Saskatchewan Book Awards

On February 16, 2012, the shortlists for the annual Saskatchewan Book Awards were announced at the University of Regina.

Saskatchewan is the only province in Canada that has a provincially-focused book award program i.e., one representing Saskatchewan's writing and publishing contributions. With an impressive community of over 300 authors and 75 book publishers, Saskatchewan has much to celebrate and promote.

Established in 1993 by the joint efforts of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild, the Saskatchewan Publishers Group and the Saskatchewan Library Association, the Awards have grown from four to fourteen, although the specific awards vary year to year.

This year, the Saskatchewan Book Awards announced its short lists in thirteen award categories:

• Scholarly Writing Award
• First People’s Writing Award
• Saskatoon Book Award
• Regina Book Award
• Award for Poetry
• First Book Award
• Children’s Literature Award
• Fiction Award
• Non-fiction Award
• Book of the Year Award
• First People’s Publishing Award
• Publishing in Education Award
• Award for Publishing

Congratulations to all nominees.  As we are CanLit for LittleCanadians, we'd like to honour those nominated for the Children's Literature Award:

• Adele Dueck, Racing Home (Coteau)
• Leah M. Dorion; Rita Flamand, trans., Relatives with Roots: A Story About Métis Women’s Connection to the Land (Gabriel Dumont Institute)
• Alison Lohans, Picturing Alyssa (Dundurn)
• Anne Patton, Full Steam to Canada: A Barr Colony Adventure (Coteau)
• Judith Silverthorne, The Secret of the Stone Circle (Coteau)
• Alison Uitti, First Days: Night Movies (Hear My Heart Books)

I'd also like to recognize those children's and YA titles that have been nominated for other Saskatchewan Book Awards.
 
For the Saskatoon Book Award:

• Beverly Brenna, Waiting for No One (Red Deer Press)

For the Regina Book Award:

• Alison Lohans, Picturing Alyssa (Dundurn Press)

For the Fiction Book Award:

• Arthur Slade, Empire of Ruins: The Hunchback Assignments III (HarperCollins Canada)

For the Publishing in Education Award:

• Penny Draper, Ice Storm: Disaster Strikes #6 (Coteau)

The Saskatchewan Book Awards will be presented on April 28, 2012 at a gala ceremony in Regina.

Red Cedar Book Award 2011/2012 nominees

Also known as B. C.'s Young Readers' Choice Awards, the Red Cedar Book Award Program is a readers' choice program for British Columbia students in Gr. 4 - 7.

Each fall, two short-lists of nominated titles are announced: one for fiction, and one for information books. To be included in the program, a book must have been:

• written by and illustrated by a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant who has lived in Canada for at least two years; 
•  published two calendar years before the nomination date; 
• published by a recognized publisher and available in print; 
• recognized by other reviewers of Canadian children’s literature; and  
• recognized as being of general interest to students in Gr. 4 - 7.

Children vote in the month of April and the winners are announced annually in May. 

Information (or Non-Fiction) Category

 

Out of This World: The Amazing Search for An Alien Earth  

by Jacob Berkowitz
Kids Can Press
2009

100% Pure Fake  
by Lyn Thomas
Kids Can Press
2009 

How to Build Your Own Country  
by Valerie Wyatt
Kids Can Press
2009 

Hoaxed! Fakes & Mistakes in the World of Science  
Editors of Yes Magazine
Kids Can Press
2009

Whispers from the Ghettos  
by Kathy Kacer
Puffin Canada
2009






 

Big Train: The Legendary Ironman of Sport, Lionel Conacher 
by Richard Brignall
Lorimer
2009 

It's A Snap! George Eastman's First Photograph  
by Monica Kulling
Tundra Books
2009

Animal Aha! Thrilling Discoveries in Wildlife Science 
by Diane Swanson
Annick Press
2009

Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers: One Hundred Ancient Egyptian Jobs You Might Have Desired or Dreaded
by Kristin Butcher
Annick Press
2009

