It’s voting time! According to the official award process, committee members would have each nominated 10-15 titles to be semi-finalists back in December. The 10 titles with the most votes are the only titles discussed at the Midwinter meeting in January. For the first ballot, committee members vote for their top five. For the second ballot, committee members vote for their top choice from the top five and discuss whether there will be honor books named or separate categories within the award (children’s, young adult, etc.).

We’ve obviously done things a little differently here at Medal on My Mind. In the past few months, we’ve covered 46 titles. Not all of those titles received glowing recommendations. And we haven’t narrowed down the list to a top 10. But that’s where you come in!

In the comments section of this post, please nominate up to 10 titles to be considered for our shortlist. Based on your votes, we’ll create a shortlist of five titles. Voting for the first ballot will close Wednesday, January 23 at 5:00pm EST. After the results are tallied, we’ll open up the second ballot (in a separate post) until Saturday, January 26 at 5:00pm EST.

Here are all the books we’ve covered thus far! If you don’t see your favorite book of the year, go ahead and nominate it. There is so much more we wish we could have covered.

YA

• All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell
• Black Wings Beating by Alex London
• Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore
• Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
• I Felt a Funeral by Will Walton
• Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
• Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) by L.C. Rosen
• The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
• Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
• Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann
• Odd One Out by Nic Stone
• Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert
• The Storyteller by Traci Chee
• A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos

Middle Grade

• Drum Roll, Please by Lisa Jenn Bigelow
• Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender
• Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World by Ashley Herring Blake
• Love, Penelope by Joanne Rocklin; illustrated by Lucy Knisley
• Nate Expectations by Tim Federle
• One True Way by Shannon Hitchcock

Picture Books

• A Church for All by Gayle E. Pitman, illus. Laurie Fournier
• A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Marlon Bundo & Jill Twiss, illus. EG Keller
• Harriet Gets Carried Away by Jessie Sima
• Jack (Not Jackie) by Erica Silverman, illus. Holly Hatam
• Jerome by Heart by Thomas Scotto, illus. Olivier Tallec, trans. Claudia Bedrick & Karin Snelson
• Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
• Love is Love by Michael Genhart, illus. Ken Min
• Neither by Airlie Anderson
• Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders, illus. Steven Salerno
• Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack, illus. Stevie Lewis
• Sewing the Rainbow: The Story of Gilbert Baker and the Rainbow Flag
  by Gayle E. Pitman, illus. Holly Clifton-Brown
• Teddy’s Favorite Toy by Christian Trimmer, illus. Madeline Valentine
• The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig by Steve Jenkins, Derek Walter & Caprice Crane, illus. Cori Doerrfeld
• When We Love Someone We Sing to Them: Cuando Amamos Cantamos by Ernesto Javier Martínez, illus. Maya Gonzalez

Graphic Novels & Comics

• The Backstagers, Vol. 2: The Show Must Go On by James Tynion IV, illus. by Rian Sygh
• Bingo Love, Vol. 1 by Tee Franklin, illus. Jenn St. Onge & Joy San
• The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell
• Check, Please! Vol. 1: #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu
• DeadEndia: The Watcher’s Test by Hamish Steele
• The Hidden Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag
• Moonstruck, Vol. 1 by Grace Ellis
• On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden
• The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
• A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni and Tristan Jimerson*

Nonfiction

• The Pride Guide: A Guide to Sexual and Social Health for LGBTQ Youth by Jo Langford
• A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni and Tristan Jimerson*
• Sex Plus: Learning, Loving, and Enjoying Your Body by Laci Green

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* = We included this book in both categories because there is overlap.