If you click on the Voting Home box on the top of the page it will bring you back to the main page of grade level choices. If you read to your little brothers, sisters or cousins, you might want to vote in those finalist sections.

Voting ends on May 9th and the winners will be announced on May 13th. For more information about the CCBA’s, check this page out http://www.bookweekonline.com/about-CCBAs.

Here are the covers for the books on the ballot:

If you haven’t read these books, they are definitely worth reading.

May your favorite book win….

The Boston Public Library is participating in the teen statewide theme for 2011, You Are Here. What does that mean?

It means Boston area teens have the opportunity to create a PSA promoting the Teen Summer Library Program theme, You Are Here. Each participating state will have one winning video; the winners will receive $250.00 AND the winner’s library will receive $100.00!

Be sure to visit this website to learn more, read the How to Enter section:

http://cslpreads.org/challenge-overview.html

Teens, create your video following the How to Enter guidelines and post it on YouTube.  The contest is open to any legal U.S. resident living in MA aged 13-18.

All forms, including entry and model releases are available at the above link. Additionally, you can find audio downloads and art to use in your videos on the collaborative website. Entry forms are due by March 1, 2010 (EEP! That’s next week!)  and winners will be announced in April, 2011! There will be one winner per state.

The winning video will be used for promoting the 2011 Library Summer Program!

Do you go there after school to get your homework done? Do you use the library’s resources to help you write your paper? Or do you go to hang out with your friends? Do you participate in the free programs offered to you? Or do you devour all the fiction you can get your hands on?

Whatever the reason you need and love your library, the American Library Association (ALA) is asking teens to create a video explaining these reasons. Enter that video in their contest and you could win up to $3,000 for your library!

Here’s the youtube video they made to explain the contest: ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe8RfIi9–E

And here are the rules:

Make a video!

• Gather your friends and put together an original 1-3 minute video about why you need your library.  Up to six people can work together to submit a video.
• Pick your technique: Entries can be live-action, animation, machinima, or a combination of these.  Check out this list of tips and resources on making a video.
• Read through the judging criteria to see how entries will be judged.

Upload your video to YouTube

• Upload the video to YouTube between January 11, 2011 and midnight April 18, 2011.
• Be sure to tag your video with alaneedmylibrary15 if your designated videographer is between the ages of 13-15 or alaneedmylibrary18 if your designated videographer is between the ages of 16-18.

Mail in your entry form

• One more thing: Don’t forget to mail in an entry form. Videos are submitted online, but an entry form needs to be received in the mail by April 18 in order for a submission to be eligible. 
• Read the complete guidelines for more information.

Prizes

From each age category (13-15 and 16-18):

• Three 3rd place winners will receive $1,000 each for their selected libraries.
• Two second place winners will receive $2,000 each for their selected libraries. 
• One winner or group of winners will receive $3,000 for their selected library, plus $50 gift cards to an online bookseller for each individual member of the winning group (limit of 6 participants per group)

The Why I Need My Library Video Contest is an initiative of 2010-2011 ALA President Roberta Stevens to engage teenagers as library advocates.

For more information, contact whyIneedmylibrary@ala.org.

www.Ilovelibraries.org

For more information about submissions and voting, check out the tab at the top of the page for all the details you need to know!

I am here to announce the new Blog Picture Contest Winner!

Francesca from the  North End branch, sent us this picture entitled “Snow Moon”. Unfortunately, the header wouldn’t fit the whole picture, but you can see it below. What do you guys think? Isn’t this an awesome piece of art?

Snow Moon by Francesca at North End

As a Boston teen, you have the opportunity to participate in a Teen Video Challenge! Next year’s theme will be “You Are Here”, and the challenge will be to create a PSA promoting that theme.

Each participating state, will have one wining video and the winner will receive $250.00!

Be sure to visit this website to learn more, read the How to Enter section, and download a brochure to promote the contest:

http://cslpreads.org/challenge-overview.html

Teens will be asked to create their video following the How to Enter guidelines and post their video on YouTube.  The contest is open to any legal U.S. resident living in MA aged 13-18.

All forms, including entry and model releases are available at the above link. Additionally, teens can find audio downloads and art to use in their videos on the collaborative website. Entry forms are due by March 1, 2010 and winners will be announced in April, 2011! 

The winning video will be used for promoting the 2011 Library Summer Program!

Our artist is Dhameer from the South End Branch of the BPL. We did have to crop the original just a smidge so it would fit, but you can view the full photo in the “choose the picture” page under Previous Winners.

We are so pleased to have such an awesome picture for our blog. Thanks, Dhameer!

And remember, if you want to submit a photo for the next round of voting, you can email a photo either of your work, or just a photo you took to bplteenblog@yahoo.com

Your work will appear on the Choose the Picture page of the blog site, and will be voted on this month. The winner will then appear on the top of the blog.

Requirements:

• Artist is 12-18 years old, living in Boston, MA
• One entry per person per month
• Artwork can be in any medium, such as photography, painting, graphic design, sculpture even, so long as you created the work. Submit a digital photo (or a digital photo of the artwork) to your friendly Teen Services Librarian, or to our blog email: bplteenblog@yahoo.com. Please include your name, library branch, and library card number along with your submission.

New work will be voted on by readers of the teen blog every month. You can see the current submissions and vote for your favorite under the “choose the picture” tab above.

This is your chance to get your artwork seen by tons of people around the city and (maybe) around the world.

If you don’t feel very artistic, this is your opportunity to decide how the Teen Blog looks. Vote for your favorite piece under the “choose the picture” tab.

What do  you think were the top books written for teens in the last year?

CLICK HERE to go to the official ballot page and cast your vote!

Voting is only open for teens (age 12-18) – this is a Teen’s Choice Award! The books you can vote for were all nominated by members of teen book groups in fifteen school and public libraries around the country.

Voting closes today,  Sept. 17, 2010. Winners will be announced in a webcast at www.ala.org/teenstopten during Teen Read Week, Oct. 17-23 that we’ll link to from this blog as well.

Here are the books on the list,  NOW GO VOTE!

Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Heist Society by Ally Carter
Fire by Kristin Cashore
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
The Roar by Emma Clayton
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
hush, hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Dragonfly by Julia Golding
The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks
I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb
Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
Witch and Wizard by James Patterson
By the Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters
Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
City of Fire by Laurence Yep