2014 Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature winner: Cary Fagan

The prestigious Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature, an annual $20,000 prize awarded to an outstanding author of a body of work in children's literature, was presented recently at the Writers' Trust Awards event at the Glen Gould Studio in Toronto.

Emceed by Jared Bland, books editor at The Globe & Mail, the Writers' Trust Awards honoured writers in six categories:

• Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize
• Writers’ Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize
• Writers’ Trust Engel/Findley Award
• Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life
• Writers’ Trust Distinguished Contribution Award, and
• Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People.

Administered by the Writers' Trust of Canada since 2002 and sponsored by the Metcalf Foundation, the Vicky Metcalf Award is the only one of the six that goes to a writer of children's literature.

Now I'm pleased to announce that

the 2014 winner 

of the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People

is  

Cary Fagan

whose impression collection of books for children include these favourite picture books and novels:

Picture Books

• My New Shirt
• Thing-Thing
• Book of Big Brothers
• Ella May and the Wishing Stone
• My Zinger's Hat
• Oy Feh So?
• I Wish I Could Draw

Novels

• The Fortress of Kaspar Snit
• Directed by Kaspar Snit
• Ten Lessons for Kaspar Snit
• Jacob Two-two on the High Seas
• The Big Swim
• Banjo of Destiny
• Danny Who Fell in a Hole

Check out Cary Fagan's website at  www.caryfagan.com/ to read more about his books, life and other details.

2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature: winners

I'm so far behind in my award announcements but I couldn't miss this exceptional new award, inaugurated in 2013. The Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature recognizes excellence in English-language literary works for Young Adults by First Nations, Métis and Inuit writers. The Burt Awards are a part of CODE's mandate to "support(s) literacy and learning in Canada and around the world" (Retrieved from http://www.codecan.org/code on November 19, 2014.)

The jury process for this award is administered by the Assembly of First Nations, the Métis National Council, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the National Association of Friendship Centres, the Association of Canadian Publishers, and the Canada Council for the Arts. 

This year, three of the five finalists were awarded with prizes, with a First Prize of $12,000, a Second Prize of $8,000 and a Third Prize of $5,000.

Congratulations to the following winners:

FIRST PRIZE

Tilly, a Story of Hope and Resilience 

by Monique Gray Smith 

Sono Nis Press

SECOND PRIZE

The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America 

by Thomas King 

Doubleday Canada

THIRD PRIZE

They Called Me Number One 

by Bev Sellars 

Talonbooks

2014 Aurora Awards: Science Fiction & Fantasy Awards winners

The 2014 Auroras, a.k.a. Aurora Award and Prix Aurora, Canada's Science Fiction & Fantasy Awards since 1980, were recently awarded by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA). 

Awards were presented in ten categories this year:

1. Best Novel
2. Best YA Fiction
3. Best Short Fiction
4. Best Poem / Song
5. Best Graphic Novel
6. Best Related Work
7. Best Artist
8. Best Fan Music
9. Best Fan Organizational
10. Best Fan Related Work

The nominees for the YA award were announced in May, with voting extended to September.  These were the nominated titles:

Best English YA (Young Adult) Novel

The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles: Demon Gate 

by Marty Chan

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Ink 

by Amanda Sun

Harlequin Teen

The Lake and the Library 

by S.M. Beiko

ECW Press

Out of Time 

by D. G. Laderoute

Five Rivers Publishing

Resolve 

by Neil Godbout

Bundoran Press

The Rising 

by Kelley Armstrong

Doubleday Canada 

 

The winner of the 2014 Aurora Award for Young Adult Fiction, presented at Canvention 34 in Vancouver on October 3, 2014 is:

Kelley Armstrong

for 

The Rising

Dark Rising Book 3

Doubleday Canada

432 pp.

Ages 12+

2013

2014 Governor General's Literary Awards: Winners announced

Yesterday the Canada Council for the Arts announced the winners of the Governor General's Literary Awards in seven different categories, each in French and English.  I am pleased to post the winners of the Children's Book awards here.



Children's Text:  English

Raziel Reid

(Vancouver) 

When Everything Feels Like the Movies

Arsenal Pulp Press

Children's Text:  French

Linda Amyot

(Longueuil, Que.) 

Le jardin d'Amsterdam 

Leméac Éditeur

Children's Illustration:  English

Jillian Tamaki

(Brooklyn, N.Y.) 

This One Summer

Text by Mariko Tamaki 

Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press

Children's Illustration: French

Marianne Dubuc

(Montreal) 

Le lion et l'oiseau

Text by Marianne Dubuc 

Les Éditions de la Pastèque

2014 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards: Winners announced

The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are presented by the Independent Publisher and Jenkins Group to honour North America's best children’s books, authors and illustrators. As their logo states, these selections celebrate "youthful curiosity, discovery and learning through books and reading." In 38 categories (with an additional 4 Spirit Awards), these children's books represent the publishing efforts of main-stream publishers as well as small presses, and even those of self-publishers.

