Category: GSTBA
September 19, 2008
Garden State Teen Book Award FAQ
For a refresher of what the GSTBA is, how to participate, and how to vote, please check out the FAQ created by the Young Adult Services Section. These Frequently Asked Questions are also posted at the NJLA wiki at: http://njla.pbwiki.org/Young+Adult+Services.
Garden State Teen Book Awards
Frequently Asked Questions
Young Adult Section of the New Jersey Library Association
The official rules and explanation of the GSTBA ballot process can be found at: http://www.njla.org/honorsawards/book.
What is the Garden State Teen Book Award (GSTBA)?
The Garden State Teen Book Award is a project of the Young Adult Section of the New Jersey Library Association (www.njla.org). The section represents libraries from throughout the state, and selected nominees are based on teen appeal and quality of writing from the previous year’s “Best Books” list (i.e. the final 2010 GSTBA ballot is completed in late 2008/early 2009 and contains titles published in 2007). Ballots are composed of 20 nominations in three categories: fiction for grades 6-8, fiction for grades 9-12, and nonfiction for grades 6-12. The section seeks to expose teens to books that are appealing and well written, and which accurately display the diversity found in the state of New Jersey. Ballots are made available primarily to New Jersey school and public librarians.
What is the process for putting together the GSTBA ballot?
Members of the Young Adult Section of NJLA who have elected to act as “readers” are assigned titles by the YA Section Executive Board. The section will be notified as a whole when readers and titles are matched up, usually following the September section meeting. Readers read their assigned titles, and then meet with the section to discuss which titles should be chosen for the ballot. Each of the categories are discussed at three separate meetings. These discussion meetings follow regular section meetings in January, February, and March.
In 2008-2009:
Grade 6-8 discussion: January 30, 2009 (with snow date February 27)
Grade 9-12 discussion: February 27, 2009 (with snow date March 27)
Nonfiction discussion: March 27, 2009
At the conclusion of each discussion, a ballot with a maximum of 20 nominations is created. The full ballot of no more than 20 titles in each category is completed following the discussion of nonfiction titles in March. Voting extends from this time through mid-January of the following year.
Who puts together the GSTBA ballot?
Readers! You must be a member of the Young Adult Section of the New Jersey Library Association in order to be a reader.
Being a reader requires you to:
+ read titles that are assigned to you.
+ attend discussion meetings in January/February/March.*
+ help create original annotations of titles that make the ballot.
*note: If you cannot attend one or more of the discussions, you must make every effort to send your comments with a proxy (or a member of the executive board). Be sure to indicate your “Top Five” titles if you cannot attend the meeting. A GSTBA reader feedback form and book review code are available for your reference.
Being a reader entitles you to:
+ vote! Any section member can attend meetings and discussions, but ONLY READERS CAN VOTE for the final ballot.
The Members-at-Large of the section are responsible for compiling the final ballot and list of annotations, as well as for assigning readers and organizing the original full list of nominations.
How can I participate in choosing nominations for the ballot?
If you are a current member interested in participating in the creation of the GSTBA ballot, please contact one of the section Members-at-Large. You will be notified of your title assignments following the September meeting. If you are only interested in reading for one or two of the categories, please indicate this preference to the Members-at-Large.
To participate in putting together the ballot for the 2010 GSTBA ballot, please send an email prior to October 1 to:
Kate at kate_thelibrarian@yahoo.com; Emily at haberman@bccls.org.
When does the process for putting together the GSTBA ballot begin?
Reader assignments are made following the September meeting. The section begins discussions in January.
How can I get my hands on the ballot?
Printable ballots are available at the NJLA website (www.njla.org). Print ballots are also available the NJLA Conference at the end of April. You can contact one of the section Members-at-Large to see if there are extra print ballots after this time. Online voting is available at www.bccls.org/teens.
Who can vote for the award?
New Jersey teens! This is an award for teen readers, voted on by teen readers.
