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Resumé
Government Science for Kids...
• Packaging your Imagination. 3 November 2008, Toronto. One-day seminar featuring Marie-Louise Gay, with Kit Pearson, Julie Lawson, and Ted Staunton. Sponsored by the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers.
• Book Launch. 18 October 2008, Ottawa, The Heart and Crown. Caroline Pignat, member of my critique group, read from her second novel, Greener Grass, Fitzhenry and Whiteside 2008.
• Packaging your Imagination. 3 November 2007. One-day seminar featuring O.R. Melling, with Helaine Becker, Janet McNaughton, and Edo Van Belkom. Sponsored by the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers.
• Putting your Best Book Forward. 23 June 2007. One-day seminar featuring agent Stephen Barbara of the Donald Maass Agency, with authors Alma Fullerton and Jo Ellen Bogart. Sponsored by the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
• SCBWI Writing Group. 16 January 2007. Started up with a new group, meeting monthly to review writing projects. Sponsored by the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
• Packaging your Imagination. 4 November 2006. One-day seminar featuring Gordon Korman, with Lucy Falcone, Sharon Jennings, and Simon Rose. Sponsored by the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers.
• A Day with Alan Cumyn. May 2006. Seminar sponsored by the Canadian Authors’s Association, led by the author of The Secret Life of Owen Skye, among others.
• Annual Fiction and Food Writing Award, sponsored by Pam White's ezine Food Writing, for Melting Moments. May 2006. Unpublished contemporary short story—about how a boy learns to accept his loss through comforting traditions that unfold over Christmas.
• Canadian Authors Association Award for Children’s Literature, for Wauna's Song. May 2006. Unpublished fantasy patterned after Native American legends.
• Ottawa Public Library Book Reviews. December 2003–May 2006. Sharon’s reviews of books for and about children published on line.
• Ottawa Critique Group. Established September 2003. Monthly meetings on-going, to review stories and have our own work discussed in a supportive environment.
• A Novel Weekend Workshop. 4-5 December 2005. Seminar with author Leo Brent Robillard, sponsored by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
• Dancing in the Dust: Plunging into Nonfiction. 24-25 November 2005. Seminar with author Linda Granfield, sponsored by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
• Packaging Your Imagination. 5 November 2005. Seminar with writers Kenneth Oppel, Marthe Jocelyn, and Carol Matas and editor Shelley Tanaka, sponsored by the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers.
• Creative Writing Workshop. May 2005. Two days lead by author Leo Brent Robillard, sponsored by the Canadian Authors Association.
• Diploma, Special Publishing Course. 21 April 2005. An 18-month, three-credit professional program of instruction in writing short stories and articles for publication completed, sponsored by the Institute of Children’s Literature, Charter Oak State College, Connecticut.
• Afternoon with an editor. April 2005. Seminar with Dial Books for Young Readers and a personal critique of work by Rebecca Waugh, sponsored by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustratorss.
• Writing Short Stories. February 2005. A one-day workshop with Ruth Latta, sponsored by the Canadian Authors Association.
• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Joined February 2005 and had my website posted on the Canadian site. SCBWI is dedicated to enhancing the careers of children’s authors.
• Gold Harvest Award 2003. December 2004. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s top honor was awarded for work aimed at getting science into Canadian schools: Make Science Your Future!
• Writers’ Union of Canada, Kids’ Lit Competition. July 2004. Gran’s Clock made the final cut and was recommended for publication.
• Turning Life into Fiction. May 2004. Course by Kim Barry Brunhuber. Nepean Visual Arts Centre.
• Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference, Ottawa. May 2004.
• Plastic Bags Offer Easy Way to Deter Deer by Sharon Rudnitski. April 2004. Article published in the Ottawa Citizen.
• Institute of Children’s Literature, Special Publishing Course. Enrolled November 2003–. Professional instruction by Sharelle Byars Moranville in writing fiction and nonfiction for children and teenagers. 3 college credits from Charter Oak State College, Connecticut. Diploma expected July 2005.
• Definitely not the Grown up Stuff. May 2003. A four-week course by Rachna Gilmore, on developing child-centred stories.
• Story. Fall 2000. Seminar given by Hollywood screenwriter Robert McKee, Toronto. Art of story telling and principles of story design.
Government Science for Kids...
Manager
Science Communications, Operations
Communications Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
• Won Harvest Gold 2003, a departmental achievement award, for getting government science into Canadian schools, through Make Science your Future!
• Produced a poster sent to schools across Canada, promoting teachers’ guides for 23Earthtones vignettes shown on the Discovery Channel.
• Had 46 Earthtones vignettes posted on the Internet.
• Produced First Scientists, a 1-h TV documentary with the Discovery Channel.
• Had 10 Greenspeak segments broadcast on the Green Channel.
Director
Strategic Promotion
Research Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
• Developed strategies to increase the public’s awareness of the value of science.
• Produced Clean-Acres Challenge, a CD-ROM for kids on agriculture and the environment.
• Won APEX awards for Spotlight on Research and Earthtones—the Book, presenting science to a general audience.
• Managed the redesign of the science pages on AAFC’s website.
• Developed 46 TV vignettes with the Discovery Channel.
Head
Scientific Editing Section, Research Program Service
Research Branch, Agriculture Canada
• Coordinated the production annually of about 100 extension publications and promotional brochures on agriculture for 50 research groups across Canada.
Scientific Editor
Scientific Editing Section, Research Program Service, Research Branch, Agriculture Canada
• Edited and produced hundreds of brochures, pamphlets, and newsletters on agriculture for people with little background in science.
• Edited and adapted Poisonous Mushrooms of Canada (1,000 pp.) for a general audience, winning an award from the Association of Federal Government Communicators.
• Won national and international awards for the newsletter Stimulus and eight other departmental publications.
Section Head
Air Pollution Control Directorate, Environment Canada
• Edited and published 40 reports on the environment for the public.
Copy Editor
Research Journals, National Research Council
• Obtained a firm footing in the mechanics of writing, by copyediting monthly the Canadian Journal of Biochemistry and Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology.
Education
Honors Bachelor of Science
• University of Toronto: biochemistry, physical chemistry, nutrition, food science, physics, physiology, botany, zoology.
• Thesis: Gas–liquid chromatographic analysis as a new method for determining the rancidity of fats and oils.
Write to me at rudnitski@cyberus.ca
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