The Next Best Thing
Yar. So, I’m not so much going to ALA-Midwinter this year. Money woes. The fact that I’d be going from one cold state to another cold state. That sort of stuff. So how will I go about knowing about the winners lickety-split like the rest of you? Well gone are the days when you had to wait for telephone calls and . . . come to think of it, how did you guys find out about the winners prior to the Internet? Telegrams? Singing telegrams? It would be worth waiting to hear who got the gold if it meant getting to watch a man in a bellboy outfit tap dance while singing "Ch-Ch-Chains . . . Chains has wooooon," to the tune of "Chain of Fools". Anywho, gone are those days that never were and now we have instant webcam access. If you want to know how to watch it all from the comfort of your home, here’s the press release as it stands:
Join thousands as ALA, ALSC and YALSA unveil the best of the best in children’s and young adult literature and media.
The American Library Association (ALA) will provide a free live Webcast of its national announcement of the top books and media for children and young adults on January 26 at 7:45 a.m. MT. The award announcements are made as part of the ALA Midwinter Meeting, which will bring together more than 10,000 librarians, publishers, authors, and guests in Denver from January 23 to 28.
Unikron, a streaming content provider, will host the ALA Youth Media Awards Webcast. Online visitors will be able to view the live Webcast the morning of the announcements by going to the Unikron Web site.
ALA will instantly announce winners of the 2009 Youth Media Awards using the micro-blogging service Twitter. For the first time ever, members can follow the Youth Media Awards via Twitter and receive live updates on award winners as they are announced during the ceremony. Users of Twitter can read and follow posts–referred to as ‘tweets’–instantly, either through ALA’s Twitter page, RSS, SMS Text Messaging (if enabled), or social networking sites such as Facebook, with the Twitter add-on.
The ALA Island in Second Life will also broadcast an encore presentation of the Youth Media Awards Webcast. Visitors can take advantage of in-world viewing later in the day on the ALA Island at the Main Stage.
For ALA Midwinter Meeting participants, the press conference will be held in the Colorado Convention Center in the Four Seasons Ballroom. Doors will open at 7:30 a.m. MT.
The press release announcing all of the winners will be posted in the Youth Media Awards Press Kit at http://www.ala.org/yma prior to 10:30 a.m. MT.
Questions? Contact the ALSC office at alsc@ala.org.
By the way, if my line about how announcements were made prior to the internet made you feel old, rest assured that the line in this release that, "The ALA Island in Second Life will also broadcast an encore presentation," has left me a doddering matriarch, at best. I’ve fallen for Facebook. Please don’t make me into a Second Lifer as well.
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About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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I know you’re not alone in staying home from ALA this time around. And I’m reminded of the delightful shock I experienced one January several years ago when I walked into my local independent bookstore and heard the clerks discussing the ALA winners announced just that morning. With the webcasts from Denver, there’s the potential for mini-ALA gatherings (and discussions like that one in BookPeople) all hither and yon — not the same as being there for those used to attending, but an exciting way to open up the proceedings to folks who might never have thought of making it to the show (in This Life or any other).
Darn. I was hopping you would do a KIDLIT Drink night in Denver. I would finally get to meet you.
Funny you should post on this today. I was doing frantic research yesterday and finally managed to bookmark the webcast link. I should of just waited for you to do the work for me. We have a class doing a Mock Newbery here at my school, and they are planning on coming early – we are also in Mountain Time – to watch the excitment live (wouldn’t it be exiciting if a real life gazillion-year-old aligator announced the Newbery). Once it is over we are going to run about and slap awards on all the books that won, and possibly on some of books we think should have won.
“It would be worth waiting to hear who got the gold if it meant getting to watch a man in a bellboy outfit tap dance while singing “Ch-Ch-Chains . . . Chains has wooooon,” to the tune of “Chain of Fools”.
Is Billy Crystal busy?
I should be more awake when I post a comment. I meean to say hoping not hopping.
There were stampedes for the payphones. Literally. (Payphones were…well, just look it up.)
Oh, I’ve heard of payphones! They’re like cell phones with wires and stuff, right?
How about if Underneath wins — Under the Boardwalk?
Maybe. It would work best if it had the same amount of syllables. “Oh, What a Night” turning into “Oh, Underneath / Late September with a dead kitty / With a very special old snakey / Sweet small kittens, Underneath.” Gotta work Gar Face in there somehow. Hmmm.
I think that’s the funniest mention of “dead kitty” I’ve ever read.
And if it’s The Graveyard Book, then maybe . . . “The Monster Mash”?
(“It was a book/It was a Graveyard Book/It has a knife/Which may just take Bod’s life”) Eh, I know it’s a long shot, but I can’t come up with any songs that go along with The Porcupine Year, can you?
I can, but unfortunately it’s obscure. Anyone remember the theme song to that lame television show “The Polka Dot Door”? No? Then I will have to think about an alternative. The song “Darling Clementine” might work. “Oh my darling, oh my spiky, oh my baby porcupine / You have changed Pinch’s name to Quill now / Dreadful moniker, porcupine.” No? Well, it’s a toughie, no question.
Oh the Games people play now / Every 365 days now / All the teens have to kill now / But our Katniss is in love. /
So they while away the hours / Shooting others ‘mong the flowers / Til someone wins the Hunger Game / And it’s a dirty rotten shame. /
I remember, not soooo long ago, hanging out in the reference area waiting for the morning papers to find out about the ALA winners from the DAY BEFORE!!!! Now I DO feel old!