At the Nebula Award Weekend in San Jose, I presented the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.  This was what I said:

A reading from the sacred texts of my people. As you are brought

to remembrance, recite them with me.

The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile

above the storm-racked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for

wizards.

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to

say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

There was a hand in the darkness and it held a knife.

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of

the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded

yellow sun.

All children, except one, grow up.

It was a dark and stormy night.

You see, I had this spacesuit.

It was a pleasure to burn.

In fairy tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black

cloaks, and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy-tale.

This is about REAL WITCHES.

The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone.

The nominees for the 2012 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult

Science Fiction and Fantasy are:

Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)

Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry; Gollancz)

Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)

The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)

Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)

Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House Children’s Books; Doubleday UK)

Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)

Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf Books for Young Readers)

Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)

Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)

Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)

Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

And the award goes to…

Fair Coin by E.C. Myers