Okay, prognosticators. Who would you pick for the winners? It’s your turn. For the next few days, we’ll be asking for your choice. Not that our judges will be swayed, sorry to say: we’ve cloistered them in an undisclosed location for the duration. First up: YA finalists. For a refresher, read the blurbs here.                …

Here at the Cybils, we like to think that we’re doing more than just giving out awards. We believe we’re making a difference by connecting readers with books, and by helping people to find some of the best new children’s and young adult books out there. We know we’re having an impact: by the way word spreads through the blogosphere, …

Maybe you’d like to join us next year at Cybils. Perhaps you’re already volunteering, but curious how the other panels went. Or maybe you want to relive the moment when it all came together and your finalists were, well, finalized. Several of our bloggers have been generous about sharing their experiences and insights this Cybils season. Stacy DeKeyser gives us …

Now, that’s what we call enthusiasm. The Japanator website got a bit excited about Yotsuba&! making the finals on our graphic novels list, wouldn’t you say? They’re joined by Newsarama, a GN blog, who posted our list, and Nick Abadzis, who’s pleased to find his Laika included. And we leave this author speechless at her fantasy novel, Northlander, making the …

Anne the Editor here. Lately, I’ve been getting offers from Internet start-ups to test some super widget or other. I said "yes" to AdaptiveBlue, without even knowing it was already spreading like cold germs in a kindergarten. Their SmartLinks (click here for a demo) looked like it would help us with two of Cybils’ goals: fostering a sense of community …

What’s it like waking up and discovering you’re a Cybils finalist? Sarah Beth Durst had trouble waiting until 6 a.m. yesterday, when the lists began posting: My husband admitted later that he’d actually woken up earlier and had been lying in bed thinking, "I want to check. I don’t want to check. I want to check. I don’t want to …

We’re conducting an instant poll. Are you: A Cybils panelist up to your eyeballs in books, sweating that deadline; An author, illustrator or fan breathlessly awaiting the results; A random Googler trying to figure out what in heck is a Cybils; An early New Year’s reveler drunkenly landing on the wrong page; Another blogger wondering how you can get in …

New poll topic: When nominating a title, are you quick to pick something or are you carefully weighing your options? Are you waiting to see what others nominate so that you can nominate something that others overlooked? Do you first consider a book’s quality, its audience, its ending, or its message? Leave your comments below! –Little Willow, YA outreach henchwoman

When Anne and I led a panel session on the Cybils at the 1st Annual Kidslitosphere Conference this weekend in Chicago, one theme in particular kept popping up during discussions: How do we decide if a book is child-friendly or not? This is an important question for the ninety panelists and judges evaluating the hundreds of children’s and YA books …

We’ll be conducting reader polls here to see who’s reading what. Leave your answers in the comments! Do you read mostly for fun, or is the majority of what you read assigned by school or related to work? Are you reading for leisure or to educate yourself – or a bit of both? — Little Willow