Nominations: First Round Results
October Nominations are closed. We’ll call for two more nominations per person in early November, then again in December. The first round of Nominations was one of my favorite parts of being Newbery Chair. Up to this moment, Committee members don’t have a good sense of what other members are most enthusiastic about. Then the Chair sends out the nomination results, along with written justifications for each title nominated, and everyone sort of resets: shuffling your reading list to cover nominated titles you missed (“oh great, now I’m even further behind than I thought I was”!); taking a second look at books that you were surprised to see nominated (“what did they see that I missed?”); and looking ahead to November and December realizing you only have four precious nominations left.
This first batch on Heavy Medal is fascinating: Far more people nominated titles this year compared to last October (32 vs. 13!), but fewer people have commented about books so far. 38 books received Nominations out of a possible 96 (if all 32 people had nominated different books), which shows a lot overlap…even a little more overlap than I’d expect. We have a relatively small number of books with just a single nomination (11), which over 70% of the nominated titles received nominations from at least two people.
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It can be tempting to look at the early nomination leaders and declare them front-runners, but that can be deceptive. Several nominated titles just came out and likely not everyone has gotten to them yet: ASSASSINATION OF BRANGWAIN SPURGE by MT Anderson and Kate DiCamillo’s LOUISIANA’S WAY HOME, for example, seem likely to garner more in future rounds (I just finished one and just started the other).
We will do a call for two more nominations in early November, then for the final two in early December. These nominations are helpful for us at Heavy Medal as we decide what titles to post about. They will also help us develop our Heavy Medal Short List and Long List. These are lists we’ll use for an online poll and for an online Mock discussion that will take place in January. More about those will be posted here later. Meanwhile, here are the nomination totals for October:
Five books received 4 or more Nominations
FRONT DESK – 10
THE BOOK OF BOY – 9
JOURNEY OF LITTLE CHARLIE – 6
JUST LIKE JACKIE – 5
THE TRUTH AS TOLD BY MASON BUTTLE – 4
Five books have 3 Nominations
THE ASSASSINATION OF BRANGWAIN SPURGE
HARBOR ME
THE PARKER INHERITANCE
REBOUND
SNOW LANE
Eighteen books have 2 Nominations
THE ADVENTURES OF A GIRL CALLED BICYCLE
BE PREPARED
BENEFITS OF BEING AN OCTOPUS
BOB
CARDBOARD KINGDOM
CHECKED
ECHO’S SISTER
GHOST BOYS
THE GIRL WHO DREW BUTTERFLIES
HOPE IN THE HOLLER
HURRICANE CHILD
IVY ABERDEEN’S LETTER TO THE WORLD
LOUISIANA’S WAY HOME
OUT OF LEFT FIELD
PENDERWICKS AT LAST
THE PRINCE AND THE DRESSMAKER
SEASON OF STYX MALONE
TWO ROADS
Eleven books have 1 Nomination
THE ASTONISHING COLOR OF AFTER
BETTY BEFORE X
BOOTS ON THE GROUND
FAITHFUL SPY
LAST
MAD WOLF’S DAUGHTER
NOWHERE BOY
PETER & ERNESTO
THE POET X
SUNNY
THUNDERHEAD
Filed under: Process
About Steven Engelfried
Steven Engelfried was the Library Services Manager at the Wilsonville Public Library in Oregon until he retired in 2022 after 35 years as a full-time librarian. He served on the 2010 Newbery committee, chaired the 2013 Newbery Committee, and also served on the 2002 Caldecott committee. You can reach him at sengelfried@yahoo.com.
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Just to clarify — a Newbery Committee member must nominate 7 books total by end of December. And for Heavy Medal readers who are considering to participate fully (having read ALL Long Listed titles — last year was 18, probably what we’ll go for again this year) in our own Mock Discussion, this list could provide you with some strategy to prioritize your reading in the next couple of months. Excited!
Do we know for sure how many will be on the long list? Is there a set number?
Thank you!
Last year we had 18 — we did have a little longer because Newbery was announced in Feb. That, to me, still seems to be a good number. What do others think?
I have Newbery announcement listed for January 28, 2019. Am I right?
Yes, January 28 in Seattle is the announcement.
Do actual committee members have any sense what others are nominating during the first round? Or is it completely blind? There are several titles I am floored didn’t get a single nomination, one of which I didn’t list because I just assumed it would get a nod. I guess I hope there is a lot less overlap during the actual process. I will definitely be more strategic with my next picks.
The way it worked with my Committee years, members do not know what others are nominating when they send theirs in. Once all of the nominations are in, the list is shared with the whole committee. And not just the list, but also the written justifications that members write for each book they nominate. Member names were attached to the nominations in my years, but that’s not required. I know some committees keep the nominations anonymous. Either way, I’ve always been surprised, both by what’s on the list and what’s not on the list….
My students would like to say that they missed the nomination deadline, but their top three so far are:
Mason Buttle
Parker Inheritance
Poet X
With the caveat, “we haven’t all finished Front Desk, and we just got Harbor Me and Brangwain Spurge.”
As I am responsible for their missing the deadline, I am passing on the message.
Thanks for this information. We always love to hear directly from young readers. How old are they?
They are 4th-6th graders. Some of them aren’t ready for Poet X, so we’re having lots of good discussions about the upper age limit for the real committee.
I’ve been absent for a time. I missed the first round. Are we able to make it up beginning in November, jump in with two in November, or is it all or nothing?
I am also very interested in the answer to DaNae’s question. I was buried under book fair preparations and did not check the blog for a while!
DaNae and Wendy asked what happens if you miss submitting Nominations in October. The real Committee has to get them all in on time, but we can be less strict here. So if you missed October, when 3 Nominations were allowed, you may submit those in November, along with the 2 that are allowed in November. We’ll post the call for those in early November. Just add a note like “missed October” to make it clear…