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[CCBC-Net] Questions about the Odyssey Award
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From: PamSHolley at aol.com <PamSHolley>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:01:07 EDT
To follow up on Sylvia's information, the 2009 Odyssey Committee [the second year of the Odyssey Award] received over 350 titles which represented over 1862 hours of listening. Because of doubling up on many of the titles, committee members each listened to over 400 hours of assigned listening [I have no idea how many extra hours of listening were incurred by each member].
Sylvia mentions the critical listening, which is a truly unique experience and will forever affect the way one listens to/hears an audiobook for ever after. When you sit down with no distractions and just listen to one disc, or for one hour--whatever works best for you--taking notes as you go, you'd be amazed at the minor glitches you hear. Normally you'd skim right over these mistakes as your brain has figured out what should be there based on the context of the story, but "critical listening" enables you to hear the breathing, pages being turned, and the misconnects between "he replied icily" and the narrator speaking normally. It's an exercise I'd recommend to everyone and one that was started by the 2008 Odyssey Committee's first chair, Mary Burkey.
The Odyssey Award is given to the producer of the audiobook and the emphasis is on the production of the work. A look at the criteria page
_http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/odyssey/policies.cfm_
(http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/odyssey/policies.cfm) cites all the criteria, but the main areas on which a production is judged are the following:
* excellence in narration;
* excellence of audio interpretation of story, theme, or concept;
* excellence of execution in the aural techniques of the medium;
* excellence in the delineation through the audio medium of literary elements including plot, theme, characters, mood, setting, or information presented;
* excellence in the appropriateness of technique or treatment to the story, theme, or concept. Odyssey is unique in that it's sponsored by Booklist [and is fortunate to have Sue-Ellen Beauregard as the Booklist Consultant] but administered by two divisions--ALSC and YALSA. Chair of the committee alternates between ALSC and YALSA and four committee members are appointed by ALSC and four by YALSA, for a total of nine members. The two divisions worked hard from the beginning to merge their ways of doing business so that Odyssey could be its own unique committee, while completing its work within the guidelines established by the initial task force.
Though extremely time-consuming, serving on Odyssey is a very different but
wonderful experience. We're all used to talking about books, but here the emphasis shifts to how the book is presented; if the narrator is a match for the story; whether or not the story flows with no long breaks or miscues or mispronounced works--in short, is it an excellent production?
For me, having always worked with young adults, listening to the read-alouds was the highlight of the committee. Once you listen to I'm Dirty, one of the honor titles, or Martina the Beautiful Cockroach, you're hooked on these readalouds. I think I can speak for some of the ALSC members who learned how very long some of the YA titles can be. There's a lot of learning that goes on for members of both divisions. Though two divisions were represented, when the committee met I couldn't have told you who represented ALSC and who represented YALSA as we were united in one goal--selecting the best audiobook of the year. This committee represents the best of ALA with two divisions working together.
Pam Spencer Holley, Chair 2009 Odyssey Audiobook Award Committee
In a message dated 4/10/2009 10:39:50 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, SVardell at mail.twu.edu writes:
Ginny, I'm sure Merri will weigh in, as may other Odyssey committee members, but I was lucky enough to serve on the first committee and wrote about it in a brief article for BOOKLIST which is available online:
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=2806010
Our committee evaluated 379 audiobooks, including approximately 70 picture-book read-alongs.... The initial listening total was nearly 2,000 hours, with each member listening nonstop for more than five full-time workweeks. Add to that our ?critical listening? of the final nominees, and the total was increased by 130 hours. We did indeed get input from a variety of people-- including kids, colleagues, and spouses (!)-- and would love to hear more from people who have had the chance to listen to our chosen titles, too.
2008 Award winner: Jazz, by Walter Dean Myers, narrated by James "D-Train" Williams and Vaneese Thomas, produced by Live Oak Media.
