For the past year, I've had the honor of being the chair of the first-ever Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production. The award is the American Library Association's newest literary award - on the same level as the Newbery, Caldecott & Printz Awards. Yes, that's right: LITERARY award. Audiobooks are taking their place beside plays, poetry, and novels as a genre of literature - one that reaches back to the earliest form, the oral tradition. The maiden voyage of the Odyssey has been guided by a crackerjack group of experts of all types of children's and young adult literature - you can recognize us by the now-permanent impression of noise-cancelling headphones 'round our ears. After nearly 400 submissions totaling 2000 hours of listening, we are near our destination: the announcement of the first winner & honor Odyssey titles at the Youth Media Awards press conference on Monday, January 14th. This effort began in 2005 with a task group of librarians, audiobook producers, and representatives from award-sponsor Booklist Magazine. But now the award seems really real - with the unveiling of the official Odyssey Award Seal! Take a look...
1 comment:
I know you posted this a while ago, but thanks! I've been wondering when I'd find out the results for the Odyssey Awards, but the ala website doesn't state any dates. At least now I have an idea.
My audiobook, Paraworld Zero, just came out on audible.com last week and has already placed in the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards (audiobook category). We sent copies to the Odyssey committee, so I'm crossing my fingers.
Post a Comment