CYBILS: Call for Judges
The CYBILS, Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards, are looking for book bloggers and reviewers to volunteer for this year’s awards. I got the chance to judge in the first round a few years ago for the children’s nonfiction category and really learned a lot about nonfiction titles that I probably wouldn’t have read otherwise.
So what is it all about? Here’s the date information, first:
- August 21: Call for judges
- Sept. 11: Deadline for judging application
- Sept. 18: Judges announced.
- Oct. 1: Nominations open
- Oct. 15: Nominations close
- October 16-25: Publisher submissions
- Oct. 1-Dec. 29: Round 1 reading period
- Dec. 29: Short lists due
- Jan. 1: Finalists announced
- Jan. 2-Feb. 12: Round 2 reading period
- Feb. 12: Winners list due
- Feb. 14: Winners announced
If you’re interested in judging in the first round, you’ll get the chance to review every title nominated for the category through library checkouts, copies from publishers, ebooks, etc. You’re group of judges is required to create a list of 5-7 shortlist titles for the second round judges to review.
If you’re a second round judge, you have about six weeks to really review the shortlist titles and get into a debate to choose the best title for the category to win the prize. I really enjoy this award because it takes into consideration both literary merit as well as interest.
I’d love to be a judge again, but right now is not my time as I have to still deal with the flooding in our lower level (lots of repairs) and a new blog look and feel coming soon. Hopefully I get the chance to participate in the future, but if you’re interested, definitely fill out an application or at the very least, submit some titles for consideration!
