I’m excited to announce that I’ve been selected as one of the round two judges for this year’s Cybils Awards in the category of Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction!!
What are the Cybils Awards, you ask? Well, they are officially the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards (I’m assuming the I in the acronym was added to make it a name that flows better). As you can guess from that name, this is an award given by the book blogging community. This is the group’s stated mission (via their website):
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.
The awards have been around since 2006, and they’ve built up quite a name for themselves in that time. I’m honored to have been chosen to be a judge! As I said at the top of this post, I’ll be a round two judge for the Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction category (which is basically sci-fi, fantasy, and contemporary fantasy or magical realism, in case you weren’t aware). That means I’ll be reading the seven or so finalists and discussing them with my fellow round two judges so that we can come up with the winner!
Let me introduce you to my fellow judges:
Round 1
Round 2
You can check out all of the judges from the other categories on the Cybils blog (scroll down a little). You can also check out past winners and finalists if you’re curious.
Want to get involved? We’ll need you to nominate your favorite books in all our categories! You’ll be able to nominate books that were published between Oct. 16, 2018 and Oct. 15, 2019. Nominations open up on October 1st, so get ready!
Do you have any books you’d LOVE to nominate for a Cybils Award? I want to know!
Congrats. That’s awesome!
Thank you! I’m excited!
Congratulations! I judged realistic middlegrade last year, but I didn’t apply this year because I don’t know if I’ll have time to do all the reading. Good luck!
I remembered that you did it last year, and it sounded really interesting. It’s one of the things that made me decide to try it. I’ll have to be deliberate about not accepting too many books for review in January/February so I don’t overwhelm myself.
Congrats, Nicole! I got chosen for Round 2 for YA Fiction. I’m super excited. I’ve never done it before, but I think it will be fun.
-Lauren
Oh, cool!! I’ve never done it either—I think it will be a great experience!
How cool! That sounds like a lot of fun, and what a rewarding thing to be a part of. I’ll have to see if I can think of any books to nominate. I’ll check out the site.
Yes, nominations are open, so check it out!
Woo hoo! This is so cool, Nicole. What an honor!
Thank you! I’m really looking forward to it!
That’s so cool that you’re a judge! Congrats!
Thank you!!
Congrats on being chosen as a judge, Nicole! I’ll be looking forward to hearing more about the nominated books.
Yes, I can’t wait to see what I’ll be reading (I won’t find out until January, though).
congratulations. have fun
Thank you!
Congratulations! I hope you get to read some great books.
Thanks! I’m looking forward to it!
I’m so glad you’re doing this! It really is a great activity. A couple of times I’ve judged the YA/MG nonfiction, which has led me to read some really interesting books I wouldn’t have read otherwise. This year I’m judging YA spec fic, which is going to be so much fun. I can’t wait to see the nominations in both of our categories!
How awesome that it expanded your horizons a bit. I’m looking forward to participating this year!
Congratulations Nicole!! I saw Jenna was a judge but took on too many ARCs for the later end of the year. Now I regret it but its too late. I hope you enjoy all the books. I know what a fan of middle grade books you are. I loved Ember and the Ice Dragons!! It was super neat and of course dragons, but done in such a different way. ❤️
You’ll have to try it in future years! I’ll have to make sure that I don’t accept too many books for review for January and February.
WOW that is so incredible!! Congratulations!!
Thank you!!!
Oh my god this is so exciting yay, congratulations!!! 🙂
Thank you!
Welcome to the Cybils club 😀 It’s a tough job choosing the best from the best, but it’s still lots of fun.
I’m looking forward to it! Thanks for blogging about it. 🙂
How exciting!!
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
🙂
What an incredible honor, Nicole! I’m so excited for you! <3
Thank you!!