How to use this Page

Join YALSA with LIVE streaming video of all the YMA announcement, presented jointly by the YALSA Blog and The Hub. Along with the video, we’ll also be offering quick polls and pulling Twitter hashtags like #printz and #alexawards. You can log in to the live session with your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or OpenID username (which will include your avatar), or just jump right in.

YALSA Blog manager mk Eagle (username pandanose) will be offering transcriptions of all the announcements, with live video from The Hub blogger Jessica Pryde. Coverage begins at 7:30 central on Monday, January 23.

2012 Youth Media Awards

This fall, YALSA will be making appointments to the following selection committees and taskforces! Put your passion for young adult literature to work! If you have experience in evaluating and selecting young adult materials, as well as time to volunteer your skills, please consider serving on a YALSA selection committee. The committees and taskforces are:

• Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
• Best Fiction for Young Adults
• Fabulous Films for Young Adults
• Great Graphic Novels for Teens
• Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults
• Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
• Great Graphic Novels for Teens
• Alex Award
• Morris Award
• Odyssey Award
• 2013 Midwinter Marketing & Local Arrangements Taskforce
• 2013 Midwinter Paper Presentation Planning Taskforce
• Readers’ Choice List Taskforce

How do I get on a committee or taskforce?
To serve on a committee or taskforce, you must be officially appointed by YALSA’s President-Elect, Jack Martin. YALSA is collecting volunteer forms from now through Sept. 30 for members who would like to serve on selection and award committees as well as taskforces that begin work on Feb. 1, 2012. If you are currently serving on a selection or award committee and you are eligible to and interested in serving for another term, you must fill out a volunteer form. This is the only way the President-Elect knows for certain that you’re interested in continuing on the committee. Also, please note that selection committee members are required to attend both Midwinter and Annual conferences. Please ensure that you can travel to both conferences before you volunteer.

What Do I Need to Know to Volunteer?
Before you volunteer to serve on a committee or taskforce, you’ll want to learn what the group does and what your responsibilities will be. YALSA has created a free webinar with information about what it’s like to serve on a selection or award committee. Be sure to take the time to view it. You can also contact the chair directly to let him/her know you’re interested in serving and to ask questions about what your involvement will entail. Names and contact information for all the committee chairs are available from the Governance link on YALSA’s website. From the Get Involved link on YALSA’s website you’ll also find information about each of the committees’ functions, size, etc. Lastly, be sure to read through YALSA’s Handbook, especially the sections that list responsibilities for committee members.

Where do I volunteer?
In order to be considered for a selection or award committee, you need to fill out a Selection Committee Volunteer Form by Sept. 30.

If you’d like to be considered for one of the task

YALSA has selected five books as finalists for the 2011 William C. Morris Award, which honors a book written for young adults by a previously unpublished author. YALSA will name the 2011 award winner at the Youth Media Awards on Jan. 10, at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in San Diego.

The 2011 finalists are:

• Hush by Eishes Chayil, published by Walker Publishing Company, a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
• Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey, published by Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group
• Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride, published by Henry Holt
• Crossing the Tracks by Barbara Stuber, published by Margaret McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
• The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston, published by Carolrhoda Lab, an imprint of Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group

“The 2011 Morris finalists illustrate a wealth of new authors writing for teens, making the selection of this year’s titles particularly difficult,” said Summer Hayes, chair of the 2011 William C. Morris Award committee. “From contemporary coming-of-age stories to fantasy to historical fiction, these stories resonated with our committee. They represent not only the strongest debut authors, but some of the best fiction written for teens this year.”

More information on the finalists and the award can be found at www.ala.org/morris. On Wednesday, Dec. 8, YALSA will host a chat in Adobe Connect on the Morris and Nonfiction shortlists at 8 p.m. Eastern, hosted by Rob Bittner.

YALSA sells finalist seals to librarians and publishers to place on books at www.alastore.ala.org. YALSA will host a reception honoring the shortlist authors and the winner, as well as YALSA’s Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award winners, at a free reception, 8–10 p.m. on Jan. 10 in Room 24 A-C at the San Diego Convention Center.

The award is named for William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults. William “Bill” Morris left an impressive mark on the field of children’s and young adult literature. He was beloved in the publishing field and the library profession for his generosity and marvelous enthusiasm for promoting literature for children and teens.

Members of the 2011 William C. Morris Award are: Chair Summer Hayes, King County Library System, Tukwila, Wash.; Karen E. Brooks-Reese, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; Carol Edwards, Denver Public Library; Alison M. Hendon, Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library; Diana Tixier Herald, Mesa County Valley School District #51, Grand Junction, Colo.; RoseMary Honnold, Voice of Youth Advocates, Coshocton, Ohio; Kathleen Taylor Isaacs, Pasadena, Md.; Angie Manfredi, Los Alamos County (N.M.) Library System; Adela Peskorz, Metropolitan State University Library and Learning Center, St. Paul, Minn.; and Amy Anderson, administrative assistant, Bellevue (Wash.) Regional Library.

