The Cybils

The nominating and judging committees for the first ever Children's and YA Bloggers' Literary Awards, the CYBILS (yes I know the acronym doesn't fit the letters, just don't blame me !) are being formed. If you want to volunteer, hop over to the site.

In the meantime, here are the Rules:

1. The book must be published in 2006 in English. Translations and bilingual books are okay too.

2. You can be anybody. You don't have to be a blogger to nominate a book. You can even be the author, the editor, the publicist, the next-door neighbor or best friend or just a random Googler.

3. If a book you love has already been nominated by someone else, you don't need to second it. We're pretty smart. We'll see it. Promise.

4. Please, pretty please, only nominate one book per category.

We fear editors submitting their entire lists, publicists under pressure from clients to nominate them all or indecisive types like yours truly who have 584 "favorite" books.

We're trying hard to not have any more rules, but if we cannot help ourselves, we will alert you at once.

The First Annual Children’s Book Awards, Blog Edition

News from Kelly at Big A, little a

This month we’ve seen a spate of book awards, some of which have left us wondering: couldn’t we, the intelligent, savvy members of the kidlitosphere do better? Or, at least, differently?
So, we’re inaugurating our own book awards, honoring books published in English for children in 2006. Anne Boles Levy, of Book Buds, will launch a site this week and administer the awards process. What we need first is a name for this award, so we can get the award site up asap. One suggested name is The Belugas. Okay, that was my suggestion, but I suspect it’s a little weird. Anyone have a better idea? Head on over to Book Buds and make your contest name suggestion.

How will these awards work?

Nominations for the best books of 2006 will be accepted until November 20, 2006. Books will be judged in the following categories:

Picture Book, Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy/SF, Picture Book Non Fiction, Non Fiction (Middle Grade/Young Adult), Graphic Novel, Poetry.

Nominating committees of five members from the children’s literature blogs* will narrow the recommendations down to a shortlist of five books per category. The shortlists will be announced January 1, 2007.

Committees of five members, different from those serving on the nominating committees, will decide which title per category will win the Children’s Book Award, Blog edition. The winners will be announced January 15, 2007.

This is meant to be as democratic and open a process as possible. Ask any questions you may have.

What does this mean for me?

If you run a blog about children’s literature* and would like to serve on a nominating committee or on a judging committee, then head on over to an administrating blog (organised by category and listed below) and nominate yourself.

Consider nominating yourself in two different genres, so that if the committee for one of your favorites fills up, you'll have a back-up option. Suggest a name by heading over to Book Buds. As soon as we have a name and committees, we can begin soliciting nominations.

Administrating Blogs

Picture Books, Big A little a (e-mail)

Middle Grade Fiction, A Fuse #8 Production (e-mail)

Young Adult Fiction, Jen Robinson’s Book Page (e-mail)

Fantasy/SF, Wands and Worlds (e-mail)

Non Fiction (Picture Book), Bartography (e-mail)

Non Fiction (MG/YA), propernoun.net (e-mail)

Graphic Novel, A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy (e-mail)

Poetry, Chicken Spaghetti (e-mail)

*Children’s writers who blog, or bloggers who run general literature blogs are also eligible to serve on either committee.

If you want to participate, you know where to head !!