Call me Judge Snark...seriously!

I have been sitting on a secret for a while now. It has nearly killed me but I have managed to keep mum.

A month from today the 2009 Inky Awards will be launched online and guess what...I will be on the judging panel!

Yay.

This is the beginning of the end people, I shall henceforth insist on being referred to as Judge Snark and will become so self-involved that Lady Gaga will have no choice but to worship me (and perhaps lend me her Kermit Coat).

So ...what are the Inkys?
"The Inkys are international awards for teenage literature, voted for online by the readers of insideadog.com.au. There are three awards: the Golden Inky for an Australian book, the Silver Inky for an international book, and the Creative Reading Prize, won by a young person for a creative response to a book they love, in any format they choose. "

Who's Involved?
Well there's moi plus the fabulously witty Australian author (and 2008 Golden Inky recipient) James Roy. You might have heard of another judge, a teen dynamo with an amazing blog - Steph Bowe from Hey, Teenager of the Year. Together (plus another three teen judges ) we will read twenty YA titles (10 Aussie, 10 International) and create a shortlist of three titles in each category to be announced later in the year.

How I am feeling?
Pretty darned awesome. It's an amazing honour to have been asked and I know that I will be reading some phenomenal YA titles.

Online launch
As reported on Read Alert - the launch will be held at 1.15pm (Australian EST) Thursday, 20 August via the online conferencing tool Elluminate. If you'd like to join us please follow this link. You will be able to hear James, Steph, Andrew (the awesome Librarian Idol and 2008 Inky Judge) and myself.

Excuse me while I jump up and down like an idiot in celebration of finally being able to spill the beans!