If you can’t be at the Westin Copley Plaza for the Morris and Nonfiction Awards, you can join the live blog by clicking in the viewer window below. We’ll have live streaming video, commentary from those of us in the room, and selected tweets about the awards.

You have the option to sign in using your Twitter, Facebook or MySpace ID, which will include your avatar. We’ll be automatically publishing tweets that use hashtags #MorrisAward, #yalsanf and #yalsa. A replay of the live event will be available as soon as we close the session.

Morris & Nonfiction Awards

Those of you who aren’t with us in Boston or find yourself double (or triple!) booked can participate in several YALSA events via live coverage at the YALSA blog. Once again we’ll be using CoverItLive, with some exciting changes: live streaming video and social networking logins.

When you join the live blog session by clicking in the viewer window (see last year’s BBYA live blog to see the interface) you’ll have the option to log in using your Facebook, Twitter or MySpace login. Your comments will then appear with your avatar from that account. You’ll also be able to view our streaming video from the session thanks to integration with Qik.

The schedule of YALSA live blogs:

Best Books for Young Adults Teen Session: Sunday, January 17 1:30-3:30 PM

Youth Media Awards: Monday, January 18 7:30-9:00 AM

Morris and Nonfiction Awards: Monday, January 18 8:00-10:00 PM

Welcome to the final interview in YALSA’s series of interviews with the authors who are on the 2010 Morris Award Shortlist. Today we have Nina LaCour, author of Hold Still. Don’t forget to tune in on Monday, January 18 to the Youth Media Awards to find out who wins the 2010 Morris Award!

The Morris Award Committee on Hold Still: “After Caitlin’s best friend Ingrid commits suicide, Caitlin has a hard time making sense of the loss. She finds Ingrid’s journal and slowly allows herself to read it and learn about why Ingrid felt the need to end her life. Caitlin also grapples with allowing herself to find another friend, to let in a boyfriend, and to understand why her favorite teacher is ignoring her. It is the haunting story of dealing with loss, moving on, and finding peace and hope.”

YALSA Blog: Congratulations on Hold Still being on the Morris Award shortlist! Where were you when you found out you’d been shortlisted for the Morris Award? And who was the first person you told?

Nina LaCour: Thank you so much! It’s such an honor to be recognized with these five incredible authors. I was in my apartment when I got the call from Penguin. I was completely shocked and so excited. The first person I called was my wife, Kristyn, who was on her way home from work and sounded even more excited than I felt, if that’s even possible. Later that night I went to a pub for trivia night with Kristyn and my cousin and a couple friends, and the only answer I knew the whole night was the title of a 90s hip-hop song, but I didn’t mind because I was so elated over being shortlisted.

YALSA Blog: Caitlin’s recovery from the loss of Ingrid takes a long time. I hesitate to even say “recovery”; instead, it’s her adjustment to life without Ingrid. It’s not quick, it’s not simple, it’s not easy. Did you do a lot of research into grief, and recovering from loss?

Nina LaCour: I did some research into grief and recovery, yes. But I didn’t really find what I was looking for. I’m sure that some of it nestled in my brain somewhere, but in the end what I relied on more than the collection of statistics and psychological studies was just a lot of thinking. It was the worst kind of daydreaming; I was always wondering how I would feel if I had lost my best friend.

YALSA Blog: A tree house!?! I was surprised at Caitlin’s decision to make a tree house and how big and elaborate it ended up being. Why a tree house? And do you have one?

Nina LaCour: I wish! I grew up in apartments. I’ve never even had a backyard.

What happened is that a woman I knew in grad school had a coffee table book about tree houses. One evening I started looking through the book and was immediately captivated. Then, a year or so later, when I was searching for a way for Caitlin to channel her grief in an active way, I remembered them. The last thing I wanted was to write a book about a girl who sits around and cries. Caitlin does a bit of

Promote the Morris Award shortlist @ your library^® The Morris shortlist is out! You can promote it to teens in your library with a downloadable bookmark (PDF) that allows you to put each book’s location at your library and customize the back with your logo and contact information. Congrats to this year’s five nominees!

Nonfiction Award shortlist next week Watch YALSA’s website and this blog to see the shortlist for YALSA’s 2010 Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award! The shortlist will be announced next week. This new award honors the best fiction written for young adults in a Nov. 1 – Oct. 31 publishing year. Learn more at www.ala.org/yalsa/nonfiction.

