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What are The Cybils?
The Cybils are the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards. They are sort of like the Teen Choice Awards in that readers nominate books in certain catagories for children and young adults and then 2 rounds of judging takes place to pick the best of the best for the year in each category. More info here: http://www.cybils.com/
Who are the judges?
The judges are all book bloggers with expertise and a strong presence in the childrens and/or YA book blog world.
Full disclosure: I am one of the YA Science Fiction/Fantasy judges
What are the categories?
Easy Readers/ Short Chapter Books
Fantasy & Science Fiction (MG and YA)
Fiction Picture Books
Graphic Novels
Middle Grade Fiction
Non-Fiction Picture Books
Non-Fiction (MG and YA)
Poetry
Young Adult Fiction
Who can nominate a book?
You can! Anyone can! And you should. There are some rules, like only one nomination per book, multiple nominations are deleted. Only books published this year. One nomination per category. And a few others. Full list of rules here: http://www.cybils.com/basic-contest-info.html
How can you nominate a book?
Nominations are open from October 1st through October 15th, so hurry!
After you consult the basic contest info link above, go here to fill out the nomination form: http://www.wandsandworlds.com/cybils/nominate.php
When are the winners announced?
The first round of judging ends at the end of December. Finalists are announced January 1st and the second round begins. The final winners are announced mid February.
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As a judge, I can tell you the nominations are pouring in. I've already started reading through my gigantic stack. Including the books still being vetted to make sure all the rules apply, I think there are around 110 book nominations in my category alone. I've ready about 19 of them so far. The whole process is overwelming and terrifying and awesome all at the same time. I can't wait to get my hands on books I hadn't heard about before. Please nominate if there's a children's or YA book you loved that came out this year that has not yet been nominated! I'm really honored to be a part of this year's Cybils.