The Cybil Awards
posted in award winning, children's literature |About the Cybil Awards (from the Cybil Awards website):
Like all revolutions, this one started small, with a single post on a blog devoted to children’s literature. The Newbery Awards seemed too elitist and the Quills, well, not enough so. Was there a middle ground, an annual award that would recognize both a book’s merits and popularity?
The Cybils found that middle ground. The public nominates their favorite children’s books from 2007 in seven categories: Picture Books; Non-fiction Picture Books; Middle Grade fiction; Poetry; Young Adult fiction; Non-fiction (YA/MG); and Graphic Novels. Nominations open on October 1.
When we say “the public,” we mean it. Anyone with an e-mail address may nominate one book per category. Then groups of bloggers get to work. First, a nominating committee reads ALL the titles in a given category. After nearly two arduous months, this committee winnows the nominees to five finalists. A second committee of bloggers considers the shortlist and, after much debate, chooses the best of the best for 2007.
The Cybil Awards are unique in that, as they say, anyone with an email address is welcome to participate by nominating one book per category. If nothing else, I like to peruse the Cybil Nominee lists to garner reading ideas. One caveat regarding participating, though, try not to nominate a book that has already been nominated as this is a null vote and is rather tiresome for the moderators. A book need only be nominated once to be considered for the award.
At any rate, the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards–the Cybils–provide children’s literature aficionados with a great way to participate in the awards process and to make one’s literary voice heard.
Hmmm, as long as we’re on the subject of voting and participating, keep the 2008 presidential elections in mind as an avenue for participating in the future of America and making one’s citizen’s voice heard. A couple of resources: the 2008 Portal (for an actual attempt at providing relevant information) and Indecision 2008 (for a satirical take). Or you may want to take a look at the PDF article The 51st State: The State of Online The Presidential Campaign 2008 Candidates and News Sources (this is an informative article elucidating the dramatic impact the Internet is having on the election process. The article lists the presidential candidates websites as well as useful mainstream media sites, blogs, and aggregator tools). Pardon the bunny trail…
