Kudos to the ALSC staff for coordinating a wonderful celebration of the very first Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production ceremony during Annual in Anaheim, in collaboration with award co-sponsors YALSA and Booklist Magazine. What a wonderful night! Booklist’s Stephanie Zvirin welcomed the standing-room-only audience of 500 or so and Sue-Ellen Beauregard, Booklist’s Media Editor, served as the event moderator. The evening began with a fantastic presentation by author (and Full Cast Audio founder) Bruce Coville whose Homeric words proved to be the perfect symbolic Champagne-bottle-smash to set the Odyssey off on its voyage. His ritual shedding of the jacket is now an entrenched part of the finest ALA gala events – and was echoed by Lynn Rutan at the 2008 Printz Award ceremony. Next, I had the honor to thank the awesome members of the Best. Committee. Ever. Those wonderful women made my year as chair of the Odyssey Award the best year ever!
The fantastic ALSC staff coordinated the creation of the Odyssey Honor plaques (equal to the Newbery & Caldecott). I had the privilege to present the Honor recognition to Listen & Live Audio for Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary ‘Jacky’ Faber, Ship’s Boy; Weston Woods for Dooby Dooby Moo; Listening Library for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; HarperChildren’s Audio for Skulduggery Pleasant; and Listening Library for Treasure Island.
The highlight of the evening was the standing ovation for 2008 Odyssey Award winner Arnie Cardillo of Live Oak Media as he took the stage to accept the beautiful gold medal for his production of Jazz. Audiobook narrator extraordinaire Simon Vance, recently honored with the title “Voice of Choice” by Booklist Magazine, provided witty & warm remarks and mesmerizing readings as the perfect end to the program The final touch was an appearance by Harry Potter narrator Jim Dale via recorded DVD. When we looked out from the stage and saw Newbery-winning authors sitting on the floor throughout the night, we knew this was a night to remember!
You can relive the moments by listening to a podcast of the evening located here on the YALSA blog. I hope to gain permission to post the Jim Dale video for you to watch as well. Happy listening!
Mary Burkey
Teresa Walls
Thanks, Mary! What a great event for a great media for young people.
Lisa Yee
Very cool!!!
J. Fraser
Who is on the Committee?
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your neighborhood librarian
Somehow I missed this in July – I am so thrilled to see that your committee picked at least three of the books that I have been recommending to patrons all summer.
This new audio of Treasure Island is especially wonderful – Alfred Molina makes the text so accessible and his characterizations are just flawless. I recommend it to all ages, especially foot-dragging high school and middle school kids with “read one Classic book” on their summer reading list.
And where has Rupert Degas been all my life? 😉