Christopher Awards were also given to creators of 11 TV/Cable shows and feature films.

The Awards celebrate authors, and illustrators as well as writers, producers and directors whose work “affirms the highest values of the human spirit” and reflects the Christopher motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”

Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications, said, “We’re often told that we can better understand a person if we walk a mile in their shoes. While that may not be physically possible, our book, film, and TV winners allow us to do that through engagingly told stories that introduce us to people and places different from our own, yet relatable in a variety of ways.”

The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.