Meet the 2016 Organizers: Jen Robinson, Literacy Evangelist and Social Media Guru

Jen Robinson loves reading, listening to, and recommending books. Although she works in the high tech industry, she feels that she can actually make a difference in the world if she helps parents, teachers, and librarians to connect kids with books. She does this by purchasing books for as many kids in her life as possible, and by reviewing books …

Meet the 2016 Organizers: Sheila Ruth, Publisher Liason

It all started with Harry Potter and homeschooling. After bonding over reading Harry Potter together, kidlit became a family activity. Dad wrote a book, mom (Sheila) published it, and mom and son started a book website, Wands and Worlds, as a homeschooling activity. Blogging followed soon after, which in turn led to the Cybils, which Sheila has been passionately involved with …

Meet the 2016 Organizers: Anne Levy, Executive Director

I’m the Cybils spokes-model, getting paid big bucks to show off my glamorous self and sell these sleek awards. Only I don’t get paid, and I’m in my PJs, and the awards are free. I’m not really sure why organizers keep me around a decade after co-founding the awards, actually, except as some sort of mascot. I wave a lot …

The Cybils is Now a Non-Profit!

The Cybils organization is thrilled to report that we are now officially a not-for-profit corporation, registered in the state of Arizona. We will be applying for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status this year. We have undertaken this formal registration process as a reflection of the seriousness with which we, the Cybils organizers, treat this award. While we are taking steps to make the …

The 2016 Cybils Logo

(I really wanted to title this OOOOH PRETTY, but I refrained.) Our wonderful graphic designer and co-blog editor, Sarah, worked her magic and whipped up a new batch of logos for this year’s Cybils. Feel free to grab, share, link, place, enjoy at your leisure. We definitely think they’re possibly our favorite out of all of them! And don’t forget …

Call for Judges: We Need YOU!

It’s CYBILS TIME again! (Already? Can you believe it?)  After 10 years of doing this, you know the drill. We need YOUR help.  It wouldn’t be the Cybils without audience participation. So, we are lining up a crew of judges (newbies and returning ones) who will be willing to read, discuss, think about, blog about, narrow down, and select the year’s …

Changes are FUN! (Part 2)

What we should have said in Friday’s post is that for now meant until Sunday… A couple more quick changes before we get the ball rolling this year. First, we’d like to welcome two more new chairs!  Jennie Rothschild will be heading up the YA Non-Fiction category and Jodie Rodriguez as our Easy Readers and Early Chapter Book chair.  The bigger change, …

Change Is Fun!!

Or: What’s New at the Cybils this year.  We aren’t really changing anything substantial, but we thought we’d try out a few new things, just to see how they go.  First: with the increasing number of good non-fiction titles out there, we felt that it would be best if we split both of the non-fiction titles into two award. The …

Watch This Space….

*sweeps floor* *dusts off bookcases* *straightens papers* *gathers cats* It’s Cybils Time again! Keep an eye out over the next week or so. We’ve got a few changes to the award to announce (Change Is Fun!) and we’re going to be looking for able and willing bloggers to help out (as always).  So excited! *throws cats in the air* *arms …

Interview with JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith

 First off, congrats! We adored Sidewalk Flowers. Can you tell us a bit about how you came up with the idea for the book?  JL: Thank you so much! It was a thrill to find out that Sidewalk Flowers got the Cybils Fiction Picture Book Award! The idea for the book came from a walk I was taking with my …