Cybils

Typos and bad links

I just fixed a huge batch of bad links due to coding problems. I don't know html and my live-in computer expert found an actual paying job and stuck me with doing this by myself. Wah. I apologize for the aggravation, especially to bloggers who saw their blog names linked to the wrong URL or none at all.

If you see another bad link or a typo, please leave a comment below and I'll get to it as fast as I can. Many thanks to those who've already done so elsewhere on this blog, or who have emailed me to let me know. I'm only one person and am doing what I can, when I can, but I will fix it if I know where to find it.

Thanks again,

-Anne Levy, Cybils admin.

Building a Better Book Blog

As of this writing, the Cybils judging panels are nearly complete, with just Young Adult Fiction and Science Fiction/Fantasy still up in the air. Many of you have already gotten a "can't wait to work with you email" from an organizer. Many more have or are about to get a "thanks for playing" email instead. Which, by the way, made me feel like crap while writing it. Probably not as badly as you felt reading it, but at least you know I hung my head in shame with every heartbreaking word. 

We can't expand Cybils to take everyone who wishes to judge. I can't make the process of selecting judges any fairer without simply drawing names out of a hat. That might indeed be the most evenhanded way, but it wouldn't necessarily give me the best short list of books in the blogging universe.

And that's my bottom line. It's not about having a sweet time hanging out together online with the cool kids. It's about ruthlessly weeding out less-than-superb titles to come up with an eye-popping list of finalists and rush-to-the-bookstore-and-get-this winners. If my organizers aren't convinced you can give me that, they're under orders to give you a "pass" this time around.

But the reason I feel crappy is because I know how rotten it feels to get rejected and you never learn why. So I asked my organizers to explain why. What resulted is a list of dos and don'ts that I hope will give you some tools to build a better book blog, or at least fill out our application more thoroughly. They're not absolutes, just insights. Picking judges will always be a subjective process and will always strike some as decidedly unfair.

The list follows the break. Best of luck to you, and please don't be so miffed that you fail to show up in early October to nominate a few books. We still need you.

--Anne Levy, Cybils Administrator

Back to the apps!

Keep those questions coming, folks. Today, a judging applicant emailed about the book apps category. She wanted to know if she'd have to buy the apps under consideration. Well, gosh no, I thought -- but then I don't know how these things work, exactly. Our wonderful, completely on-top-of-things book app organizer, Mary Ann Scheuer, put the question to the other organizers.

I can't remember the last time we were all this close to unanimous on a topic. The answer is no: if you wish to judge in our apps category, there will be no cost to you. How we get the apps is still being worked out, but you pay nada.

We may adopt a similar policy for books and ebooks. I'm very concerned that many judges feel pressured to buy a few titles, particularly in round two when time is so short. That's not a good way to treat volunteers. I can't reimburse anyone, which means judging becomes a matter of who can afford it. And that is NOT the Cybils environment we wish to foster!

-Anne Levy, Cybils admin.

Updating our FAQs

I'm going to update our FAQs again soon and would appreciate knowing your nagging questions about Cybils.  I'm especially interested in hearing from authors and publishing professionals, as I sense these two groups are having the most trouble understanding what the heck we're up to. 

I'm worried our communications haven't always been clear and we've fallen back into thinking everyone is used to us by now, and that's simply not so. We want to avoid cliquishness at all costs.

Please leave your questions here in the comments or email me at [email protected].  Don't worry about sounding brusque or impatient -- if we're not answering your questions up front, we're doing something wrong.

Thanks for your patience, everyone.  FAQs will be updated in a week or so, whenever I feel like I've gotten at least some feedback.  Note that they say they're updated, but the date reads November 2007.  We've changed a lot since then.

And any bloggers who wish to post on this and send people our way to comment -- thanks in advance.  We could use some help.

--Anne Levy, Cybils Admin.

A fascinating discussion ...

... is going on at the blog Black-Eyed Susan's about race,  publishing and Cybils.  I'm at work (night shift again, alas) but will post more on this -- plus other reactions to the Cybils short lists from around the Web.

Perhaps it will lead to a better understanding of the role race plays in what books we, as readers and judges, gravitate towards.  Susan's a passionate debater and her post (and the many comments) are worth checking out.

Here's that link again.