Fighting for Gold: The Story of Canada's Sledge Hockey Paralympic Gold

by Lorna Schultz Nicholson
Lorimer
2009

The Insecto-files: Amazing Insect Science and Bug Facts You'll Never Believe
by Helaine Becker
Maple Tree Press
2009

 

Learn to Speak Music  

by John Crossingham

Owlkids Books
2009

Charlie: A Home Child's Life in Canada  

by Beryl Young

Key Porter
2009

You Are Weird! Your Body's Peculiar Parts and Funny Functions 
by Diane Swanson
Kids Can Press
2009

Kaboom! Explosions of All Kinds

by Gillian Richardson
Annick Press
2009

Fiction Category

Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter  

by R. J. Anderson
HarperCollins
2009
 

Walking Backward  

by Catherine Austen
Orca Books
2009
 

A Desperate Road to Freedom: The Underground Railroad Diary of Julia May Jackson  
by Karleen Bradford
Scholastic Canada
2009
 

After the Fire  

by Becky Citra
Orca Books
2010
 

The Prince of Neither Here Nor There  

by Seán Cullen
Penguin
2009
 

The Ship of Lost Souls  

by Rachelle Delaney
HarperCollins
2009
 

The Dread Crew: Pirates of the Backwoods  

by Kate Inglis
Nimbus
2009
 

Wanting Mor  

by Rukhsana Khan
Groundwood Books
2009
 

Zoobreak  

by Gordon Korman
Scholastic Canada
2009

Timothy and the Dragon's Gate 

by Adrienne Kress
Scholastic Canada
2009

 The Giant-Slayer  

by Iain Lawrence
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
2009
 

Rex Zero the Great Pretender 

by Tim Wynne-Jones
Groundwood Books
2009

Atlantic Book Awards

Every March, the Atlantic Book Awards Society announces the shortlists of nominated titles for its nine different book prizes.  Then, in May, the Atlantic Book Awards and Festival, which comprises of numerous free events in all Canadian Atlantic provinces, culminates with an awards ceremony.

To get more information about the Atlantic Canada Book Awards, go to http://www.atlanticbookawards.ca

The nine Atlantic Book Awards are:

• Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature

• APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award, sponsored by Friesens

• Dartmouth Book Award for Non-fiction in Memory of Robbie Robertson, presented by the Kiwanis Club of Dartmouth

• Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing

• Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction), presented by Boyne Clarke

• Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration

• Margaret and John Savage First Book Award

• Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award for Fiction

• The Bruneau Family Children’s/Young Adult Literature Award

For the 2012 Atlantic Book Awards nominees, emphasizing those for young readers go to CanLitforLittleCanadians 2012 Atlantic Book Award nominees

International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)

International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Canada administers 3 National Awards and submits nominations for 3 International Awards

IBBY NATIONAL AWARDS:

Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award
Frances E. Russell Grant 
Claude Aubry Award

IBBY INTERNATIONAL AWARDS:
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Hans Christian Andersen Awards
IBBY Honour List
IBBY Asahi Reading Promotion Award

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (named for the beloved author of Pippi Longstocking) is the world's largest prize (SEK 5 million; well over $750 000 US)  for children's and young adult literature.  Even more mind-boggling is the fact that the Swedish government fully funds this award which is administered by the Swedish Arts Council.

The 2012 Award recipient(s) will be announced on March 20, 2012 at Vimmerby, Sweden (birthplace of Lindgren) and broadcast at the Bologna Children's Book Fair and at www.alma.se

Congratulations to Brian Doyle, Jean Little and Michel Noël for being nominated as Canada's 2012 children's author candidates for this extraordinary award.

The winner of the 2011 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award was Shaun Tan of Australia.

Hans Christian Andersen Award

As this blog's Awards Page states, the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Canada submits nominations for IBBY's International Awards, one of which is the Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award is given to a living author and illustrator whose work has made a significant and meaningful contribution to children's literature.  On their website, IBBY maintains that the

"...Hans Christian Andersen Award is the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children's books." (1)

The 2012 Canadian nominees for this award are author Tim Wynne-Jones and illustrator Stéphane Jorisch.

