Renay, the original founder of the tournament and I (Jodie from Bookgazing) are rebooting Nerds Heart YA this year and we’re wondering if you’d all be interested in taking part this time around.
 
We’ll have more details later, when we move the NHYA project to our shiny new website, but I should probably start by saying that although the project is still focused on YA it’s not going to be a tournament this year. It’s designed to be fun, but involve much less effort and it will not require anyone who gets involved to make any space in their schedule to read new books.
 
If you’re intrigued and want to find out how to get involved, just e-mail nerdsheartya [at] gmail [dot] com .

And the winner is…*drum roll* *nervous cheers* *needless delaying by presenter for anticipation*

‘What Momma Left Me’ by Renee Watson.

Congratulations to the novel and the author! 

We hope NHYA has brought some new readers to all the books in the tournament and we hope authors have enjoyed seeing their books discussed by passionate readers. I have a couple of email tasks to complete with some authors, but hopefully I’ll be in touch this week (so sorry, I am really behind this year). 

Thanks to all of our judges, those of you who nominated books and everyone who has been watching the tournament progress. Hope you’ve had fun this year and we would love to see your thoughts about this year’s tournament in the comments.

‘Five Flavours of Dumb’ by Antony John moves on.

24th August: Capricious Reader judged ‘Bleeding Violet’ by Dia Reeves and ‘What Momma Left Me’ by Renne Watson.

‘What Momma Left Me’ by Renne Watson moves on.

Here’s how the third round brackets look:

Here’s the posting schedule for the judging decisions:

1st Aug: Stacked/Good Books and Good Wine
3rd Aug: Bart’s Bookshelf/Presenting Lenore
5th Aug: I’m Booking It
7th Aug: Beth Fish Reads

And the judging decisions have begun (bitten fingernails time):

1st Aug: Stacked and Good Books and Good Wine judged ‘Five Flavours of Dumb’ by Anthony John and ‘Toads and Diamonds’ by Heather Tomlinson.

‘Five Flavours of Dumb’ by Anthony John moves on.

3rd Aug: Presenting Lenore and Bart’s Bookshelves judged ‘Dark Water’ by Laura McNeal and ‘A  Love Story Starring My Best Friend’ by Emily Horner.

‘Dark Water’ by Laura McNeal Moves on.

5th Aug: I’m Booking It judged ‘How I Made it to Eighteen (A Mostly True Story)’ by Tracy White and ‘What Momma Left Me’ by Renne Watson.

‘What Momma Left Me’ by Renne Watson moves on.

8th Aug: Beth Fish Reads judged ‘Bleeding Violet’ by Dia Reeves and ‘Jumpstart the World’ by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

‘Bleeding Violet’ by Dia Reeves moves on.

July 11th: Fiction State of Mind judged ‘The Red Umbrella’ by Christina Gonzalezand ‘Five Flavors of Dumb’ by Anthony John.

‘Five Flavours of Dumb’ by Anthony John moves on.

July 13th: Parenthetical and My Library Card Wore Out judged ‘Tall Story’ by Candy Gourlay and ‘Toads and Diamonds’ by Heather Tomlinson.

‘Toads and Diamonds’ by Heather Tomlinson moves on.

July 15th: Book Nest and Booked Up judged ‘Dark Water’ by Laura McNeal and ‘The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin’ by Josh Berk.

‘Dark Water’ by Laura McNeal moves on.

July 18th: things mean a lot and Bonjour, Cass! judged ‘A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend’ by Emily Horner and ‘Dirty Little Secrets’ by C J Omololu

‘A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend’ moves on.

June 20th: Emily’s Reading Room judged ‘How I Made it to Eighteen’ by Tracy White and ‘The Kid Table’ by Andrea Seigel.

‘How I Made it to Eighteen’ by Tracy White moves on.

July 22nd: The Reshelf judged ‘What Momma Left Me’ by Renee Watson and ’8th Grade Superzero’ by Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich.

‘What Momma Left Me’ by Renee Watson moves on.

July 25th: Regular Rumination judged ‘Jumpstart the World’ by Catherine Ryan Hyde and ‘Pull’ by B A Binns.

‘Jumpstart the World’ by Catherine Ryan Hyde moves on.

July 27th: Reading Frenzy and Lisa the Nerds judged ‘Bleeding Violet’ by Dia Reeves and ‘Abe in Arms’ by Pegi Deitz Shea.

‘Bleeding Violet’ by Dia Reeves moves on.

