We’ve been preparing for our very first Bobbledy Books publishing contest for a long while now. Back in October, we sent out Gorillas in the Kitchen, our first unfinished Make-Your-Own-Book. Entries started trickling in, but by the December 15th deadline we were ready to start evaluating. (Actually, we didn’t start right away, and we’re glad we didn’t, because we had a few stragglers – don’t worry, I’m totally blaming the postal service.) Matthew and I named ourselves judges. We considered letting Iggy in on the action, but we had recently caught her eating all of the yogurt in the neighborhood, and she was in a time out.

So – in order to keep ourselves from influencing each other, Matthew looked at all the books first. Along with being the President of Bobbledy Books, he is also incredibly impatient, so it was a no-brainer to let him go first. He read them all at once, one right after the other.

I tried not to be influenced by his reactions while I was taking the photos, but I must say his response to Dora’s submission had me intrigued.

Actually, it was this response that had me intrigued:

Dora’s book actually included some glued-in bits of fur. I resisted the temptation to immediately read (and roll in) it.

I could tell that the competition was going to be fierce. Matthew was reading very carefully, and enjoying each and every picture.

When I was finally able to pry the books out of his hands, I got to have a go at it. I put on my genius hat, because narrowing down the field to one winner was definitely going to require some genius.

Okay. Now I’m going to get serious. I just want to say:

YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING.

Every single one of these books is a delight!

I am so so sorry that we can only publish one! Each one is unique, and I could really see your individual personalities shining through. I was excited to see all kinds of different stories as well as all kinds of different media – crayons, pens, pencils, ballpoint pens, (fur), and even collaged cutouts from magazines!

The creativity was through the roof!

And so – we are pleased to announce that all participants in our very first Bobbledy Books Make-Your-Own-Book Contest will be receiving a Certificate of Excellence.

Signed and dated by the President of Bobbledy Books (Matthew) and the CEO (me).

Keep your eye out for your Certificate along with your original Make-Your-Own-Book in your next Bobbledy Books mailing – coming your way next week! The same package will also reveal the winner of the contest.

But I just want to say (before you get your books back) that the decision was REALLY hard and we are SO PROUD of everyone who participated. Each book is a treasure, and we hope that you will keep writing and drawing, because every single one of you showed real talent and style!! The official judges give you TWO THUMBS UP!

Congratulations everyone! We’re very much looking forward to the second Bobbledy Books publishing contest! Thanks for making our jobs so much fun.