Tag Archive for Julie Berry

“Bystander” Nominated for the 2011-12 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award

I’m happy to report that my master plan for world domination is well under way.

Yes, I’ve got Vermont!

Yes, Kentucky too!

And now, at long last, Oklahoma is mine! All mine!

BWA-HA-HA-HAAAA!

Three states down, 47 to go. I feel like Alf Landon in the 1936 elections, staring up at the big board as the electoral vote trickled in. How’d that work out for old Alf, I wonder?

Answer: He lost to FDR, 8 electoral votes to 525.

This Alf might have fared better.

Seriously, what an honor to be nominated. It’s so great when you throw a book out into the world and something positive bounces back. (Imagine, I just griped about this the other day.)

I received an email from Christopher Elliott, which said:

Congratulations!! You have been nominated for the Oklahoma Library Association’s Sequoyah Book Award. The Sequoyah Book Award program is one of the most prestigious of the state student choice awards in the nation.

<snip>

I am pleased to notify you personally that your book “Bystander” has been nominated for the 2011-2012 Intermediate Masterlist. I am attaching a list of this year’s nominees. You have been nominated for the 2011-2012 program that will be promoted from May 2011 until the voting deadline of March 31, 2012. Votes will be counted in early April, 2012 and the winning author(s) will be notified by April 30, 2012.

The OLA Conference will be held either late March or early April 2013. If your book is selected as a winner, I look forward to contacting you to arrange for your trip to Oklahoma to accept the Sequoyah Award from Oklahoma students.

Here is a list of the Nominations for the 2011-2012 Intermediate Award. Remember the students of Oklahoma will choose the winner.

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, James Swanson
Darkwood
, M.E. Breen
Watersmeet,
Ellen Abbott
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies
, Mick Cochrane
Closed for the Season,
Mary Downing Hahn
The Brooklyn Nine,
Alan Gratz
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
, Phillip Hoose
The Amaranth Enchantment,
Julie Berry
Positively
, Courtney Sheinmel
Slob,
Ellen Potter
The Pricker Boy,
Reade Scott Whinnem
All The Broken Pieces,
Ann E. Burg
Newsgirl,
Liza Ketchum
Murder At Midnight,
Avi
Bystander,
James Preller

Funny, with company like that, I already feel like a winner.

Congratulations, detested rivals fellow authors.

Thank you, members of the Oklahoma Library Association. I’m honored and grateful. I have only one question: Do you know anything about ballot stuffing? Tips, suggestions?

For more information on the Sequoyah Book Award, and about Sequoyah himself (he created the Cherokee syllabary, therefore helping to preserve his people’s language and culture), click here and knock yourself out.