Recently, the Moonbeam Children's Book Award winners were announced and we'd like to offer our congratulations to our Canadian authors, illustrators and publishers who were awarded Moonbeam Children's Book Awards for 2014. They include the following six awards:



Pre-teen Fiction: General

GOLD

Red River Raging
(Disaster Strikes! Book 8)
by Penny Draper
Coteau









Pre-teen Fiction: Historical/Cultural

SILVER

Red Wolf
by Jennifer Dance
Dundurn











Young Adult Fiction: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

GOLD (tie)

The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim
by E. K. Johnston
Carolrhoda Lab

Young Adult Fiction: Historical/Cultural

SILVER

Morven and the Horse Clan
by Luanne Armstrong
Great Plains Teen Fiction







BRONZE (tie)

The Comic Book War
by Jacqueline Guest
Coteau Books











Young Adult Fiction: Mature Issues

SILVER

Jamie's Got a Gun
by Gail Sidonie Sobat and Spyder Yardley-Jones
Great Plains Teen Fiction











Best Illustrator

SILVER

Jason Doll
for
Would Someone Please Answer the Parrot!
Written by Beryl Young
Peanut Butter Press

2015 Forest of Reading®: Le Prix Tamarac and Le Prix Peuplier

This listing completes the posting of the nominees for the Ontario Library Association's 2014-2015 Forest of Reading® awards.  The two categories and three award programs for French language readers are included here. 

Le catalogue de robots
Jean-Pierre Guillet, Jessica Lindsay
Bayard Canada

Embrouilles à Embrun
Mireille Messier, Marc Keelan-Bishop
Éditions du Vermillon

Guiby : Une odeur de soufre
Sampar (Samuel Parent)
Éditions Michel Quintin

Il m'énerve, ce William Parker!
Alain M. Bergeron
Soulières éditeur

Julie et Alexis le Trotteur
Martine Latulippe
Éditions Québec Amérique

Lucie Wan en danger
Agnes Grimaud, Stephane Jorisch
Dominique et compagnie

Mission... à donner le frisson!
Lili Chartrand, Mathieu Benoît
Éditions du Boréal

Moi, zèbre bouchard
Myriam De Repentigny, Yvan Deschamps
Soulières éditeur

Pablo trouve un trésor
Andrée Poulin, Isabelle Malenfant
Éditions Les 400 coups

Tsuki, princesse de la Lune
Suzanne de Serres, Virginie Rapiat
Éditions Planète Rebelle

Victor Cordi: L'anomalie maléfique
Annie Bacon
La Courte Échelle

Cocorico!
Francois Gravel, Katy Lemay
Éditions Québec Amérique

La fabuleuse histoire de Jérémy Leloup
Gilles Tibo, Jean-Luc Trude
Éditions Québec Amérique

Le journal de guerre d'Émilio
André Jacob, Christine Delezenne
Éditions De L'Isatis

Max et la belle inconnue
Olivier Challet
Éditions du Boréal

Moche Café: Destination Monstroville 01
Nadine Descheneaux, Sophie Rondeau
Éditions Druide

Pas question que les criminels dormant
René Cochaux
Éditions du Phoenix

La patate cadeau ou la vraie histoire de la poutine râpée
Diane Carmel Léger, Tamara Thiebeaux-Hekalo
Bouton d'or Acadie

La plus grosse poutine du monde
Andrée Poulin
Bayard Canada

Quatre Filles de Génies
Emmanuelle Bergeron, Caroline Merola
Soulières éditeur

Le cadeau des frères Bravo
Caroline Merola
Éditions de la Bagnole

Je suis riche!
Angele Delaunois, Philippe Beha
Éditions De L'Isatis

Je veux un animal de compagnie
Jennifer Couëlle, Pierre Girard
Éditions de la Bagnole

La limace
Elise Gravel
La Courte Échelle

Ma petite boule d'amour
Jasmine Dube, Jean-Luc Trudel
Éditions de la Bagnole

Meuh où est Gertrude?
Benoit Dutrizac, BelleBrute (Marianne Chevalier and Vincent Gagnon)
Fonfon

Rocheux anniversaire, Léopold!
Isabelle Gaul
Éditions de la Smala

Une Charlotte olympique
Mireille Messier, Benoît Laverdière
Éditions de la Bagnole

La vie rêvée de Crapaud la grenouille
Carine Paquin, Laurence Dechassey
Éditions de la Smala

Le voleur de couche
Nadia Sevigny, Anne Marie Bourgeois
Éditions de la Smala

Remaining nominees are listed here:

Blue Spruce and Silver Birch

Red Maple and White Pine