Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Cybils -- What are they?

This is stolen directly from here. It looks awesome to me. I thought about helping in the judging and such, but took too long in deciding whether or not it would fit in with my crazy school schedule, and they filled the spots up without me.

The Cybils Press Release

Several people have requested our official press release. Feel free to borrow, copy or steal:

Cybils2007white BOOK BLOGGERS KICK OFF KIDLIT AWARDS’ SECOND YEAR

CHICAGO – Will Harry Potter triumph among critical bloggers? Will novels banned in some school districts find favor online?

With 90 volunteers poised to sift through hundreds of new books, the second annual Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards launched on Oct. 1 at www.cybils.com. Known as the Cybils, it’s the only literary contest that combines both the spontaneity of the Web with the thoughtful debate of a book club.

The public’s invited to nominate books in eight categories, from picture books up to young adult fiction, so long as the book was first published in 2007 in English (bilingual books are okay too). Once nominations close on Nov. 21, the books go through two rounds of judging, first to select the finalists and then the winners, to be announced on Valentine’s Day 2008.

Judges come from the burgeoning ranks of book bloggers in the cozy corner of the Internet called the kidlitosphere. They represent parents, homeschoolers, authors, illustrators, librarians and even teens.

The contest began last year after blogger Kelly Herold (http://kidslitinformation.blogspot.com) expressed dismay that while some literary awards were too snooty – rewarding books kids would seldom read – others were too populist and didn’t acknowledge the breadth and depth of what’s being published today.

“It didn’t have to be brussel sprouts versus gummy bears,” said Anne Boles Levy, who started Cybils with Herold. “There are books that fill both needs, to be fun and profound.”

Last year’s awards prompted more than 480 nominations, and this year’s contest will likely dwarf that. As with last year’s awards, visitors to the Cybils blog (http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils) can leave their nominations as comments. There is no nomination form, only the blog, to keep in the spirit of the blogosphere that started it all.

For further info:

Anne Boles Levy

anne (at) bookbuds (dot) net

2 comments:

Abbie said...

Don't ask me how you are ever have time to write a 500+ page book. Girls were trying to convince me tonight at craft night that I need to get into those books about a vampire. No way Jose. I have 1000+ pages I need to read in the Divine Comedy.

Alysa Stewart said...

Haha, I don't write them, I just read them. And that's a lot easier. Plus, its easier to read a book that you want to read as opposed to one you have to read. It's refreshing.