2008 Call for Cybils Judges

Hey all:

We’re once again seeking 80 masochists, er, volunteers for two rounds of judging.  Eligibility rules are tighter this year, so please suffer through this whole memo before jumping in.

If you don’t know what the Cybils are, please read the previous post. 

Thanks!

Overview

There are two rounds of judging, and two types of judges. 

Panelists

Duties:

1. Panelists are the first-round judges.  You start work when nominations close on Oct. 15th, sifting through scores of nominated books in your chosen genre.   
2. You’ll join a Yahoo! Group or similar list and use a database to keep track of what you’ve read.
3. Although we make every effort to obtain review copies for you, you may have to track down some copies via interlibrary loans, or plop yourself on the floor of your bookstore of choice (though we cannot reimburse you for purchases).
4. We have a 50-page rule.  Each panel commits only to making sure every nominated book is read to at least the 50th page by at least one person.  This prevents wasting time on marginal books.
5. You turn in a shortlist of 5-7 titles in late December and then collapse in an exhausted heap.

Qualifications:

1. You must contribute to an active kidlit blog, podcast or v-log started no later than Jan. 1, 2008.  By “active,” we mean updated regularly with no long absences (vacations don’t count).  There’s no magic number of posts, we just need to see a steady commitment.
2. By “kidlit” we mean some aspect of children’s or YA literature or publishing.  It can feature news, reviews, ruminations on the writing life, doodles, Deep Thoughts, etc.  But it can’t be, say, a Mommy blog that occasionally describes reading to your kids.
3. You must commit to doing the work.  That might mean a novel a day for six straight weeks.  It means logging your activity and joining discussions.  It means forming opinions, defending choices and finding diplomatic ways to settle differences.
4. You should also offer some degree of expertise in your chosen genre, as evidenced on your blog.

Judges

Duties:

1. Judges pick up where panelists leave off.  You start work on Jan. 1, 2009 and will present us with a winner by Feb. 12th.
2. While we make a Herculean effort to get review copies to you extra speedy fast, it is UP TO YOU to make sure you read EVERY SINGLE BOOK ON THE SHORTLIST in a timely fashion.  We have plenty of librarian volunteers who can familiarize you with interlibrary loans, and there’s always that cozy spot on the floor of your bookstore of choice.  Sorry for the harsh tone, but it’s been an issue, y’know?
3. You don’t need to be Super Extrovert Blabbermouth, but you should be willing to engage the other judges as soon as you’ve read 2 or 3 of the finalists.  Jump in there. Go ahead.  Please.

We’ll be issuing more specific guidelines for panelists and judges as soon as they’re chosen.

How to volunteer:

1. Email both Kelly Herold and Anne Levy. Kelly is at kidslitinfo (at) gmail (dot) com and Anne is at anne (at) bookbuds (dot) net.
2. List “Cybils judge” in the subject line.
3. The body of your email should include an URL to your blog and your 1st and 2nd choice of genres.  Let us know if you prefer panelist or judge or no preference.
4. If you’ve had any absences from your blog longer than, say, a few weeks, let us know.  It all depends on the reason and how active you’ve been since you returned.  We all need a break sometimes.

If you haven’t run off screaming yet, a few last words:

The contest is fun.  At least, people tell us it’s fun, and we don’t want to accuse them of lying.

We’ll be taking our time reading blogs, so please don’t expect news until mid-September, possibly later.

Getting rejected:
Please don’t stop the love if we cannot find a place for you on a panel.  We’re not judging your looks.  It doesn’t mean all your blogging efforts have come to naught.

But, yes, it’s ultimately a subjective decision who to take on and where to place them.  Here are a few of the more obvious criteria, in no real order:

1. A demonstrated expertise in the genre
2. A demonstrated enthusiasm for blogging
3. A blog that has built a following (not necessarily a huge one—loyalty counts too)
4. The blogger’s prestige (ie, you might be an award-winning illustrator, or have a Ph.D. in children’s poetry)

Note that prior experience with Cybils isn’t on the list. Not that we’re mad at last year’s crew (who were all fabulous, of course), but we want to make room for new folks too.  A good balance of veterans and newbies is our goal.

Email us if you’re still interested. 

Cheers,
Anne and Kelly

Comments

[CJ]

Do you have to have had a blog since January 2008 to be a judge, too, or just a panelist?

[anne]

Yes, sorry, I should've structured that to read that was a qualification for both. If you can't join us this year as a panelist or judge, I hope you'll at least stick around to nominate a few books!

Thanks,
Anne

[Kim Baccellia]

Anne-

I'm so excited for this year's Cybils! Just emailed both you and Kelly.

[Els Kushner]

What's the deadline for expressing interest in being a judge or panelist? Or have I missed it already?

[Anne]

Els! Shoot us an email quick. Kelly's keeping track and we're going over our first attempt at a list this weekend.

It's definitely not too late.

[Stacey from Two Writing Teachers]

Would love to participate again. :)

[Anne]

Hey Stacy:

You need to dash us off an email so it's official. It's how Kelly and I are keeping track.

Thanks!