Cybils Awards Call for Judges

The Cybils Awards, given each year by the Kidlit blogging community for the best children's and young adult books of the year, have put out the call for judges. If you haven't heard of the Cybils, we seek to honor books that have both literary merit and kid (or teen) appeal.

Cybils 2012 will be starting soon, and we're seeking a few good people to be judges! There are eleven judging panels over ten categories (Fantasy/Science Fiction has separate panels for young adult and middle grade, due to the number of nominations):

• Book Apps
• Easy Readers/Short Chapter Books
• Fantasy & Science Fiction
• Fiction Picture Books
• Graphic Novels
• Middle Grade Fiction
• Non-Fiction Picture Books
• Non-Fiction: Middle Grade & Young Adult
• Poetry
• Young Adult Fiction

If you are an active Kidlit/YAlit blogger, have experience and interest in any of these categories, and are willing to give up your life for a couple of months in exchange for a chance to do something fun and meaningful, please consider applying. 

I've been involved with the Cybils in one role or another since they were founded in 2006, and have been a judging panelist for most of those years. It's a huge amount of work, but a lot of fun, and one of the most rewarding things I've done. If you're thinking about applying, plan to spend a significant amount of time reading and discussing during your chosen round (October - December for Round 1, and January-February for Round 2). 

The deadline to apply is August 31. Here is the information and link to the application form:

http://bit.ly/NOh8Bo

Please don't think that you have to be a big, known blogger to apply! We try to choose a variety of bloggers for all the panels.

As Chair of the Fantasy/Science Fiction category, I'll be selecting the two panels for that category, one for young adult and one for middle grade. I'll consider any applications through the deadline of August 31, but I'm especially in need of people who are passionate and knowledgeable about middle grade for the Middle Grade SFF panel. We always get many more applications for YA SFF than for MG SFF, and while many of the YA applicants say that they'll be happy with middle grade, and I appreciate that, I'd love to fill the middle grade panel with judges who love middle grade and put it as their first choice.

I'm also interested in applicants for either panel who have an interest or specialization in books for under-represented groups.