This year marks my third year serving on the Graphic Novels nominating panel for the Cybils, the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards. I first heard about it via one of the blogs I read and immediately wanted to be part of it. It was the first year for the Cybils and I was all for the idea of awarding books that were nominated by just anyone, especially the children and young adults they were written for. It seemed like a fun venture and it just might get kids reading. So I invited myself to tag along, not knowing that the impulsive decision would change my life.
That first year, I joined a panel of nominators and what a panel! These women were amazing, talented, intelligent and fierce defenders of children’s lit. They knew their stuff, they CARED terribly about promoting literature and they were book geeks just like me. My fellow panelists and I often differed in opinion, but we worked and read and discussed these books in the most civil way possible. We shared our thoughts and I, for one learned so much. Having these other opinions often showed me something I missed or didn’t think was important in a book. It enlightened me. I grew as not only a reviewer, a reader but as a human being.
I also gained fast friends not only in my own panel but with judges and panelists in the other categories of the Cybils. Changes were made to the format.  We were new and we were learning. We bent to the whims of the books we were judging. Books were moved from one panel to another if it didn’t fit quite properly in the category is was nominated in. We ended up with 35 nominations and eventually split the GN category into two age groups.
At the end of it all we had, along with the other panelists picked whittled it down for the final judges and sat back to watch and learn. Each of us were heavily invested in the outcome and were thrilled at the choices that each judging panel selected.
Months later, the testimony I heard from authors and publishers thrilled me. I kept in contact with my friends from the Cybils and were shared what we had learned. The following year, I joined again with the same group and learned even more.
This year, I’m on the graphic novel panel again with new people but I know they will be future friends. I’m looking forward to the hard work that will start after the nominations close and the ultimate result.
I hope that you will take the time to make nominations in all categories, invest yourself in this wonderful thing that is the Cybils. Nominations close October 15th. Make sure your favorite gets nominated. Read with your children, with your nieces and nephews. Vote with them and join us as we learn about the wonderful books out there. The panelists will be blogging about the books they are reading, they’ll be blogging about the experience. I do hope you visit the blogs and get to know the people behind the awards.
