First, thank you for your work championing books for young readers and your support of the CYBILS Awards. It is hard to believe that the 19th annual awards cycle is about to get underway. We appreciate you being on this journey with us year in and year out.
On behalf of our Board, I wanted to make you aware of a two key changes on the front end of the process. We believe this shift in dates benefits you, as well as our judges.
- The Public Call for Nominations is now in mid-September, not early October. From 16-30 September, readers will nominate books they believe are CYBILS-worthy.
- The Author/Publisher Submission Period is 1-15 October. Not only is this earlier than years’ past, we have extended your opportunity to submit books from 10 days to two full weeks.
As you may remember, our judges are charged with reading all of the nominated/submitted books. They use library resources, but there are always books that judges can’t get. By shifting the timeline, there is more time for you to get books to judges who could not get them any other way. Additionally it can also pre-empt delays that come with a heavy holiday mail season.
To ensure timely communication, we ask that you take a moment now to ensure that we have your most current contact details. We need only three pieces of information: publisher contact name, email, and phone number, with extension. We would also encourage you to subscribe to our publisher-focused newsletter. Timely news in your inbox, right when you need it.
Thanks for your time. Here’s to reading and book joy!
Yours,
Sheila Ruth
Executive Director & Publisher Liaison