Today I enjoyed one of the highlights of the ALA Midwinter Meetings. Today were the announcements of the Youth Media Awards, otherwise known as the YMAs.
It was early morning, but the large auditorium in the Georgia World Congress Center where the announcements were made was filled, and there was an overflow crowd in the balconies. The common denominator among the attendees? EXCITEMENT!
As each award was announced, there was applause — and often — yells of excitement and appreciation. Truly, I was not the only person in attendance for whom the YMAs are an exciting opportunity to show enthusiasm for the best children’s books of the year.
Perhaps no one showed this enthusiasm as much as the 5th grade class from Imagine Clay Avenue Middle School, a school located in Toledo, Ohio, which watched the Youth Media Awards via a live-stream. They had been reading books for a class Mock Newbery program and had participated in a Mock Newbery vote at which The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill was selected as their Mock winner.
Check out their excitement as they heard their book announced as the Newbery winner at the YMAs:
Watching kids get excited about books. THIS is one of the reasons why I am a children’s librarian.
(The complete list of Youth Media Award Winners can be found here.)