CYBILS Nominations are OPEN!

Well, they opened early this morning, so I’m running a little late. But… if you didn’t get there at the stroke of midnight (which is insane, unless you’re a night owl), keep in mind these rules before heading over to do your nominations (do keep in mind that ANYONE can nominate their favorite — or second or third favorite. You don’t have to blog about kids books to be a part of this!):

Books (eBook criteria follow):

To be eligible for a Cybils award, a print book must be:

  1. published in the US or Canada only. This avoids outrageous shipping costs and double jeopardy when a UK title is nominated a second time after it comes out in the US;
  2. published between one contest and the next. For this year, that means from Oct. 16, 2010 to Oct. 15, 2011;
  3. widely available for public sale. Titles available only from book clubs or publisher websites are not eligible, for example, as we cannot obtain copies easily.
  4. aimed at the youth market up to age 18. Books marketed to adult readers that may also appeal to teens are not eligible.

eBooks

Note: This applies only to “born digital” ebooks that have no dead-tree counterpart.

To be eligible for a Cybils award, a born digital ebook must be:

  1. published in both the Kindle and ePub format. It can be published in additional formats (such as PDF), but cannot skip those two;
  2. marketed primarily to Young Adult Fiction and Science Fiction & Fantasy for teen readers. No other genre is accepting born digital titles this year. We’ll revisit the idea if all goes well;
  3. put out by a publisher in good standing with the American Booksellers Association (ABA), Children’s Book Council (CBC), Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), or Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) or their regional affiliates OR;
  4. (alternate to #3) put out by a publisher who produces more than one title a year.

Book Apps

To be eligible for a Cybils award, a book app must be:

  1. aimed primarily at kids or teens;
  2. geared mainly toward storytelling and/or literacy and not just gaming;
  3. be readable on an iPad or computer.

And (since you’ve made it this far…) I did want to give a mention to the panel that’s near and dear to my heart: Middle Grade Fiction! It’s a grand panel this year (with more than one man on it! Wow!), and you’ll notice that I’m shaking things up this year (much to the disappointment of my girls, who have loved the piles and piles of books that came in the mail) by being on the Round 2 panel. I’m excited for that, though: I’ve never been involved in the final decision, and I can’t wait to see what the experience will be like.

Round 1

Colby Sharp
Sharp Read

Jennifer Donovan
5 Minutes for Books

Karen Yingling
Ms. Yingling Reads

Cheryl Vanati
Reading Rumpus

Grier Jewell
Fizzwhizzing Flushbunker

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin
Middle Grade Mafioso

Beth Gallego
Points West

Round 2

Kerry Millar
Shelf Elf

Melissa Fox
Book Nut

Jessalyn Pinsonault
Garish & Tweed

Karen Wang
Kidsmomo

Amanda Snow
A Patchwork of Books

And off we go! I love this time of year.

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