Samurai Shortstop nominated for a Cybils Award

I just learned last week that Samurai Shortstop has been nominated for the newly minted Cybils Award. What's a Cybils Award, you ask? Here's what their own press release had to say:

Like all revolutions, this one started small, with a single post on a blog devoted to children's literature. The Newbery Medals seemed too elitist and the Quills, well, not enough so. Was there a middle ground, an annual award that would recognize both a book's merits and popularity?

The answer: invent one! Within hours, this meme had circulated among some of the biggest bloggers in the burgeoning kidlitosphere, the cozy corner of the Web where children's books are given the same regard as their grown-up counterparts.

Within days, the new awards had a name and a website: The Cybils, a loose acronym for Children's and YA Bloggers' Literary Awards, at www.cybils.com. Nominations quickly opened in eight categories, from picture books up to Young Adult fiction and even graphic novels. In keeping with the democratic and unpredictable nature of the blogosphere, anybody can nominate a book, so long as it was published in 2006 in English.

I think this is a great idea, and I'm honored to have been nominated by someone in the blogosphere. I hope the Cybils continue to become an annually recognized award!