Posted by vasilik at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2007
Garden State Book Awards Luncheon
Bruce Coville was the keynote speaker for the Garden State Book Awards luncheon, and his witty, moving talk was a definite highlight of the conference as a whole. Before his talk on the importance of stories in the lives of young people, Bruce table-hopped throughout the ballroom, meeting and chatting with audience members -- what a great way to warm up the room!
Bruce illustrated his point about how important stories are to children and teens by telling us some great stories from his own childhood -- about how his father, who wasn't much of a reader, sat down to read him Tom Swift; about his 6th grade teacher, who entertained his exuberant writings; and about a man who, through his belief in the power of monarch butterflies, is transformed into a butterfly himself. In short, stories open children's minds to possibilities beyond what they can imagine, and in a world that stifles creativity, this is such an important thing.
Book Award winners Lola Schafer, Barry Danziger (standing in for his late sister, Paula), Eireann Corrigan, and Gennifer Choldenko were also on hand to receive their citations as winners of the Garden State Children's & Teen Book Awards. All gave gracious, charming acceptance speeches.
Posted by at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)
February 6, 2007
2007 Garden State Teen Book Award Winners!
At the January YA Services Section meeting, Kimberly Paone announced the winners of the 2007 Garden State Teen Book Awards. The winning titles in each category are:
Fiction, Grades 6-8: Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko
Fiction, Grades 9-12: Splintering, by Eireann Corrigan
Nonfiction, Grades 6-12: The Book of Bunny Suicides, by Andy Riley
Congratulations to the three winners, who will be honored at a special luncheon at NJLA's Spring Conference in April.
Posted by at 2:01 PM | Comments (0)
May 4, 2006
Garden State Book Awards Luncheon
Really, this post should be titled "Paul Zelinsky: Best Speaker Ever".
Mr. Zelinsky, a Caldecott Medal winner and three-time Caldecott Honor winner, gave a talk on the subject of how changes in technology have changed the way he illustrates books.
Liberally peppered with self-deprecating humor and full of beautiful slides of the many iterations of artwork from draft to published book, this was one of the best lectures I have ever attended on any topic.
Technological advances have helped Mr. Zelinsky refine and improve the process of illustrating books, but just as these new tools have added layers of depth and sophistication to his work, they've also added layers of complication to the process.
For his first books, published in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mr. Zelinsky would painstakingly match up his watercolor and gouache illustrations with Pantone color sheets so that the printers could get the mixes of red, blue, and yellow correct.
Eventually, he moved on to photocopying his pencil drawings and using them as underdrawings for tweaks and changes over the course of drafting and perfecting the illustrations.
Soon, he purchased a scanner, and would scan the hand-drawn illustrations into Photoshop and manipulate them to get the color exactly right or change the size of certain elements, and then print them out on large sheets of watercolor paper to add to them.
The illustrations I photographed for this post are examples of the work Mr. Zelinsky created for the triumphant and giddily worded book Doodler Doodling -- it's worth noting that the reader reading and the flyer flying were both drawn live, while Mr. Zelinsky held a microphone in one hand, speaking all the while.
In spite of the complications arising from using increasingly sophisticated technology to create his artwork, sketching and perfecting the artwork digitally is very useful for correcting errors, like the time Mr. Zelinsky miscalculated the position of the book's gutter or left a distinguishing feature of a character out of a handful of illustrations.
Selected bibliography:
The Shivers In The Fridge, forthcoming October 2006
Doodler Doodling
Knick Knack Paddywhack
Awful Ogre's Awful Day
Rapunzel
The Wheels on the Bus
Rumplestiltskin
More photos from the GSBA Luncheon are available at NJLA's Flickr Photostream.
Posted by at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2006
Enthusiastic Reader Awards
The New Jersey Reading Association is sponsoring the Enthusiastic Reader Award for students in New Jersey who value the joys and importance of reading. Each school district and each public library in New Jersey may submit to the New Jersey Reading Association the names of any and all students the district or public library wishes to recognize as Enthusiastic Readers. For more information [pdf].
Posted by njla at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)