--Anne Levy
Cybils Admin.

Cybils Appreciation from a Well-Loved Author

In the course of today's blog reading, I was pleased to come across a post in which repeat Cybils honoree (and Newbury Honor recipient) Shannon Hale expressed her appreciation for the Cybils. She said:

"I've mentioned before my affection for the Cybil Awards, given out by the children's and YA book bloggers. As national and newpaper review space is diminishing, I think book blogs will get more and more powerful in reviews and book recommendations."

We express our affection right back, Shannon. And while we're not in it for the "power", of course (well, most of us, anyway!), we do hope that book blogs can help to fill the void as other sources of review coverage shrink.

Stay tuned until January 1st, when this year's Cybils short lists are revealed. 

-- Jen Robinson, Cybils Literacy Evangelist

More Cybils Fanfare

The Cybils team has, of course, been thrilled at the Cybils-themed graphics that we received from Mo Willems and from the Rapunzel's Revenge team of Shannon and Dean Hale and Nathan Hale (see the images in the posts below). But we are equally thrilled by these other author and media responses to the Cybils:

The Cybils award was mentioned in a positive light in this School Library Journal article by Debra Lau Whelan about self-censorship (in the context of awards received by last year's YA winner, Boy Toy). Thanks to Gail Gauthier for the link.

Shortly before the winners were announced, I had a lovely email from Helen Frost, author of middle grade fiction shortlist title Diamond Willow. Helen said: "I am amazed and delighted that Diamond Willow is a Cybils finalist, and so impressed with the quality and depth of the conversation about my book and others. Thank you so much for honoring our books in this way."

As soon as the winners were announced, School Library Journal reported on the winners in an article by Rocco Staino. He said: "Nothing warms a librarian’s heart more than another book award list, and on Valentine’s Day kid lit bloggers announced the winners of the Cybils".

Middle Grade Fantasy winner Neil Gaiman wrote on his blog: "The Graveyard Book won a Cybil Award -- which is the children's book award from the blogging community. I was thrilled. All of the Cybil nominees and winners looked good this year, and I'm proud to be among them, and congratulations to everyone involved."

Cylin Busby, co-author with her father John Busby of The Year We Disappeared, wrote about winning the Cybils award for middle grade/YA nonfiction, saying: "Went to the "Kids Heart Authors" event at our local indie this morning (Skylight Books in Los Feliz). And when we got home, there were tons of emails in my inbox saying "Congrats!" and whatnot. So I thought, "wow, folks are getting pretty excited about this CBS show tonight, but it's not like we won an award or something...." oops. We DID win an award. A Cybils Award!"

E. Lockhart wrote: "I am so so pleased that The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks won a Cybils Award for best young adult novel!"

And we had lovely mentions from Paul at Omnivoracious ("These blogger literary awards definitely succeed in identifying the organic chicken nuggets of the kid-lit world"), sassmonkey from BlogHer "The Cybils are one of the most fun book awards out there ... It's a grassroots as an award can be and it's utterly fantastic.", and Carol Rasco's RIF blog ("Check out this year’s winners as well as the process for Cybils and be prepared to nominate your favorites in October 2009!").

The Cybils winners were also covered by too many children's and young adult book blogs to mention. Thank you all for helping to spread and share our joy in this year's winners! -- Jen Robinson, Literacy Evangelist

More Author Love for the Cybils

Earlier this month, we shared some lovely feedback from authors happy to see their books on the Cybils shortlists. Here is some additional author joy:

• Bonny Becker (A Visitor for Bear) emailed: "HOORAY!! HOORAY!! HOORAY!!  What an honor. All the nominees in fiction picture books are wonderful. Thanks to all the reviewers--not an easy job."
• Lenore Look (Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things) emailed: "WOOOOOHOO!!! I was SO thrilled to find my little Alvin among the finalists for your fantastic award. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw it! And like Alvin, I was stunned speechless. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for loving Alvin, and for giving him this FABULOUS start!"
• Christine Fletcher (Ten Cents A Dance) wrote: "When I say that just being named a finalist is an honor, believe me, I'm not being squidgy. I've read some of these books and been blown away by them. To be included on the same list is...well, it's freakin' unbelievably fabulous, is what it is. Unreal in the best possible way."
• D.M. Cornish (Lamplighter: Monster-Blood Tattoo, Book 2) wrote: "A true and dare I admit astonishing honour - (watch for my over-use of this word in Book 3... :( - to be included amongst such lights. Congrats to us all, to the judges for hour upon hour of reading to get to this list, to anyone who dares attempt to write a book - shortlisted, awarded or otherwise - and to you most excellent folk who read!" 

