March Suggestions

Heavy Medal is on hiatus until September 2018…well, mostly.  This year we’re going to try something different between now and Fall.  Around the 1st of each month we’ll solicit “Suggestions” from Heavy Medal readers.  This is similar to the process followed by the real Newbery Committee.  It’s a way for members to share what they’re reading and liking through the year, long before official Nominations (Oct – Dec) and Discussions/Ballots (Jan or Feb).   For Heavy Medal, it will help us three bloggers, and readers, as we read and think about what to post.   Here’s how we’ll try it for this blog:

–  Suggest books that you think could be possible Newbery contenders.  By suggesting, you’re not saying:  “this is a Newbery favorite,” but rather:  “this could be a possible contender.”

–  Suggest only eligible books.  Check the Terms and Criteria for details.  If you’re not sure, err on the side of inclusion.  .

– Suggest up to 5 titles per month.  The real Committee likely won’t have a limit, but we will have one here just to keep numbers manageable.  Less than 5 is always okay.

– Suggestions are just title and author.  No description or justifications (we’ll do plenty of that starting in September).

– Suggest only books that you’ve read and have been published.  If you’ve read a pre-publication version, please save the Suggestion for its actual month of publication.  Most readers (and bloggers) don’t get these, so this keeps us all generally on the same time line.

–  Suggesting a book that’s been suggested already is fine.  Total number of Suggestions will not be used in decisions about short-lists….it just helps everyone see what books are on the most people’s radar.

–  Suggestions are due on the 5th of each month.  On the 6th (or shortly after) we’ll post a cumulated list.

I hope all this makes sense, but if you have questions about the process, just ask below.  And if you have any Suggestions to start us off, post below (title and author only, remember).  

Filed under: Process