The National Book Awards are a wholly different award animal than, say, the Newbery Medal. Whereas the Newbery is selected by a 15 person panel of librarians, the Young People’s Literature category of the National Book Awards is decided by a small group of five authors. It’s always interesting to see which books come out on top from these disparate groups. *Update* As Monica from Educating Alice points out in the comments below, this year the NBA judges won’t be limited to authors, but other experts as well.

This year, for the first time ever, the NBAs will announce a 10 title longlist in advance of the shortlist of five finalists (announced Oct. 16). The longlists will be announced on The Daily Beast beginning Monday. The category you and I are interested in, Young People’s Literature, is up first. September 16 at 9 a.m. EST – see you there.

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