Tim Wynne-Jones
Tim Wynne-Jones' writing can range from playful to tragic, but always with richness of imagination and heartfelt voice.  And, because his body of work is so extensive, I can only list those titles with which I am familiar and that's still a fair chunk:

Picture Books
Zoom Away (Douglas & McIntyre, 1991)

Zoom Upstream (Douglas & McIntyre, 1993)
The Last Piece of Sky (Douglas & McIntyre, 1993)
Pounce de Leon (Red Deer Press, 2008)

Short Story Collections
Lord of the Fries (Douglas & McIntyre, 1999 )
The Book of Changes (Groundwood, 1994)

Novels
Rex Zero, King of Nothing (Groundwood, 2007)
Rex Zero, The Great Pretender (Groundwood, 2009)
Rex Zero and the End of the World (Groundwood, 2006)
The Uninvited (Candlewick, 2009) 
The Thief in the House of Memory (Groundwood, 2004) 
The Boy in the Burning House (Douglas & McIntyre, 2000) 
The Maestro (Groundwood, 1996) 
Stephen Fair (Douglas & McIntyre, 1999)
Blink and Caution (Candlewick, 2011)

Stéphane Jorisch 
Stéphane Jorisch's detailed illustrations are produced using water colour, gouache and pen and ink, and have earned him the Governor-General's Literary Award for Children's Illustration in 2004 and 2008.

Books in which his illustrations can be enjoyed include:
My Father Knows the Names of Things by Jane Yolen (Simon & Schuster, 2010)
Mélanie Lapierre by Bertrand Gauthier (La courte échelle, 2010)
Rosie and Buttercup by Chieri Uegaki (Kids Can Press, 2008)
Mon pyjama et moi by Lucie Papineau (Dominique et compagnie, 2008)
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear (Kids Can Press, 2007)
Suki's Kimono by Chieri Uegaki (Kids Can Press, 2003)
As for the Princess?: a folktale from Quebec by Stéphane Jorisch (Annick, 2001)
Oma's Quilt by Paulette Bourgeios (Kids Can Press, 2001)


The Hans Christian Andersen Award will be announced March 19, 2012. 


(1) Retrieved from http://www.ibby.org/index.php?id=273 on November 30, 2011.

(2) Image retrieved from http://www.timwynne-jones.com/ on November 30, 2011.

(3) Image retrieved from http://www.kidscanpress.com/US/CreatorDetails.aspx?cid=106 on November 30, 2011.

The Willow Awards 2011/2012 Nominees

 

Established in 2001, the Saskatchewan Young Readers' Choice (SYRCA) awards, the Willow Awards, encourage reading by nominating a variety of Canadian titles in three categories.  Young readers can participate in the reading programs through their schools and public libraries, selecting their favourite from one list.  The Willow Awards are truly conferred according the choices of Saskatchewan's young readers.

This year's lists of nominated titles were announced last year.  Since then, young readers have enjoyed reading exceptional Canadian books, anticipating their voting day next week.

The three Willow Awards i.e., Shining Willow, Diamond Willow and Snow Willow are detailed below, along with the nominated titles.

The Shining Willow Award winner is selected from those books written for youngest readers, those in Kindergarten to Grade 3.

The 2011/2012 Shining Willow nominees are:

• Clever Rachel

by Debby Waldman, illustrated by Cindy Revell

Orca Books

2009

• Fred and Pete at the Beach

by Cynthia Nugent

Orca Books

2009

• Giraffe and Bird

by Rebecca Bender

Dancing Cat Books

2010

• The Imaginary Garden

by Andrew Larsen, illustrated by Irene Luxbacher

Kids Can Press

2009

• In Front of My House

by Marianne Dubuc

Kids Can Press

2010

• The King’s Taster

by Kenneth Oppel, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

HarperCollins

2009

• The Little Hummingbird

by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas

Greystone Books/D & M Publishers

2010

• Timmerman Was Here

by Colleen Sydor, illustrated by Nicolas Debon

Tundra Books

2009

• Viola Desmond Won’t be Budged

by Jody Nyasha Warner, illustrated by Richard Rudnicki

Groundwood Books

2010

• Willow’s Whispers

by Lana Button, illustrated by Tania Howells

Kids Can Press

2010

The Diamond Willow Award winner is selected from those books written for readers of Grades 4 to 6.