Honor Audiobooks: Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy, by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren, produced by Listen & Live Audio Dooby Dooby Moo, by Doreen Cronin, narrated by Randy Travis, produced by Weston Woods/Scholastic Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale, produced by Listening Library Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy, narrated by Rupert Degas, produced by HarpherChildren's Audio Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, narrated by Alfred Molina, produced by Listening Library
In the year since the first award was announced, we have heard that sales for these titles have increased which paved the way for audio recordings of the NEXT books in the BLOODY JACK and SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series-- which pleases us so much.
Sylvia M. Vardell, Ph.D. Professor Texas Woman's University School of Library & Information Studies P O Box 425438 Denton TX 76204-5438 940-898-2616 svardell at twu.edu http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/ Co-Editor, BOOKBIRD, the journal of international children's literature
(http://www.ibby.org)
Author of: POETRY ALOUD HERE! SHARING POETRY WITH CHILDREN IN THE LIBRARY (ALA, 2006) POETRY PEOPLE; A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CHILDREN'S POETS (Libraries Unlimited, 2007) CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN ACTION; A LIBRARIAN'S GUIDE (Libraries Unlimited, 2008) BOOK LINKS columnist: Everyday Poetry
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at lists.education.wisc.edu on behalf of Ginny Moore Kruse Sent: Thu 4/9/2009 12:29 PM To: CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: [CCBC-Net] Questions about the Odyssey Award
I haven't had a chance to listen to any of these audiobooks, and that might be why others aren't chiming in - yet - with comments either. However, now that the topic is on the virtual table, it occurs to me to ask how the ALSC/YALSA Odyssey Award Committee does its work. Merri, you were a member of that committee a couple of years ago. Did anyone on the committee have a chance to get feedback from kids who had heard the audiobooks under consideration for the award? I'm also wondering approximately how many recorded books were eligible for the Odyssey Award when you were a member of the committee? What can you tell us about the process?
Best, Ginny
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:01:07 EDT
To follow up on Sylvia's information, the 2009 Odyssey Committee [the second year of the Odyssey Award] received over 350 titles which represented over 1862 hours of listening. Because of doubling up on many of the titles, committee members each listened to over 400 hours of assigned listening [I have no idea how many extra hours of listening were incurred by each member].
Sylvia mentions the critical listening, which is a truly unique experience and will forever affect the way one listens to/hears an audiobook for ever after. When you sit down with no distractions and just listen to one disc, or for one hour--whatever works best for you--taking notes as you go, you'd be amazed at the minor glitches you hear. Normally you'd skim right over these mistakes as your brain has figured out what should be there based on the context of the story, but "critical listening" enables you to hear the breathing, pages being turned, and the misconnects between "he replied icily" and the narrator speaking normally. It's an exercise I'd recommend to everyone and one that was started by the 2008 Odyssey Committee's first chair, Mary Burkey.
The Odyssey Award is given to the producer of the audiobook and the emphasis is on the production of the work. A look at the criteria page
_http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/odyssey/policies.cfm_
(http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/odyssey/policies.cfm) cites all the criteria, but the main areas on which a production is judged are the following:
* excellence in narration;
* excellence of audio interpretation of story, theme, or concept;
* excellence of execution in the aural techniques of the medium;
* excellence in the delineation through the audio medium of literary elements including plot, theme, characters, mood, setting, or information presented;
* excellence in the appropriateness of technique or treatment to the story, theme, or concept. Odyssey is unique in that it's sponsored by Booklist [and is fortunate to have Sue-Ellen Beauregard as the Booklist Consultant] but administered by two divisions--ALSC and YALSA. Chair of the committee alternates between ALSC and YALSA and four committee members are appointed by ALSC and four by YALSA, for a total of nine members. The two divisions worked hard from the beginning to merge their ways of doing business so that Odyssey could be its own unique committee, while completing its work within the guidelines established by the initial task force.
Though extremely time-consuming, serving on Odyssey is a very different but
wonderful experience. We're all used to talking about books, but here the emphasis shifts to how the book is presented; if the narrator is a match for the story; whether or not the story flows with no long breaks or miscues or mispronounced works--in short, is it an excellent production?
