30 of us voted, and the results definitely  indicate some clear trends, but by the Printz guidelines, we do NOT have a winner.

From the RealPrintz Policies and Procedures:

To win, a title must receive five first place votes and must also receive at least five more points than the second place title. If no title meets these criteria on the first ballot, any title receiving no votes is removed from consideration and a period of discussion of remaining titles follows. A second ballot is then conducted. Balloting continues in this fashion until a winner is declared.

For our purposes, we’ve adapted interpret “five first place votes” to “at least one more first place vote than the next highest title,” since on a 9-person committee, 5 votes is 50% plus 1, a majority, and also at least one more vote than the next highest first place vote.

We do have a book that both received the highest number of points AND has one more first place vote than the next highest pointing title — but the point spread between them is only 3, so it looks like it’s time to vote again! Jump below the fold to see what’s still eligible and a few data points that might help you cast your vote strategically.

The Passion of Dolssa is just barely in first place, with 13 voters giving it 49 points (8 first place/2 second place/3 3rd place). Creeping up with 46 points and 14 voters (uh oh) is The Lie Tree (7/2/5).

5 additional titles have solid consensus behind them — March Book 3 (2/4/2); The Sun is Also a Star (2/4/1); Still Life with Tornado (3/1/1); Lucy and Linh (3/0/2); and We Are the Ants (0/5/2) — which might be useful data for the strategic thinkers.

Finally, the following titles received between 1 and 3 votes, and had less than 10 points each — so they’re still eligible, although maybe not where you want to throw your weight(ed votes): Golden Boys; Wolf Hollow; Some Kind of Happiness; The Reader; Samurai Rising; Railhead; Burn Baby Burn; Vassa in the Night; The Serpent King; Memory of Light; Girl Mans Up; Female of the Species; My Lady Jane; The Bitter Side of Sweet; and Highly Illogical Behavior.

VOTING ROUND 2 INSTRUCTIONS:

• Again, in the comments
• Votes are weighted; number your votes 1, 2, 3 (worth 5 pts, 3 pts, 1 pt)
• only titles mentioned in this post are eligible (everything will be eligible again for the honor vote)
• Voting will be open through Friday evening

And GO.