Cybils time

It's time for the Cybils award and I am tickled pink to serve as a judge in the POETRY category once again. Woo hoo! CYBILS stands for the Children's and YA Bloggers Literary awards and have been going strong since they were launched in 2006. Nominations opened today and close pretty quickly-- Oct. 15, so go here to put your favorite book forward. You can nominate in more than one category, but only one book in each. Then the judges will consider all the eligible books, correspond extensively, cajole, analyze, argue, advocate, and then select a short list of finalists (which is announced in November, if I remember correctly)-- which will then be sent to the second round of judges who choose ONE book for the award which is announced in February. That's it-- in a nutshell. Of course heaps of awards will be decided and announced in January, but I'm so happy that the Cybils has a category for poetry alone. Woo hoo!

The previous poetry winners include: 

2012: BookSpeak! Poems about Books by Laura Purdie Salas

2011: Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto by Paul B. Janeczko

2010: Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer

2009: Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sideman

2008: Honeybee by Naomi Shihab Nye

2007: This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman

2006: Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow by Joyce Sidman

And the short lists of "Finalists" offer a tremendous roster of the best of the best. 

Check out this year's nominations and nominate your own favorite.