The 2009 Cybils winners are now posted. And what a lovely Valentine's treat it is! The Cybils do not adhere to the same rules and criteria as the ALA awards, which means the entire spectrum of Children's Literature is available to them. Some of my favorites made the final cut, including, of course, this year's winner in the Easy Reader category (of which I was a panelist,) Mo Willems.
The great thing about the Cybils is that everyone can take part in the process by the sheer fact that the awards are nominated by the public. Considering the dialog that was generated before this year's Newbery announcement about the lack of relevance of recent winner's to today's readers, the Cybil method helps to do away with some of that frustration. As I said, the nominees are put forward by the public, whether they be involved in children's literature or not. You think a book was really great? Go ahead and nominate it! The author isn't an American citizen or residing in this country? That's okay--it's still eligible! The voting process itself is reasonably transparent, with frequent updates, via review, about the nominees. Then the final list of titles which has made its way through the initial panels are posted--progress is being made that everyone can follow.
I had a lot of fun this year with the Cybils, both as an observer and a participant. Congratulations to all the winners, and to the bloggers who spent a lot of time and effort putting together this truly excellent list of books
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