2010 Cybils Winners Announced! The YA Novel Winner, Plus a Few Things I Loved About Judging)

Today is a big day in the Kidlitosphere--the 2010 Cybils Award winners have been announced! A winning book was named in each of these categories:

• Easy Readers & Early Chapter Books
• Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade)
• Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult)
• Fiction Picture Books
• Graphic Novels (Middle Grade)
• Graphic Novels (Young Adult)
• Middle Grade Novels
• Nonfiction Books (Middle Grade & Young Adult)
• Nonfiction Picture Books
• Poetry
• Young Adult Novels 

I served as a final round judge in the Young Adult Novels category which was both real honor and great fun. Here are a few things I loved about being a Cybils judge:

• I got to read seven terrific books.
• I got to work under a deadline (I miss deadlines).
• If my family wanted me to do something/fetch something/cook something/launder something, I simply said, "I can't--I really HAVE to read this." (They don't usually let me get away with that.)
• I got to participate in interesting and thoughtful and passionate discussions with other book lovers who read the same books as I did. It was like being in a super cool book club and made me think about the books from new perspectives.
• I learned to love e-books. I read all but one of the finalist books on the Kindle app on my iPad, and I will think really hard about buying a printed book anytime soon. I loved the e-reading experience and this was a big surprise to me.

The other YA Novel judges and I chose SPLIT by Swati Avasthi (an SCBWI member) as the winning book in our category.


SPLIT won the 2010 Cybil's YA Novel category



Here is expert from what we wrote about Swati Avasthi's winning book. Click here to read the full blurb:

SPLIT focuses on Jace's journey towards healing after years of abuse at the hands of his father. Forced to leave his mother and friends behind, Jace abruptly relocates half-way across the country in an attempt to reconnect with his estranged brother...Tightly-written in the first person point of view, Avasthi's prose and straight-forward dialogue leaves no detail to the imagination. Fear, torment, hope, and loathing fill the pages of SPLIT as you root for these young men to find their way to discovering how to be a family again.

 

Congratulation to Swati on her terrific book and her Cybils win!

Click here to see the list of winners in all the other categories.