Check out our handy graphic to see which books will meet in the second round bracket:

Here’s the schedule for the second round of judging, so you can sit urgently refreshing your browser on the right day:

July 11th: Fiction State of Mind
July 13th: Paranthetical/ My Library Card Wore Out
July 15th: The Book Nest/Booked Up
July 18th: thingsmeanalot/Bonjour Cass!
July 20th: Emily’s Reading Room
July 22nd: The Re-shelf
July 25th: Regular Rumination
July 27th: Lisa the Nerds/My Reading Frenzy

Jun 13th: This Purple Crayon and Book Addiction judged ‘The Red Umbrella’ by Christina Gonzalez and ‘Tell Us We’re Home’ by Marina Budhos.

June 13th: Viloet Crush and The Literary Wife judged ‘Stringz by Micheal Wenberg and ‘Five Flavors of Dumb’ – Anthony John.

‘Five Flavors of Dumb’ by Anthony John moves on.

‘The Red Umberella’ by Christina Gonzalez moves on.

June 15th: Pineapples and Pyjamas and Book Harbinger judged ‘Tall Story’ by Candy Gourlay and ‘Premiere’ by Melody Carlson.

‘Tall Story’ by Candy Gourlay moves on.

June 15th: Bookworming in the 21st Century and Birdbrain(ed) judged ‘Finding Family’ by Tonya Bolden and ‘Toads and Diamonds’ by Heather Tomlinson.

‘Toads and Diamonds’ by Heather Tomlinson moves on.

June 17th: The Brain Lair and Books, Movie and Chinese Food judged ‘When the Stars Go Blue’ by Cardidad Ferrer and ‘Dark Water’ by Laura McNeal.

‘Dark Water’ by Laura McNeal moves on.

June 17th: Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic judged ‘The Last Summer of the Death Warriors’ by Francisco Stork and ‘The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin’ by Josh Berk.

‘The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin’ by Josh Berk moves on.

June 20th: A Backwards Story and we’re not butterflies judged ‘Invisible Girl’ by Mary Hanlon Stone and ‘Dirty Little Secrets’ by C J Omololu.

‘Dirty Little Secrets’ by C J Omololu moves on.

June 20th: The Wandering Librarians Anna and Arianne judged ‘Summer Song’ by Louise Blaydon and ‘A Love Story Starring My Best Friend’ by Emily Horner.

‘A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend’ by Emily Horner moves on.

June 22nd: Early Nerd Special and Snarky Mamma judged ‘Stargazer’ by Von Allan and ‘How I Made it To Eighteen (A Mostly True Story)’ by Tracy White.

‘How I Made It To Eighteen (A Mostly True Story)’ by Tracey White moves on.

June 22nd: Shylock Books and The Reading Zone judged ‘The Kid Table’ by Andrea Seigel and ‘Teenie’ by Christopher Grant.

‘The Kid Table by Andrea Seigel moves on.

June 24th: Truth, Beauty, Freedom and Books judged ‘Paper Daughter’ by Jeanette Ingold and ‘What Momma Left Me’ by Renee Watson.

‘What Momma Left Me’ by Renee Watson moves on.

June 24th: Book Nut judged ‘Mindblind’ by Jennifer Roy and ’8th Grade Super Zero’ by Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovitch.

’8th Grade Super Zero’ by Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovitch moves on.

June 27th: TATAL Online judged ‘Where the Truth Lies’ by Jessica Warman and ‘Jumpstart the World’ by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

‘Jumpstart the World’ by Catherine Ryan Hyde moves on.

June 27th: the rejectionist judged ‘Pull’ by B A Binns and ‘Efrain’s Secret’ by Sofia Quintero.

‘Pull’ by B A Binns moves on.

June 29th: Stella Matutina judged ‘The End: Five Queer Kids Save the World’ by Nora Olsen and ‘Bleeding Violet’ by Dia Reeves.

‘Bleeding Violet’ by Dia Reeves moves on.

June 29th: Sunshine and Bones judged ‘Bamboo People’ by Mitali Perkins and ‘Abe in Arms’ by Peggy Deitz Shea.

‘Abe in Arms’ by peggy Deitz Shea moves on.

Before our first round judges start making their decisions we’d really like to hear from you about the books on the NHYA 2011 short-list. I mean, what’s a book tournament without STRONG OPINIONS from readers, right?

If you are getting ready to use your srs frowny face if a certain book doesn’t move on we’d love to know. If you’ve reviewed one, or more of the books please leave us links to check out. We’ll add your links into this post once the tournament starts, so that anyone who drops by can check out your useul NHYA resource.

Gush, squee, debate away! We’re listening

Reviews and Discussion

Doret: ‘The judges for Stingz and Five Flavors of Dumb have two great books to look forward to.’

