Cybils: the Children's & YA Blogger's Literary Awards

The Cybils Awards have been announced at the Cybils blog.

I'm the Middle Grade organizer; was one of the Young Adult judges; and, it turns out, my nomination for Graphic Novels - Young Adult was chosen for the winner!

A brief recap of the winners:

Fantasy and Science Fiction, Elementary/Middle Grade: The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex.

Fantasy and Science Fiction, Young Adult: Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Fiction Picture Books: The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington; illustrated by Shelley Jackson.

Graphic Novels: Elementary/Middle Grade: Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel written by Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin; illustrated by Giovanni Rigano and Paolo Lamanna.

Graphic Novel, Young Adult: The Professor's Daughter written by Joann Sfar; illustrated by Emmanuel Guibert.

Middle Grade Novels: A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban.

Nonfiction MG/YA books: Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat.

Nonfiction Picture Books: Lightship by Brian Floca

Poetry: This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski.

Young Adult Novels: Boy Toy by Barry Lyga.

Hugo Winners 2007

And here are the winners of this year's Hugo Awards:

• Best Novel: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge [Tor, 2006]
• Best Novella: “A Billion Eves” by Robert Reed [Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2006]
• Best Novelette: “The Djinn’s Wife” by Ian McDonald [Asimov’s July 2006]
• Best Short Story: “Impossible Dreams” by Tim Pratt [Asimov’s July 2006]
• Best Related Non-Fiction Book: James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B Sheldon by Julie Phillips [St. Martin’s Press, 2006]
• Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro. Directed by Guillermo del Toro [Picturehouse]
• Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who - “Girl in the Fireplace” (2006) Written by Steven Moffat. Directed by Euros Lyn [BBC Wales/BBC1]
• Best Editor, Long Form: Patrick Nielsen Hayden
• Best Editor, Short Form: Gordon Van Gelder
• Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
• Best Semiprozine: Locus ed. by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong and Liza Groen Trombi
• Best Fanzine: Science-Fiction Five-Yearly ed. by Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan, and Randy Byers
• Best Fan Writer: Dave Langford
• Best Fan Artist: Frank Wu
  

Wish I could have been there. :)

It's Been a While, Let's Talk Science Fiction

Got any science fiction books in your collection? Got any patrons who like science fiction? Ever heard of the Hugo awards?

From this point on, I'm assuming you've answered yes to the above questions. This time of year always gets me thinking about science fiction (ok, I'm thinking about nearly ever day) and particularly the Hugo Awards. The awards are presented at the World Science Fiction convention (AKA Worldcon) and are voted on by the people are attending the convention as well as the people who attended the previous year's convention.

Every year, the Worldcon is held in a different city. Last year it was in Los Angeles, the year before in Glasgow, the year before that in Boston, and so on. (you can go here if you want to see a list of bids for upcoming locations; they also decide future locations of the Worldcon at the current Worldcon) Follow me so far?

I try to go every year if I can, however this year I am not attending. That's because starting tomorrow (actually, perhaps right now) this year's Worldcon is in Yokohama, Japan. It's the first time the Worldcon has ever been in Japan. It was a little outside my budget for this year; next year is in Denver so I should be there.

In a few days, we will know the winner's of the Hugo awards. While no writer I know would turn down any award, the thing that makes the Hugo special for the recipient is that the Hugo is voted on by fans (sure, some of the voters are professional writers, artists, and editors, but a lot of the people who go to the convention are just fans of the genre) so it represents what the people like.

I'm going to replicate a few parts of this year's nominees. What a nice instant display for your science fiction fans!

Best Novel

• Eifelheim by Michael Flynn (Tor)
• His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
• Glasshouse by Charles Stross (Ace)
• Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (Tor)
• Blindsight by Peter Watts (Tor)

Best Related Book

• About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, and Five Interviews by Samuel R Delany (Wesleyan University Press)
• Heinlein's Children: The Juveniles by Joseph T Major (Advent: Publishing)
• James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B Sheldon by Julie Phillips (St. Martin's)
• Cover Story: The Art of John Picacio by John Picacio (MonkeyBrain Books)
• Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches by Mike Resnick and Joe Siclari, eds. (ISFiC Press)

And for non-readers:

Best Dramatic Presentation - Long Form

• Children of Men
• Pan's Labyrinth
• The Prestige
• A Scanner Darkly
• V for Vendetta

Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form

• "Battlestar Galactica" Downloaded
• "Doctor Who" Army of Ghosts and Doomsday
• "Doctor Who" Girl in the Fireplace
• "Doctor Who" School Reunion
• "Stargate SG-1" 200

It may be that your science fiction patrons will know the winners before you do (but not before I do) but that's ok. Make your display anyway. Perhaps someone won't mind reading an award-winning novel even if it is science fiction. I mean, a lot of people read award-winning novels that they don't know are science fiction, right?

MTV VMA 2007 Nominees Announced

Ever the media-buying librarian's friend, MTV has announced the nominees for this year's Video Music Awards, more popularly known as the VMAs.

I love the names of some of these categories: Most Earth-Shattering Collaboration; Quadruple Threat of the Year; Monster Single of the Year. Best of all, though, are the full-length videos nestled right next to the nominees' names and annotations. I may have to watch the "Girlfriend" video 500 more times, and catch my first-ever glimpse of Rihanna's "Umbrella" (ella, ella, ella).

Belated Oscar Report

So, the Oscars happened. May I make a little confession? I am as into awards as a person can possibly be, but I feel a little bit awarded-out this year. Maybe it's because this year, I didn't go to the movies as much as other years, so I didn't see as many nominated films as I could have. Maybe I'm getting jaded and annoyed with what seems like a fundamentally unfair process. Regardless, on Sunday night, I was more worried about how my husband's birthday cake would turn out than about what Kate Winslet would be wearing. (Although, really, do I ever need to worry about what she wears to these things? No. She is always beautifully turned out in some smashing gown that makes the most of her figure. Well done, Kate! Such a load off my mind. Also, the cake turned out really well. It was a coconut cake, and darn tasty. Photos at Flickr.)

That being said, I was actually a little sad to have to drag myself off to bed at 9:20, because this was by far the best Oscars in years, thanks in large part to the genius of gracious, witty, warm host Ellen DeGeneres. I really hope this was just the first of many hosting gigs for her, because she was wonderful.

If you missed the telecast, or just haven't gotten around to watching your taped or TiVo-ed version, you can check out a highlight reel, along with Ellen's video diaries at the Oscar website. The site is full of content, including a complete list of winners, a red carpet gallery, and loads of information about the ceremony's history. Cool! You should also get over to YouTube, stat, to see the hilarious video of Will Ferrell, Jack Black, and John C. Reilly singing about how comedic actors can't get arrested at the Oscars.