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As the chair of the inaugural YALSA Writing Award Jury, I am proud to announce the four outstanding pieces of writing contributed by YALSA members last year. After receiving a shortlist of nominations from the respective publications’ editors and managers, our committee carefully considered each of the article’s merits to select the winners. Without further ado, here are the winning articles:

• Sarah Ludwig for best article in the previous volume of Young Adult Library Services, for “Teen Tech Camp” (Vol. 9, Number 2). Sarah wrote an account of a three-day tech workshop at her library, including details about the planning process and the lessons themselves and a summary of what worked and what didn’t.
• Casey H. Rawson for best article in the previous volume of The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults for “Are All Lists Created Equal? Diversity in Award-Winning and Bestselling Young Adult Fiction” (Vol. 1, Number 3: Spring). Casey examined diversity in books for teens along a variety of factors compared to the make-up of the U.S. population, including race/nationality, religion, family status, sexual orientation, and disabilities.
• Linda Braun for best post on the YALSABlog between Dec. 1, 2010, and Nov. 30, 2011, for “The Internet IS a Toaster.” Linda argues that librarians need to consider more than just the mere presence of technology as a draw for teens, but instead should think about new ways to market the services surrounding it.
• Maria Kramer for best post on The Hub between Dec. 1, 2010, and Nov. 30, 2011, for “In Which Our Author Tips Her Cog-Bedecked Top Hat to Steampunk.” Maria introduces readers to the wide world of steampunk literature and beyond in an entertaining and humorous fashion.

We encourage you to read the winning articles and congratulate the winning authors. The winners for the journals will each receive $500, due to the more extensive nature of their work. The winners for the blog posts will each receive $200. All winners will receive a plaque and be recognized at YALSA’s Membership Meeting at the ALA Annual Conference this summer in Anaheim, Calif. Of course, there were plenty of excellent contributions during the year from others, so don’t forget to browse through each publication’s archives for articles covering a diverse range of topics.

The YALSA Writing Award eligiblity period runs from Dec. 1 to Nov. 30 for the blogs and for the current volume year for the journals. Winners are selected based on the following criteria: applicability to a variety of library settings, originality of ideas, timeliness, relevance to young adult librarianship, persuasiveness of arguments, quality of writing, clarity of presentation, and contribution to the YALSA membership. Winners must be YALSA members at the time of submission. If you want to be in the running for this fledgling award, start thinking about writing for one (or more!) of the YALSA publications in the coming months. See below for more information about getting started:

• YALS: Accepts manuscripts on an ongoing basis that showcase current research and practice relating to teen services and spotlight significant activities and programs of the division. See the author guidelines or contact the editor, Megan Honig
• JRLYA: Accepts manuscripts based on original qualitative or quantitative research, an innovative con
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Over at the YALSA Blog, I've been interviewing the six authors of the five finalists for The Morris Award; winner will be announced at ALA's Youth Media Awards at its Midwinter Meeting in Boston on Monday, January 18 from 8-10 p.m. at the Westin Copley Place Essex Center South.

Here are the interviews, along with links to my reviews of each book.


ASH by Malinda Lo

From my review: "This retelling unfolds slowly, deliciously. It's an internal story; a story about Ash grieving the loss of her parents, shutting down from it, and eventually choosing life and love. This is a tale about recovering from grief and unbearable loss. . . . Take note, librarians and teachers looking for a great book with both literary merit and one that encourages deep discussion; you'll want this one."

From the interview:: "I did outline [Ash], and came up with long character questionnaires. At the same time, I was an anthropology graduate student, so I approached worldbuilding from an anthropologist’s perspective. That means I thought about rituals—cultural practices that can mark major changes in one’s life, like birth, marriage, and death."


BEAUTIFUL CREATURES

From my review: "A lushly written Southern Gothic tale, with family and town secrets, and teens discovering that the world is not what they thought it was. It's not just finding out that the supernatural is real; it's learning that trusted adults have kept secrets. And then trying to figure out what to do about it; and trying to take charge of your future when everyone is telling you that future is set in stone."

From the interview:: Margaret Stohl: "By the time we got to the sequel, we practically had the guillotine of lost ideas set up in our office, and our editor just pointed out that we (meaning she!) cut twenty thousand words off of this last draft." Kami Garcia: "Gatlin reminds me a lot of the small town in North Carolina where my grandmother and great-grandma grew up. But the thing about Gatlin is that it really describes a lot of small towns, all over the country. Because pie baking is pie baking and porch gossip is porch gossip regardless of where you’re baking the pie and dishing the gossip."


THE EVERAFTER by Amy Huntley

From my review: "Maddy, revisiting a physics class: "something can be two things at once, and that observing them influences which of the two they are... Ms. Winters has moved to talking about how everything in the universe is connected in ways that can't always be seen or understood. ...at the subatomic level no time has to pass for one particle to know about and be affected by what's happening to another." Maddy's head is about to explode, and so is mine, but what Huntley has done is taken the fantastical (the afterlife, ghosts, Heaven) and wrapped it in science."

From the interview:"In college I took a class called “Physics for Poets.” I found the class fascinating, but terrifying as well. The thought that there might not be a god, that everything came down to this random event called The Big Bang, fascinated me in a horrifying way. What if I really was nothing more than matter and energy? What if that meant I’d spend eternity floating around in the universe alone? This notion nagged at me for years. Then one day, in the teacher’s lou

Flygirlby Sherri L. Smith. Putnam. 2009. Copy supplied by publisher.

Want to know what I think about Flygirl? And why it's being added to My Favorite Books of 2009? Well, you're going to have to click over to the YALSA Blog to find out.

Plus: My Twitter review.

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy