A round of applause, please, for the dozen delightful books that have won Cybils Awards for 2020. Recommended reading for all!
For details about the books and how to order, see the Cybils announcement, here. I've shared the covers of all the winning books at the end of this post.
The Cybils, a blogger-powered program, recognizes books that librarians, educators, and other children's book bloggers are itching to put into the hands of young readers. This year, 987 books were nominated. The official mission statement explains: The Cybils Awards aims to recognize the children’s and young adult authors and illustrators whose books combine the highest literary merit and popular appeal. If some la-di-dah awards can be compared to brussels sprouts, and other, more populist ones to gummy bears, we’re thinking more like organic chicken nuggets. We’re yummy and nutritious.
I was honored to be chosen as a nonfiction panelist for the yummy and nutritious Cybils this year. As a Round 1 Panelist, I worked with a crew of outstanding book bloggers to name the finalists at the end of December. This year, some categories were combined. We reviewed all the nonfiction nominees, with three subgroups for elementary, middle, and high school levels. That was more than 200 books.
It was a great chance to read many excellent books that had escaped my attention in this pandemic year. All the panelists were engaged and well-informed. As we read, we compared notes online, and for the final vote we conferred (for hours!) by Zoom to narrow our choices to the short-listed finalists for each level. I, for one, was glad that I didn't have to choose the single "best" book in any category.
Having seen the review process, I can attest that the winners have got to be outstanding. If you're not familiar with any of these, check them out! And let's get more great books into the hands of more readers. Thanks!
Just announced Feb. 14, the worthy winners are:
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| EASY READER |
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| EARLY CHAPTER BOOK |
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FICTION PICTURE BOOK
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ELEMENTARY NONFICTION
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ELEMENTARY/MG SPECULATIVE NONFICTION
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MG GRAPHIC NOVEL
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MIDDLE GRADE FICTION
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MIDDLE GRADE NONFICTION
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YOUNG ADULT GRAPHIC NOVEL
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HIGH SCHOOL NONFICTION
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| YOUNG ADULT FICTION |
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YA SPECULATIVE FICTION
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Warm congratulations to the winners, and very happy reading to all!~Christy
This is a fantastic post, Christy. Serving as a panelists is a sometimes intimidating responsibility, and yet I apply year after year to participate. I was excited to see that a book I hd nominated, WHEN STARS ARE SCATTERED was chosen as winner of the Graphic Novel category, and thrilled to see that the finalists judges chose I AM EVERY GOOD THING from among the slate of amazing finalists sent to them by my panel for Fiction Picture Books. Let's get these titles into the hands of kids, teachers, families, and writers, too, as mentor text for the best of the best.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sandy. It was my first year participating and it was such a positive experience -- to read all those remarkable books, and to share thoughts and reactions, and to shine a light on books that deserve more readers! So glad that you also got satisfaction from your service as a panelist!
DeleteYay, Christy! What an honor and responsibility to be on the Cybils NF committee. I love this selection of books. Ty for your work.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kathy! With your librarian and education background and deep familiarity with kidlit, you could apply. You'd be terrific!
DeleteThanks for the work y'all do on that panel - and what a great collection of titles!
ReplyDeleteIt was a pleasure -- now to read the books in all the other categories!
DeleteChristy, thank you for sharing your experience on the the CYBIL Awards panel. What an honor. I'm looking forward to reading these winning titles!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Charlotte. I have a few winners I haven't read yet in the other categories -- glad to have some new reading inspiration.
DeleteThank you for sharing your experience - and the joy of reading all those books! I don't know how y'all made it through 200+ books. ~ Terry Doherty, Cybils Awards Board member
ReplyDeleteThanks to you also, Terry! Luckily, almost all of the books we read were outstanding!
ReplyDeleteI've read some of these Cybils titles, and I'm looking forward to the rest!
ReplyDeleteSame here, Michelle! I am looking forward to reading some of the top books in categories I don't often read.
DeleteAwesome list!!! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt is, isn't it? Enjoy checking these books out.
DeleteI think that would be fun to do someday, serve as a judge. Thank you for being a judge.
ReplyDelete