This final week in August is when the ANNUAL CYBILS AWARDS usually posted that nominations were opening for all categories. I'm saddened to report that my long-time service with the literacy leaders and book-boosters at CYBILS has ended. That's because the dedicated VOLUNTEER board and organizers had to make a heartbreaking choice to pull the plug on their annual award program.
This began as, and continued as, a book-bloggers' award. Their mission to encourage only the best in all books for youth championed award-deserving titles in every genre and for every reader under twenty.
I found CYBILS while reading posts about nominees, exploring their lists, and anxiously awaiting word of the finalists and winners in each category, even in types of books I rarely read.
Then, I worked up my nerve and volunteered to serve on an award panel. I was accepted. Across the years I took part in reading and evaluating picture books, nonfiction works for all ages, poetry, and early books (board books, chapter books, and beginning readers). I even served as a committee chair. During those annual evaluations I worked with incredible individuals and those amazing folks behind the scenes who organized and sustained an extremely complex process. And they did so with patience, grace, and enthusiasm.
I'll be forever grateful for these experiences, for the exposure to so many outstanding books and their creators, and to the CYBILS group for originating and sustaining the program for so many years. For now, the website continues in operation and includes book lists from the past. I highly recommend this as a source for great titles for readers of any and every interest.
Take a look here: https://www.cybils.com/
Thank you, CYBILS Board and longtime volunteers. You made a difference in so many lives.
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