Today was the day Cybils Award watchers!  After months of hard work by countless organizers, panelists and judges twelve awesome books were announced as the ultimate winners in their respective categories.

There is a wonderful post complete with descriptions of each book over on the Cybils blog so please go on over and read what people have to say about all the greatness.

I’m also going to go ahead and post the complete list here for you so enjoy:

• Fiction: Easy Readers – Watch Me Throw the Ball by Mo Willems
• Fiction: Short Chapter Book – Bad to the Bone (Down Girl and Sit) by Lucy Nolan; illustrated by Mike Reed
• Fiction: Fantasy & Science Fiction (MG) – Dreamdark: Silksinger (Faeries of Dreamdark) by Laini Taylor
• Fiction: Fantasy & Science Fiction (YA) – Fire by Kristin Cashore
• Fiction: Picture Books – All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon; illustrated by Marla Frazee
• Fiction: Middle Grade – Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Fiction: Young Adult – Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers
• Non-Fiction: Picture Books – The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton; illustrated by Tony Persiani
• Non-Fiction: Middle Grade/Young Adult – The Frog Scientist by Pamela S. Turner; illustrated by Andy Comins
• Graphic Novels: Middle Grade – The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook by Eleanor Davis
• Graphic Novels: Young Adult – Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation by Tom Siddell
• Poetry – Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

Congratulations to all of the winners!

According to the website, The Cybils Awards are “designed to reward children’s and young adult authors and illustrators whose books combine the highest literary merit and ‘kid appeal’.” In doing so, the awards also hope to “foster a sense of community among bloggers who write about children’s and YA literature….”.

Well what better way to foster and promote community than with a good old fashioned challenge! So it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the Cybils Award Challenge where participants are encouraged to read from The Cybils Award nominees for the given year.

Please note that this challenge is in no way endorsed by or affiliated with the actual Cybils Awards or it’s organizers. This concept was born of a personal challenge I made for myself that others expressed interest in participating in as well.

How Will It Work?

• Challenge will run from December 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010
• Anyone can join, you don’t have to blog to play along
• Challengers can choose to participate in as many of the categories listed below as they want
• Challengers may not mix books from across multiple categories
• Challengers do not need to construct a reading list just decide as you go however the mood strikes you
• Challengers may participate at any of the levels indicated below
• All books used as part of the challenge must be from the 2009 reading lists linked below
• Books read can overlap with other challenges you are participating in
• Challengers can read in any format (ie: audio, e-book, print)

Categories

• Fiction: Easy Readers & Short Chapter Books
• Fiction: Fantasy & Science Fiction (MG)
• Fiction: Fantasy & Science Fiction (YA)
• Fiction: Picture Books
• Fiction: Middle Grade
• Fiction: Young Adult
• Non-Fiction: Picture Books
• Non-Fiction: Middle Grade/Young Adult
• Graphic Novels: Middle Grade
• Graphic Novels: Young Adult
• Poetry

Levels of Participation

• Categorically Speaking – choose to read all books in a category
• Halfway There – choose to read 50% of books in a category
• Rule of Fours – choose to read 1/4 or 3/4 of books in a category
• Pick A Number – choose to read a specific number of books in a category
• Shorties Rule – choose to read books in a specific short list (finalists will be publicized Jan 1, 2010)

Fun Stuff

As part of the fun there will be author interviews, guest posts, giveaways and a grand prize drawing for a $100 gift card to Borders Books.

To qualify for entry in the drawing a challenger must choose the “Categorically Speaking” level of participation, must complete all books within that category and must post a review of each either on a blog, a social networking site or bookstore site (ie: Amazon, B&N, Borders or some other store you may affiliate with). Ultimately you must provide to me some sort of tangible review in order for it to count towards completion of your entry to the giveaway drawing.

Sign up

Interested in participating? Hop on over to the Sign Up page and add your name to the Mr. Linky. Challengers can join in at any time during the year there is no deadline for participation.