Register for YALSA’s Midwinter events Even though today is the last day to receive the advanced registration discount, prices won’t change for either of YALSA’s pre-Midwinter ticketed events:  Libraries 3.0: Teen Edition and Games, Gadgets and Gurus. You don’t need to register for Midwinter to attend either one.  Details and how to register for them after the jump (you can read about everything we have planned for Midwinter Meeting, including a free program and reception honoring the 2010 Morris and Nonfiction Award honorees, at the YALSA Midwinter Wiki).

Read on for details on YALSA’s pre-Midwinter events, the Young Adult Literature Symposium Stipend, Teen Tech Week registration, and YALSA’s winter online courses.

Pre-Midwinter event details: Libraries 3.0: Teen Edition: Join YALSA from 9-4:30 p.m on Jan. 15 to learn how you can take advantage of free online tools and social networking options to enhance and expand the services for teens, discover strategies to gain funding for technology initiatives and buy-in from administrators, and hear speakers like Stacy Aldrich (futurist & acting California State Librarian), Cory Doctorow (BoingBoing.net, Little Brother), Laura Pearle, Wendy Stephens, and Buffy Hamilton. Lunch included! Libraries 3.0 costs $195 for YALSA members, $235 for ALA members, and $285 for nonmembers. Full details on this event, and all of YALSA’s plans for Midwinter, are available online at http://bit.ly/yalsamw2010.

Games, Gadgets & Gurus: Join us from 8-10 p.m. on Jan. 15! Spend a fun evening networking with colleagues and learning new skills to take back to your library! Come play games – both board and video; demo gadgets like e-readers, mobile phones, digital audio recorders, video cameras and the latest software; and take advantage of the opportunity chat one-on-one with a tech guru. Other participants include Galaxy Press, PBS’ Digital Nation, and Tutor.com. Mingle with colleagues! Enjoy some refreshments! Play with neat tech toys! And go home with great swag! Tickets cost $40; full details online at ht

YALSA today announced the five titles for the 2010 Morris Award shortlist. YALSA will name the Morris Award winner at the Youth Media Awards in Boston at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting on Jan. 18. YALSA will also honor the winning title, as well as Morris shortlist titles and YALSA Nonfiction Award winners at a reception on Monday, Jan. 18 from 8-10 p.m. at Westin Copley Place Essex Center South.

Congratulations to this year’s finalists:

• “Ash” by Malinda Lo, by published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• “Beautiful Creatures” by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• “The Everafter” by Amy Huntley, published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
• “Flash Burnout” by L.K. Madigan, published by Houghton Mifflin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• “hold still” by Nina LaCour, published by Dutton Children’s Books, a Division of Penguin Young Readers Group

The William C. Morris Award honors a book written for teens by a previously unpublished author. More information on the finalists and the award can be found at www.ala.org/morris.

Members of the 2010 William C. Morris Award are: Chair Judy Nelson, Pierce County Library System, Tacoma, Wash.; Jeana Actkinson, Bridgeport (Texas) High School; Dr. Joni Richards Bodart, School of Library and Information Science-San Jose (Calif.) State University; Susan Fichtelberg, Public Library of Woodbridge, N.J.; Angela Frederick, Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library; Clio Hathaway, Martin Memorial Library, York, Pa.; Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Ill.; Anne Leon, Alvin Sherman Library-Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Gail Zachariah, Keene (N.H.) Public Library; David Durante, administrative assistant, Pierce County Library System, Graham, Wash.; and Booklist Consultant, Ilene Cooper, Chicago.

When the American Library Association recently presented its Youth Media Awards, an exciting announcement was the winner of the new William C. Morris Young Adult Debut Award.

The award’s namesake is William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults. Bill Morris left an impressive mark on the field of children’s and young adult literature. He was beloved in the publishing field and the library profession for his generosity and marvelous enthusiasm for promoting literature for children and teens.

The William C. Morris YA Debut Award celebrates the achievement of a previously unpublished author, or authors, who have made a strong literary debut in writing for young adult readers. The work cited will illuminate the teen experience and enrich the lives of its readers through its excellence, demonstrated by:

* Compelling, high quality writing and/or illustration
* The integrity of the work as a whole
* Its proven or potential appeal to a wide range of teen readers

PaperTigers is pleased to congratulate the first-ever winner of the William C. Morris Award:

A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, Charlotte Miller strikes a bargain with the malevolent Jack Spinner, who can transform straw into gold, to save her family’s mill. With masterly writing and vivid characterization and setting, Bunce weaves a powerfully seductive tale of triumph over evil.

“Bunce has crafted a story that superbly embodies the criteria for this award. Her work is compelling and has broad teen appeal,” said Chair Bonnie Kunzel. “Thoughtful reflection and spirited discussion characterized this outstanding committee’s work as its members selected a shortlist that honors the influence of William C. Morris on the field of young adult publishing.”