Tanita Davis is an award-winning author. She has written 8 novels for young readers, and her short fiction can be found in Hunger Mountain and Cicada magazines. She is currently the CYBILS Awards Board Vice President. When my book HAPPY FAMILIES was among the hundreds banned in 2023 by the Katy ISD, a public school district based in Katy, Texas, I wasn’t shocked. …
R is for RECOGNITION | #fREADom guest post by Charlotte Taylor
Charlotte Taylor is a CYBILS Awards board member, having recently served as Board President. She served as the Elementary/Middle-Grade Speculative Fiction chair from 2009-2023, and this year is the chair for the High School Nonfiction category. Charlotte takes comfort in placing as many library holds as she can realistically read. If only her day job as a professional archaeologist, and …
What is fREADom?
fREADom is the belief that readers should have the opportunity to choose the books they read. It recognizes that a parent has the right to set boundaries for their own children, but not the youth population at large. The CYBILS Awards believes in the power of books, and we affirm the words of Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop, whose research showed how …
#CYBILS2024 Time for Publisher and Author Submissions
Dear publishers and authors, Thank you for your patience! We know you are very excited for the opportunity to get your books in front of our judges. Now that readers have had the opportunity to nominate their favorite titles, it is your turn. From 10/1 – 10/15/2024 you can submit your own eligible titles that could fill in the gaps …
Hey, look 👀It’s Reader Nomination Time! #CYBILS2024
Public Nominations #CYBILS2024 9/16/2024 to 9/30/2024 Yes, indeed! It’s the first date we circle on our calendar every year: the day you can finally nominate your favorite children’s and young adult books of 2024! Everything you need to know is in this post! To make the process easier and ensure books are nominated in the correct place and so you …
What’s next for #CYBILS2024?
We’re glad you asked! The Call for Judges is now closed and our category chairs are organizing their panels. We hope to announce the panels in the next week-ish. Chairs will reach out to individual applicants, so be sure to check your email. In the meantime, you can be getting ready for the Public Nomination period, which begins on 16 …
Attention Publishers: Change is Coming
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 …
#CYBILS2024 Call for Judges
We know you’re busy enjoying the Summer Olympic Games, so we’ll keep this short and sweet. The Call for Judges for #CYBILS2024 has opened. Applications accepted between 8.1.2024 and 9.7.2024. You don’t need to be an (old school) blogger. If you actively share review books for kids & teens, consider applying. Got questions? Go here. Last thing: Apply here. Today. …
Save the Date: #CYBILS2024 is coming. Soon!
It seems like only yesterday, but way back in April, we announced that we were tweaking some of our processes for the 2024 Awards cycle. At the top of the list: Give judges more time for reading. Having time to find, read, and discuss all the books is something judges ask for year in and year out. To accommodate their …
Spring Forward with these #CYBILS2024 Nomination-eligible Books
Over the last five months we posted review exerpts for more than 450 books nominated or submitted for the 2023 CYBILS Awards. All told, we shared reviews from our judges for more than one-third of the books considered for our 2023 awards. Not an all-time high, but pretty durned good. Look for more #CYBILS2023 titles in future booklists. In the …