Saturday, October 20, 2012, we traveled to Mooresville, NC, for the annual awards banquet of the North Carolina Society of Historians, where Suzanne and Zach won awards for the first in the Stratford Oaks Tales series, The Tale of Gretchen. Zach received a Paul Green Multimedia Award for his artwork and Suzanne a Clark Cox Historical Fiction Award for the story. We were honored to receive these awards from the North Carolina Society of Historians.

Judges' Collective Comments for Zach's art:

"Zach Hamm has definitely captured the essence of the story in this book through his wonderful illustrations. Fashioned in a childlike style, they are appealing to both children and adults; however each frame is masterfully etched. The expressions on people's faces depict feelings within the text; and, recurring characters and Gretchen can easily be identified on every page they appear on due to their consistently drawn features. It takes a great deal of talent to do this but the artist has made it look easy. An absolutely incredible job!"

In October 2013, Zach also won a Paul Green Multimedia Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians for his artwork, for the second in the Stratford Oaks Tales series, The Tale of Clyde.