I also wanted to share a quote from one more author. Anna Smudge: Professional Shrink was a Cybils nominee in Middle Grade Fiction this year (though not a shortlist title). Anna Smudge author MAC was recently interviewed by Cybils panelist Shelf Elf (Kerry Millar). MAC closed her interview with this: "I want to take a second to give my sincere gratitude to everyone in the kidlitosphere. Seeing a community spring up to promote literacy fueled solely by these bloggers’ passion is very special. YOU are now the center of children’s literature- not the publishers, the authors, or the trade magazines. You gals and guys are a real inspiration."

If you ask me, all of these quotes are an inspiration. We welcome your feedback, too.

-- Jen Robinson, Literacy Evangelist 

A Cybils panelist recaps her experience

I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Stephanie Ford, who wrapped up her duties as a panelist in fiction picture books recently.  She blogged about what went on behind the scenes, which I found fascinating and fun.  We're all about transparency here, so thanks, Stephanie, for parting the curtains for us. 

--Anne Levy, Editor

Author Joy for the Cybils Shortlists

Since we announced the Cybils Finalists last week, we've noticed online responses from several authors, happy to be shortlisted. (Formatting in the quotes below was edited for consistency, with book titles in italics, and author names in bold.)

• Sara Zarr says: "Sweethearts is a finalist for the 2008 Cybils, which makes me very, very, very, very happy. If you don’t know, the Cybils are the awards given out by the children’s and young adult blogging community and the process is very cool."
• Neil Gaiman says: "Thank you to all who made The Graveyard Book a finalist for a Cybil Award. I think that's the first thing that The Graveyard Book has been nominated for, and I'm thrilled that it's an award that comes from the blogging community."
• Sarah Prineas says: "Last year, when the Cybils finalists were announced, I thought, wow, I'd love to have my book (The Magic Thief)make that list, but I know it'll never happen, and then it did happen! I couldn't be more surprised and happy, and feel honored to have my book included on a list with the other finalists." 
• Mo Willems says: "Any-hoo, two Elephant and Piggies have made it onto the list of Easy Reader Finalists, which means that not only are they in very good company (Kate DiCamillo anyone?), but also that for the first time I have the opportunity to lose a single award twice." He also mentions Shepherds, but you'll have to click through for that.
• C. K. Kelly Martin says: "I'm too blown away (!!!!!!!!!!!!) to form coherent, articulate sentences but I want to say a huge thanks to the awesome Tanita S. Davis (author of A La Carte, also known as TadMack on the Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog) for nominating the book (I Know It's Over) in the first place... Thank you, Cybils panelists for this fabulous New Year's present!"
• Ingrid Law says (after announcing the shortlists): "I forgot to mention that Savvy is one of the Cybils Finalists! But my book is among such great company, I was caught up in the excitement of the whole thing."
• Marie Rutkoski says: "Cabinet (of Wonders) is a finalist for a Cybils Award in the category of Middle Grade Fantasy & Science Fiction. Again, huzzah! ... I’m such a huge fan of my competition that I won’t mind in the slightest if Cabinet doesn’t get the big win. Thanks, dear panelists!"
• Kristin Cashore says: "Graceling is a finalist for the Cybils, the children's and YA bloggers' literary awards, in the Fantasy/SF category ^_^. ... I haven't read most of the other finalists (yet!!), but those I have read happen to be among my favorite reads of the year, and I recommend them highly".
• Robin Benway twittered: "Hey, guess what? "Audrey (Wait)" is a finalist in the Cybil Awards! What a fantastic way to start 2009!"
• Hope Larson also twittered: "I'm on the short list for a Cybil, and so are a bunch of my friends! ... Going to K-Mart for champagne flutes."

Seeing these enthusiastic responses makes the Cybils team very happy. If we run across more, we'll share them here.

--Jen Robinson, Literacy Evangelist