Childrens and YA Books Blogger Awards - Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kidlit awards grow out of bloggers' frustration

CHICAGO, Illinois – Like all revolutions, this one started small, with a single post on a blog devoted to children's literature. The Newbery Medals 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 answer: invent one! Within hours, this meme had circulated among some of the biggest bloggers in the burgeoning kidlitosphere, the cozy corner of the Web where children's books are given the same regard as their grown-up counterparts.

Within days, the new awards had a name and a website: The Cybils, a loose acronym for Children's and YA Bloggers' Literary Awards, at www.cybils.com. Nominations quickly opened in eight categories, from picture books up to Young Adult fiction and even graphic novels.

In keeping with the democratic and unpredictable nature of the blogosphere, anybody can nominate a book, so long as it was published in 2006 in English. Yep, anybody: teens can log their choices, authors can nominate themselves, random Googlers can leave word too.

Nominations close Nov. 20. Then comes the literary part. Panels comprised of bloggers with expertise in their category will cull the lists down to five finalists (to be announced Jan. 1). After that, judges step in to pick the winners.

Who are these smarty-pants panelists and judges? Some have impressive bona fides, including, yes, a Newbery judge. Others are your garden-variety librarians, teachers, homeschoolers, authors and illustrators, parents and the kidlit-obsessed.

"Think of it as Wal-Mart meets Nordstrom over kids' books," said Anne Boles Levy, a freelance writer who blogs at Book Buds Kidlit Reviews (www.bookbuds.net). "Bedtime will never be the same."

Media Contacts:
Anne Boles Levy, anne@bookbuds.net
Kelly Herold, kidslitinfo@gmail.com

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Remember:

• You can nominate any children's book or Young Adult book published in 2006.
• You can only nominate one book per category.
• You don't have to be a blogger to nominate a book.
• You don't have to be a librarian, teacher, child, young adult, or writer either.
• Submit your nominations here.