The 2011/2012 Diamond Willow nominees are:

• After All, You're Callie Boone

by Winnie Mack

Scholastic Canada

2010

• Animals That Changed The World

by Keltie Thomas

Annick Press

2010

• Fatty Legs

by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes

Annick Press

2010

• The Gargoyle In My Yard

by Philippa Dowding

Dundurn

2009

• The Midnight Curse

by L. M. Falcone

Kids Can Press

2010

• The Odds Get Even

by Natale Ghent

HarperCollins

2009

• Ortega

by Maureen Fergus

Kids Can Press

2010

• Stolen Child

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Scholastic Canada

2010

• Tumbleweed Skies

by Valerie Sherrard

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

2009

• Walking Backward

by Catherine Austen

Orca Books

2010

The Snow Willow Award winner is selected from those books written for readers in Grades 7 to 9.

The 2011/2012 Snow Willow nominees are:

• Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom

by Susin Nielsen

Tundra Books

2010

• Free As A Bird

by Gina McMurchy-Barber

Dundurn

2010

• A Hare In The Elephant's Trunk 

by Jan L. Coates

Red Deer Press

2010

• Haunted 

by Barbara Haworth-Attard

HarperCollins

2009

• Home Truths

by Jill MacLean

Dancing Cat Books

2010

• No Safe Place

by Deborah Ellis

Groundwood Books

2010

• Puppet  

by Eva Wiseman

Tundra Books

2009

• Shapeshifter

by Holly Bennett

Orca Books

2010

• Thunder Over Kandahar

by Sharon E. McKay

Annick Press

2010

• The Worst Thing She Ever Did

by Alice Kuipers

HarperTrophy Canada

2010

We look forward to the announcement of the winners at the end of April. Good luck to all nominees.

Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award 2011/2012 nominees

Another Canadian young readers' book award?  You bet!

If you're a young reader, 9 to 12 years of age, living in Atlantic Canada, then you're fortunate to be able to share your favourite reading with others through the annual Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award literary program.  This program, designed to promote literacy and Canadian books, provides four lists of ten nominated titles annually: English Fiction, English Non-Fiction, French Fiction and French Non-Fiction.  Nominations are announced in the spring with reading taking place from September to March, voting before April, and then announcement of the winning titles in April or May. 

Young readers will soon be voting for their favourite reads from the 2011-2012 nominations (see lists below) with the winners announced at a ceremony on April 27, 2012 in Moncton, New Brunswick.

ENGLISH FICTION

The Adventures of Jack Lime

by James Leck

The Dread Crew: Pirates of the Backwoods

by Kate Inglis

The Gnome’s Eye

by Anna Kerz

Kayak Combat

by Eric Howling

Libby’s Got the Beat

by Robert Rayner

Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas

by Cary Fagan

Prisoner of Dieppe: World War II

by Hugh Brewster

Pit Pony  

by Joyce Barkhouse

Tumbleweed Skies

by Valerie Sherrard

Zach & Zoe: Bully and the Beagle

by Kristin Butcher

ENGLISH NON-FICTION

Animals That Changed the World

by Keltie Thomas

Canada from Above

by Heather Patterson

Canada’s Wars: An Illustrated History

by Jonathan Webb

Don’t Touch That Toad & Other Strange Things Adults Tell You

by Catherine Rondina

Fatty Legs: A True Story

by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton

Case Closed?

by Susan Hughes

The Hilarious History of Hockey

by Helaine Becker

Highway of Heroes

by Kathy Stinson

New Brunswick Kids Cook

By Marilyn Lohnes

Wild Ones

by Paddy Muir

ROMAN FRANÇAIS

Bienvenue à Rocketville

par Danielle Boulianne

Catastrophe en Guadeloupe

par Camille Bouchard

Le combat des caboches

par Marie Beauchamp

L’étrange affaire du 413

par Nadya Larouche

Les livres mènent loin!

