It’s Time! Top Three? Wheee!

I know it seems so fast, but it’s already time to start nominating.  In October the real Newbery Committee members are painstakingly deciding which titles to put forward as their first nominations.  The first ones are hardest, for me, because I’m flying blind.  I’m trying to guess what others are likely to suggest and balance two objectives:

1.  To make sure that really strong titles don’t get somehow left out and

2.  To make sure that titles *I* feel strongly about, but know are less likely to have broader support, get on the table for more discussion.

Last year Roxanne, Steven, and I talked about the nominating process.  I think it’s a worthwhile re-read if you want more details on how nominations work and how they differ from suggestions.  The tl;dr version is this:  members of the committee can, as we have been doing, suggest titles each month without limit.  These are titles that they feel the other committee members should read and pay attention to.  The nominations, when they start, are limited (3 in October and 2 each in November and December) and these are titles that will be added to the table for discussion at Midwinter Conference.  Titles that aren’t nominated are off the table, and will not be discussed.

So, this is high stakes!

At this time, feel free to nominate, in the comments, your first three titles.  You’ll be able to see what those before you have nominated, which may help with your decision-making.  Please stick with titles that have been published already.  You can also write up why you think these titles are “the most distunguished” of the year.

I’ll add mine to the comments once I’ve seen a few of yours come through!

Filed under: Process