Paranthetical: ‘Agreed about ‘Five Flavours of Dumb’,I think that’s my favorite of the ones I’ve read, and that’s saying something, because I also loved ’8th Grade Superzero’ pretty hard.’ ‘The Kid Table’, ‘A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend’.

We’ve got two prize packs to give away:

Prize Pack One

Signed copy of ‘The Kid Table’ – Andrea Seigel
Signed paperback copy of ‘Monsoon Summer’ – Mitali Perkins
Signed copy of ‘How I Made it to Eighteen (A Mostly True Story)’ – Tracy White
Signed copy of ‘Toads and Diamonds’ – Heather Tomlinson
Signed copy of ‘Bleeding Violet’ – Dia Reeves
Signed copy of ‘Mindblind’ and bookmark – Jennifer Roy
Signed sketch by Tracy White
Signed hardcover copy of ‘Dark Water’ – Laura Mcneal
Signed paperback copy of ‘The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin’ – Josh Berk
Signed copy of ‘Pull’ – BA Binns

Prize Pack Two

Signed copy of ‘The Kid Table’ – Andrea Seigel
Signed copy of ‘How I Made it to Eighteen (A Mostly True Story)’ – Tracy White
Signed paperback copy of ‘Secret Keeper’ – Mitali Perkins
Signed copy of ’8th Grade Superzero’ and bookmarks from Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Paperback copy of ‘Dirty Little Secrets’ – CJ Omololu
Signed paperback copy of ‘Breathless’ – Jessica Warman
1 copy Office 2010 from Micheal Wenberg
Signed copy of ‘Five Flavours of Dumb’ – Anthony John
Copy of ‘The End: Five Queer Kids Save the World’ and magnet from Nora Olsen

How to Enter

Just take a picture of one of the books on our short-list somewhere in the wild. Maybe you have a copy of the book at home, or you’ve seen it in a library, a bookshop, or even at a promotional event.

Wherever you see the book, take a picture of the book by itself, or put yourself in the picture. Then post it somewhere (On your blog, your Facebook page, your tumblr account, or Twitter account etc). Drop us a link to where you’ve posted in the comments of this post to be entered into the contest. Please include your email address and specify whether you’d prefer to win prize pack one, or prize pack two.

A few rules and clarifications

The contest closes at midnight GMT June 13th 2011.

One entry per person. No matter how many pictures you take, or how many times you post them you get the one entry into the contest.

You must leave an email address to be entered. If we can’t contact you, we can’t find out where our authors should be sending the prizes.

Anyone apart from NHYA organisers can take part in this contest, including judges and consultants.

All entries will go into a random draw. Two entries will be chosen using a random number generator. Each chosen entry will win one of our prize packs. We’ll try to accomodate your first choice of prize pack as far as possible.

If you don’t have any kind of social media accounts that you can post the picture at we’ll accept entries emailed to nerdsheartya at googlemail dot com Please mark any emailed entries ‘Nerds Heart YA Photo Contest’.

The graphic shows which books are matched against each other in the first round, as well as which judges books could potentially filter through to in later rounds. The brackets are colour coded into pairs and I’ll quickly explain that system, using an example:

If you look down at the bottom, left hand side  of the graphic you’ll see our first round judges Stella Matutina and Sunshine and Bones.

Stella Matutina will read both green coloured books that float around their name, while the judge above her Sunshine and Bones will read both red coloured books that float around their name.

Each judge will read their two assigned books and decide which one they think deserves to go into the second round. Lisa the Nerd and My Reading Frenzy will read the two books that filter through to them and make a decision, as a pair, about which book they think should move into the third round. And so on…

Each first round judging bracket will announce its decision on a specific day. The dates are as follows:

13th June This Purple Crayon/Book Addiction
13th June VioletCrush/The Literary Wife
15th June Pineapples & Pyjamas/Book Harbinger
(Edit) 21st June Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog/ Bookworming in the 21st Century
17th June Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic 
17th June Books, Movies and Chinese Food/The Brain Lair
20th June The Wandering Librarians – Arianna/The Wandering Librarians – Anna
20th June We’re not butterflies…/A Backwards Story
22nd June TheReadingZone/Shylock Books
22nd June Early Nerd Special/Snarkymamma
24th June Book Nut
24th June Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Books
27th June the rejectionist
27th June TATAL 
29th June Sunshine and Bones
29th June Stella Matutina

I hope you’ll enjoy following the tournament this year, either by reading the blog, or following our Twitter feed.

Make sure you stay connected with us, because we have some great tournament extras coming up. This year we’ll be hosting a giveaway and a roundtable discussion on diversity in publishing. Several authors with books in the 2011 tournament will be taking part in interviews (we still have some authors interested in being interviewed, so please email nerdsheartya at googlemail dot com if you’d like to set up an author interview).