Cybils Nominations Open

Cybils nominations open today!

For those of you who've never heard of them, The Cybils (a loose acronym for Children's and Young Adult Literary Blogger Awards) is a book award that's like a cross between the Newbery and the People's Choice Awards. Anyone can nominate a book, but a panel is responsible for sifting through all the nominees to choose a winner. Books are judged both on literary merit as well as kid/teen appeal in 9 categories: Fiction Picture Books, Non-fiction Picture Books, Easy Readers/Short Chapter Books, Middle Grade Fiction, Poetry, Non-fiction (MG/YA), Fantasy (MG/YA), Graphic Novels (MG/YA), and Young Adult Fiction.

So take this opportunity to go nominate a book published between October 16th, 2008 and October 15, 2009 that you think was outstanding and deserves a reward. Only one nomination per person per category is allowed, and multiple nominations don't make any difference to who wins. So don't waste your nomination! This year they've got a really nice new form that makes it a lot easier to both see what's been nominated, and to keep track of your nominations.

To celebrate the wonderfulness that is all things Cybils, I have two surprises coming up in the next few days. One might be a way to win something, and one might be a nomination-related thing... but I can't tell you details. It would ruin the surprise! So if you normally don't read the blog on the weekends, make sure you at least read all the posts you missed.

And for those of you who are new to the Cybils, here's the first new thing. I've participated in the process since it was started in 2007. So what questions do you have? Are you confused about how to nominate something? Maybe you want to know what goes on after nominations close? How winners are chosen? Criteria for nominating? Whatever questions you have about the Cybils, leave a comment here and I'll make sure they get answered.