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Inkys Awards Recognise Teenage Book Choices

Australia's first teenage choice book awards, the Inkys, have been developed by the Centre for Youth Literature (CYL). The awards are designed to recognise the books that teenagers want to read. They are named for Inky A Wilde, the dog mascot on the CYL's highly successful youth literature website insideadog.com.au (currently nearing its half-millionth visitor).

Anyone under 25 can vote for what they consider to be the best Australian (Golden Inky Award) and best International (Silver Inky Award) young adult book from a shortlist of titles. Votes can be cast on the insideadog website or by SMS until 5 November.

The shortlist was chosen by a panel of six judges – four teenagers from Victoria, NSW and Queensland; insideadog project manager Lili Wilkinson and Voiceworks magazine editor Ryan Paine. It comprises:

• Golden Inky

  The Arrival, Shaun Tan (Hachette)
  Notes from the Teenage Underground, Simmone Howell (Pan Macmillan)
  The Birthmark, Beth Montgomery (Text Publishing)
  

• Silver Inky

  Looking for Alaska, John Green (HarperCollins)
  Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Allen & Unwin)
  Valiant, Holly Black (Simon & Schuster).

The Australian writer will receive prize money and a trophy, and the international winner will receive a trophy. The winners will be announced on Monday 12 November at an event at the State Library of Victoria.

Find out more about the Inkys >