CONTEST!: Top Nine O'Nine

It's three days until 2010 - a year that I am awaiting like no other - and I thought I'd send 2009 out with a bang, contest style.

This is my first (and last, of 2009) CONTEST (many more to come in 2010!) - expect all contests to be quirky - because I love quirks - and here is Andrea's Quirky Contest #1. *Trumpets blare*

The time honored tradition of countdowns easily turns into overkill this time of year, but lists are addictive and it's oh so much fun to review the things you loved about the past year (hopefully glossing over those bits you loathed).

The other great thing about the New Year is predicting what's ahead. Isn't playing fortune-teller always fun?

For this contest I'll be mashing these two ideas together.

Top Nine O'Nine (aka Andrea's first blog contest)

The contest: Create a 2010 slogan and post it in the comments section below. Slogans can be silly or serious.

Or, a combination: 2010: The Year Polar Bears Strike Back
The best will be clever, cunning, cataclysmic - you get the idea. I encourage wackiness and snarf-worthiness. Enter as many times as you like, though you can only win once. Bonus points for linking to this contest on your blog!

The prize:

Here come the Top Nine. It's been a great, great year for books (but watch out for 2010 - I think it will only get better!). I'll be awarding prizes for Winner, 1st Runner Up, and 2nd Runner Up. Each winner receives 3 books, a trio from my top 9 books of 2009.* The list is below in alphabetical order by author.

Cassandra Clare, City of Glass (Book 3, Mortal Instruments)
Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire (Book 2, Hunger Games)
Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush, Hush
Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Creatures
Cynthia Leitich Smith, Eternal
Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon
Carrie Ryan, The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Maggie Stiefvater, Ballad**

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place may pick one book from this list they're itching to read, and I'll send it to get 2010 off to a fantastic reading start! Go, slogans, go. Deadline: What else? Entries accepted until 11:59 p.m. (CST) December 31.


**New twist: Since I'm loving the entries so much - here's an added incentive. If I reach 110 (because ya' know, it' s the '10 that matters!) blog followers by the end of this contest, each winner will receive 2 books from the list!
*Disclaimer: Ack!! Picking just 9 books was so hard! So many more I long to add - plus, so many just released books I have yet to read...remorse, remorse!!
** I loved Ballad and Shiver, but it didn't seem fair to have both books on the list and I loved Ballad an eency bit more, so it's the book for this list.