The Cybils awards are given each year by book bloggers and reviewers for the year’s best children’s and young adult titles. Nominations open to the public on October 1st.

Yes, anyone may nominate one book per genre during the public nomination period. We ask authors, publishers and publicists to wait until after the public nomination period ends to submit their own books.

We post an online form for public nominations from Sept. 16-30 every year. The form will be live at www.cybils.com at 12:00 a.m. PST on September 16. We’ve tried to make the form mobile-friendly, so you can use your phone to nominate if you prefer. Authors and publishers may use the public form to nominate books other than their own from October 1-15, but should contact publishers@cybils.com for information on submitting their own books.

Any English or bilingual books published in the U.S. or Canada between the end of one contest and start of another. For 2024, that means books released between Oct. 16, 2023 and Oct. 15, 2024. Books that were eligible or nominated in previous years are not eligible for nomination this year unless significantly revised (at least 20% of the book is changed.) The Cybils only accepts titles published specifically for the youth market. We determine audience based on publisher data, Library of Congress, traditional review sources such as Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal, and other traditional industry sources. Information found on other sites, including reviews, will be considered at the discretion of Cybils administration. Eligible titles must be widely available in the US and/or Canada through public libraries, or online booksellers. Titles that are only available through book clubs and/or author or publisher websites by October 15 of the award year are not eligible. There may be situations not mentioned that preclude eligibility due to availability. The Cybils retains the right to declare ineligible any title we deem doesn’t meet Cybils availability criteria. PLEASE NOTE: Ebooks not also available in print are ONLY accepted in Poetry, YA SF, YA Fiction, and High School Nonfiction.

NO! In fact, the online form will kick the nomination back if a book’s already been listed. It needs to get on our radar only once for consideration. After that, it’s up to the judges.

We ask for volunteers every August from the book reviewing community. Generally, our judges must contribute at least monthly to a blog or social media channel that’s primarily about children’s or young adult literature. There’s some wiggle room there, but not much. More info here.

The short answer is no. Authors, illustrators, editors, or agents cannot serve in categories where a book is eligible that they worked directly on. Could you recuse yourself? Sure, but this goes beyond just not voting on your book. Just by being in the category, your presence can influence fellow judges. If a book was a finalist or winner in a category where the author was a judge, even with assurances that the author recused themself, it is a difficult situation for everyone.

That doesn't mean you can't be a judge! There are lots of category options open to you and where your expertise could be valuable! Just not the one where you have an eligible book.

If you have an indirect relationship with a book eligible for nomination, you can apply to be a judge. Round 1 only. It is imperative that you be as transparent as possible in the application and explain your less direct relationship (e.g., intern at the publisher but no direct connection to any eligible books, friends with the author, part of the author's writing group, etc). At the time you apply, we do not know what books will be nominated, so it is not cut and dry. Each situation is reviewed independently, but we can say for certain that you would recuse yourself from all discussions associated with the book.

We encourage you to apply to judge in another category. If your friend wrote a picture book and you love illustrated books, the Easy Reader/Early Chapter category may be a perfect option for you! If you are not sure what to do and want more details before you apply, contact us at info@cybils.com.

We post excerpts of reviews by our volunteer judges throughout the contest season, from October through February. They’re selected somewhat at random so we get a mix of genres, age groups and reviewers. We’re sorry we can’t guarantee a book review. We typically get 1,000 nominations and we couldn’t review them all even if we ran dozens each day! Please do not contact judges to request a review.

We provide publishers, authors, and publicists a separate window to submit books after the public nomination period ends. This gives you a chance to see what books have been nominated, and to submit any deserving books that fell through the cracks. You may submit up to 10% of your 2024 children’s/YA list. We ask that you do not submit your own books during the public nomination period. After Oct. 15, we’ll be in touch to let you know what books have been nominated, and give you a chance to submit any additional ones. We do ask that you send review copies, physical or digital, of any books that you submit. Review copies of publicly nominated books will be optional, as always, but it’s often helpful if you can get us a few. We can accept review copies as print or ebooks. For book apps, we’ll need promo codes or gift codes to enable judges to download the app. Please don’t contact judges directly. We’ll be sorting out who needs what to prevent duplication. To make sure you’re on the list to receive information, please send an email to Sheila Ruth at publishers@cybils.com. Thanks!

Please see the above information for publishers. To make sure that we have your contact information, drop an email to Sheila Ruth at publishers@cybils.com. Please don’t contact judges directly. It’s much easier to have only one contact person — for us and for you.

Yes, all books that panelists have access to get read by at least a couple of judges. Panelists are only required to read until they’re sure the book isn’t competitive with other nominated titles. All bets are off if we can’t get our grubby paws on a review copy, though. Judges will make every attempt to find books in the library or through Inter-Library Loan, but we don’t ask judges to purchase books.

If you sent it, we got it. If we got it, someone read at least partway in. If you didn’t make the shortlist, it’s because the judges gave it a “pass.” Please don’t contact them to ask why. We’re not your writing group and we cannot provide feedback.

Please email the contest administrator at info (at) cybils (dot) com. Note that we don’t accept ads with adult content. Thanks.

Contact us at info (at) cybils (dot) com Thanks for finding your way to us at Cybils.com