For me, having always worked with young adults, listening to the read-alouds was the highlight of the committee. Once you listen to I'm Dirty, one of the honor titles, or Martina the Beautiful Cockroach, you're hooked on these readalouds. I think I can speak for some of the ALSC members who learned how very long some of the YA titles can be. There's a lot of learning that goes on for members of both divisions. Though two divisions were represented, when the committee met I couldn't have told you who represented ALSC and who represented YALSA as we were united in one goal--selecting the best audiobook of the year. This committee represents the best of ALA with two divisions working together.
Pam Spencer Holley, Chair 2009 Odyssey Audiobook Award Committee
In a message dated 4/10/2009 10:39:50 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, SVardell at mail.twu.edu writes:
Ginny, I'm sure Merri will weigh in, as may other Odyssey committee members, but I was lucky enough to serve on the first committee and wrote about it in a brief article for BOOKLIST which is available online:
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=2806010
Our committee evaluated 379 audiobooks, including approximately 70 picture-book read-alongs.... The initial listening total was nearly 2,000 hours, with each member listening nonstop for more than five full-time workweeks. Add to that our ?critical listening? of the final nominees, and the total was increased by 130 hours. We did indeed get input from a variety of people-- including kids, colleagues, and spouses (!)-- and would love to hear more from people who have had the chance to listen to our chosen titles, too.
2008 Award winner: Jazz, by Walter Dean Myers, narrated by James "D-Train" Williams and Vaneese Thomas, produced by Live Oak Media.
Honor Audiobooks: Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy, by L.A. Meyer, narrated by Katherine Kellgren, produced by Listen & Live Audio Dooby Dooby Moo, by Doreen Cronin, narrated by Randy Travis, produced by Weston Woods/Scholastic Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale, produced by Listening Library Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy, narrated by Rupert Degas, produced by HarpherChildren's Audio Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, narrated by Alfred Molina, produced by Listening Library
In the year since the first award was announced, we have heard that sales for these titles have increased which paved the way for audio recordings of the NEXT books in the BLOODY JACK and SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT series-- which pleases us so much.
Sylvia M. Vardell, Ph.D. Professor Texas Woman's University School of Library & Information Studies P O Box 425438 Denton TX 76204-5438 940-898-2616 svardell at twu.edu http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/ Co-Editor, BOOKBIRD, the journal of international children's literature
(http://www.ibby.org)
Author of: POETRY ALOUD HERE! SHARING POETRY WITH CHILDREN IN THE LIBRARY (ALA, 2006) POETRY PEOPLE; A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CHILDREN'S POETS (Libraries Unlimited, 2007) CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN ACTION; A LIBRARIAN'S GUIDE (Libraries Unlimited, 2008) BOOK LINKS columnist: Everyday Poetry
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at lists.education.wisc.edu on behalf of Ginny Moore Kruse Sent: Thu 4/9/2009 12:29 PM To: CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: [CCBC-Net] Questions about the Odyssey Award
I haven't had a chance to listen to any of these audiobooks, and that might be why others aren't chiming in - yet - with comments either. However, now that the topic is on the virtual table, it occurs to me to ask how the ALSC/YALSA Odyssey Award Committee does its work. Merri, you were a member of that committee a couple of years ago. Did anyone on the committee have a chance to get feedback from kids who had heard the audiobooks under consideration for the award? I'm also wondering approximately how many recorded books were eligible for the Odyssey Award when you were a member of the committee? What can you tell us about the process?
Best, Ginny
-- Ginny Moore Kruse Emerita Director Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) gmkruse at wisc.edu phone: 608.238.9225 _______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at lists.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://lists.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net _______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at lists.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://lists.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1220814837x1201410725/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fwww.freecreditreport.com%2Fpm%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fsc%3D668072%26 hmpgID%3D62%26bcd%3DAprilfooterNO62)Received on Fri 10 Apr 2009 03:01:07 PM CDT
