Teens’ Top Ten public nominations open; book group application opening in August

CHICAGO — Teens aged 12-18 can now nominate their favorite titles to be considered as a 2017 Teens’ Top Ten nominee via the public nomination form.

In previous years, nominations were limited to the official Teens’ Top Ten book groups while the voting process for the official “top ten” titles was open to the public. In efforts to ensure that the “top ten” better reflect the opinions of teens everywhere, nominations for the preliminary round of nominees is open to the public. Book title nominations submitted in the current year will be used for consideration of the following year’s list of nominees. Teens can submit a book title now through December 31, 2016 to be included in the pool of the 2017 nominee candidates. For books to be eligible for consideration, they must be published between January 1– December 31, 2016.

Submit a suggested title via the public nomination form here.

Coming in August 2016, library staff may apply on behalf of their teen book groups for a chance to become one of fifteen Teens’ Top Ten official book groups. The fifteen book groups will carry out a 2 year term, which will take place from January of 2017 through December 31, 2018. The official book groups are responsible for reading, submitting reviews, and nominating titles for the Teens’ Top Ten list.

Interested groups may sign up for updates about the application period here. Learn more about the book group project and eligibility requirements here.

The Teens’ Top Ten is a “teen choice” list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year. Nominators are members of teen book groups in fifteen school and public libraries around the country. Nominations are posted the Thursday of National Library Week. For more information about the Teens’ Top Ten, please visit www.ala.org/yalsa/teenstopten.

The mission of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is to support library staff in alleviating the challenges teens face, and in putting all teens ‒ especially those with the greatest needs ‒ on the path to successful and fulfilling lives. For more information about YALSA or to access national guidelines and other resources go to www.ala.org/yalsa, or contact the YALSA office by phone, 800-545-2433, ext. 4390; or e-mail: yalsa@ala.org.