Three more dawns / Three more days / Three days more! (You’re welcome for the Les Mis earworm).

We hope the Caldecott committee members get to Chicago before the bitterly cold temps and monster snowstorm hit. If you can’t be bundled up at home, maybe hunkered down in a hotel to vote on the most distinguished picture book of 2025 isn’t such a bad gig? (Whatever you’re doing this weekend, if you’re affected by the extreme weather, please be careful!)  

These will be the first Youth Media Awards announcements since ALA canceled the LibLearnX conference. If things work as they have in the past, the Real Committee is spending the weekend discussing, championing, compromising, and voting over and over until the winner and honor book(s) are chosen.

Before we have to dig out from multiple feet of snow and then are distracted by the Big Announcement, we’d like to take a moment to thank our guest contributors. This is a volunteer gig, and we are grateful for the time and effort all twenty-one of them put into this labor of love. Their enthusiasm, insights, and time are truly appreciated. Many, many thanks to Julie Hakim Azzam, Betsy Bird, Shoshana Flax, Stephanie Ford, Elisa Gall, Marva Anne Hinton, Jonathan Hunt, Yesica Hurd, Shelley Isaacson, Annisha Jefferies, Allison Grover Khoury, Megan Dowd Lambert, Erica Marks, Cathryn M. Mercier, Nicholl Denice Montgomery, Martha V. Parravano, Rachel G. Payne, Dean Schneider, Sylvie Shaffer, Scot Smith, and Brian E. Wilson. 

And huge thanks (once again) to Media Source's market research analyst, Mark Brandt, who creates and monitors the poll for Calling Caldecott's mock vote. We couldn't stage our vote without his help (and interpretation of the numbers, which Kitty is befuddled by). If you missed the results of that mock vote announced on Wednesday, they are here. 

The ALA’s YMA presentation will be livestreamed this Monday starting at 11 a.m. ET (10 a.m. CT); toward the end, we will learn the Caldecott Committee's choices. Here is the link to the video stream. Best wishes to the committee members (and stay warm)!