This is a letter we haven’t wanted to write, but it’s past time. The Board of the CYBILS Awards has decided that we are ending the award for good.
The reasons are myriad and complex, but largely come down to the greatly increased difficulty in accessing judging copies of books, retaining people with the interest, time, ability and availability to do the work of judging, and fewer schools, libraries, teachers and librarians with the budgets, time, and ability to advocate for books for young readers.
The Board has realized that our goal right now must be less to encourage people to find the “best” book in a given category, but to read – and rediscover the joy of reading. In the fall, we’ll be discussing this publicly with interested members of our CYBILS book community. Please stay tuned for an RSVP to that – if you’re interested, we’d love to hear from you.
And so, at last, we close the book on this award.
In the love story of our time together, you, the readers and volunteers, have been our finest chapter. Thank you for being here.