YMA 2018: Liveblog!

Well, we’re here! After all is said and done (and at this point, we’ve done a LOT of saying), we’ve arrived at the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Lots of books, lots of words, lots of passionate debate later, it all comes down to that conference room in Denver. Are you ready??

We’ll have our — well, my — reactions after the jump here in this blog post. We’re covering the teen section of the YMAs, and will be including reactions (and, let’s be honest) a lot of gushing. Comments will be open for conversation, reactions, and debriefing. As always, let’s remember Karyn’s reminder from the picks/predictions post the other day — RealCommittee does the hard work every year. We’re here to respect their work and the process they’ve gone through. Our choice and our thoughts are the result of our own process, which mimics RealCommittee rules and process, but is not actually the same.

This has been a long blogging season this time around, so let’s get to work!

So sorry, had some technical difficulties. Think I’m tuning in here for Stonewall. Hang on while I catch up.

Oooh! 57 Bus!

[edit to say, congrats to Little & Lion for winning!]

OK. CSK now. Yay!

Long Way Down with an author honor! What will this mean for the winner? And Angie Thomas with an honor? I can’t wait! And Rene Watson with the gold! What a group of stories! !!!!!!!!! (my emotions)

All right. Here are the YALSA awards section. Alex Awards up first. I love getting these recommendations every year. Thanks, Alex Committee!

MAE up next. With a mild spoiler from YALSA Prez! Suspense! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Yes! OH, Angela Johnson! I am just without coherence. Love her writing!!!!! Thank you, thank you Jonathan Hunt and committee, well done.

Morris now: I can’t even predict. What will it beeeee?

The Hate U Give!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, yes. Wonderful! Love the love for this book.

ENYA

This is another tight race. And Vincent and Theo takes it. Whew! Thanks, ENYA Committee for your hard work!

Oh, here we are! Printz Time.

Four honors. OK (audience sounds relieved). LWD!!!!! YAY, Jason Reynolds! And Strange the Dreamer! The Hate U Give!!! What a year for Angie Thomas! Vincent and Theo, too! Again!

OK, here it is!! We Are OK. Joy! Again! You are MAGIC! Your heart picks are magic!

Now it’s ALSC’s turn, and Odyssey is up. The Hate U Give takes the winner title, with Long Way Down getting an honor. Thank you for your hard work, committee!

Pura Belpre up now. Lucky Broken Girl with the win. Honors for First Rule of Punk and The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora! Wooo-hoo!

Arburthnot Award: oh, such huge congratulations to Dr Debbie Reese. What a speech this will be!

Batchelder: The Murderer’s Ape gets the gold here.

Jacqueline Woodson gets the lifetime achievement award here! The Wilder Committee got some big applause there! So much love, such good work!

Newbery with an honor for Jason Reynolds! And another big medal for Rene Watson! With Crown taking the third honor spot. With Hello, Universe taking the medal! Oh, I did love that one. (I know this isn’t quite the focus of the blog, but with two teen(ish) books up there, I did squeal aloud!

So! What do you all think? Let’s chat in the comments.

Filed under: Books to look for, RealCommittee