par Emilie Boucher

Du soccer extrême

par François Gravel

Le projet Persée

par Sophie Bérubé

Livreur express

par Véronique Drouin

Ton journal intime Zone Frousse

par Richard Petit

Vlad et moi et les nids-de-poule

par Brigitte Huppen

DOCUMENTAIRE FRANÇAIS 

L’astronomie facile et amusante

par Jean-Pierre Urbain

Le cheval

par Sylvie Roberge et Jacques Pasquet

Citron bleu et zeste de carotte

par Céline Malepart

Marco Polo

par Johanne Ménard

Les Marmottes

par Alain Bergeron; Sampar; Michel Quintin

Julie Payette

par Christine Ouin et Louise Pratte

Le petit livre des affaires dégueulasses

par Stéphanie C. Dubois

Mon premier livre de contes du Canada

par Corinne De Vailly

Secrets des fleurs de bord de routes

par Marie D’Amours

Ti-Jean-Tête-d’Or

par Melvin Gallant

The 2012-2013 Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award nominations will be announced this spring.

CBC Bookie Awards 2012

In 2011, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) introduced the CBC Bookie Awards as an opportunity for readers to choose their favourite Canadian reads published the previous year.  Based on the selections of the well-read CBC personnel from CBC Books, Canada Reads, Writers & Company, The Next Chapter, as well as recommendations from the public, five titles in each of ten categories are nominated.  Readers then have several weeks to cast their votes online (only once per category per day).  Winners are announced the following week, in April.

The ten categories, which include two international ones, for which books are nominated are:

• Literary Fiction
• Non-Fiction
• Poetry
• Thriller, Mystery or Crime
• Science Fiction, Fantasy or Speculative Fiction
• Young Adult
• Graphic Novel or Comic Book
• Short Story Collection
• International Fiction
• International Non-Fiction

This year's CBC Bookies Awards nominees were announced March 8, 2012 with voting taking place online before 11:59 p.m. ET of Saturday, March 31.  The winners will be announced at a CBC Twitter Chat (#CanLit) on Thursday, April 5.

The one category relevant to CanLit for LittleCanadians is the Young Adult category.  The finalists for this category are:

Blink and Caution

by Tim Wynne-Jones
Candlewick Press

The Gathering

by Kelley Armstrong
Doubleday Canada

No Ordinary Day

by Deborah Ellis
Groundwood Books

This Dark Endeavour: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein
by Kenneth Oppel
HarperCollins Canada

Tilt

by Alan Cumyn
Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press

Use this CBC Bookies link to cast your vote(s) for your favourites in the Young Adult category, but only until the end of March 31, 2012.  (The ballot below is as it appears on the CBC Bookies website)

Retrieved from the CBC Bookies website on March 9, 2012.

BC Book Prizes

The BC Book Prizes are annual literary awards selected by the West Coast Prize Society for writers and illustrators who are British Columbia or Yukon residents (or have lived there for three of the last five years).  Established in 1985, the BC Book Prizes take submissions until the end of January deadline, announcing their shortlists in the award-ravaged month of March.  The award-winning books and authors/illustrators are announced at a Book Prize Soirée in May in Vancouver.  The logo of the BC Book Prizes and the book seals for short-listed and winning titles  was created from BC artist, Roy Henry Vickers's work, Eagle Full Circle (1982).

Here are the seven categories for the BC Book Prizes:

• Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize

• Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize

• Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize

• Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize

• Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize

• Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize

• Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award

An additional award, the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence, which recognizes BC writers who have contributed to the development of literary excellence there, is also presented at the Book Prizes Gala. Finalists are announced in March.

The two BC Book Awards dedicated to books for young readers are:

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize

Awarded to the author of novels, including chapter books, aimed at juveniles and young adults, as well as non-fiction books for children (including biography) which have not been highly illustrated.

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize

Awarded to the author and illustrator of picture books, picture story books, and illustrated non-fiction books

(from http://www.bcbookprizes.ca/about)  

Winners are announced in May.