2014 winners of Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Awards

On April 26th 2014, the Manitoba School Library Association announced the winners of the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Awards (MYRCA) for 2014 from the nominees announced last July.

The 2014 winning title, as voted by young Manitoba readers of ages 10 to 14, is

Making Bombs for Hitler

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Scholastic Book Publishers
978-1-4431-0730-3

186 pp.
Ages 8-12
2012

Reviewed here

          *          *          *           

Congratulations to the readers' two Honour Books:

Ungifted

by Gordon Korman
Scholastic Canada 
280 pp.
Ages 8-12
2012

Small Medium at Large

by Joanne Levy
Bloomsbury Children's Books
193 pp.
Ages 9-13

2012

Reviewed here

 

  CONGRATULATIONS

 to all Nominees and Winners 

and young readers in this literacy program 

2014 Rocky Mountain Book Award winner announced!

Last July the nominees for the 2013-2014 Rocky Mountain Book Award were announced here.  From November to April, Alberta's students in Grades 4 through 7 were invited to read the twenty nominated fiction and non-fiction titles, selected from the previous two years publications.  Voting took place from mid-March to mid-April, and votes tabulated. Voting results are posted at http://rmba.lethsd.ab.ca/  The winner was announced on April 17 via the Rocky Mountain Book Award Facebook page here.

The winner of the 2014 Rocky Mountain Book Award, Gold Medal, is:

Cat's Cradle
Book 1 The Golden Twine

by Jo Rioux
Kids Can Press
978-1554536375 
112 pp.
Ages 9-12
2012

2014 Arthur Ellis Awards for Crime Writing: Shortlists announced

Yes, yes, yes!  The shortlists of nominees for the Arthur Ellis Awards for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing were announced tonight.   Awarded annually by the Crime Writers of Canada since 1984, the Arthur Ellis Awards include the following categories:

For Published Works:

• Best Crime Novel *
• Best First Crime Novel 
• Best Crime Book in French
• Best Crime Nonfiction
• Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book
• Best Crime Short Story

For Unpublished Work:

• The Unhanged Arthur Award for Best Unpublished First Crime Novel *

*Awards for which prizes are provided

Here are the nominees for the 2014 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile/Young Adult Crime Book:

Karen Autio

Sabotage 

Sono Nis Press

 

Gail Gallant

Apparition 

Doubleday Canada

Elizabeth MacLeod

Bones Never Lie: How Forensics Helps Solve History’s Mysteries
Annick Press

Ted Staunton

Who I’m Not 

Orca Book Publishers

The 2014 winners will be announced at the Arthur Ellis Awards gala dinner on Thursday, June 5, at the Arts & Letters Club in downtown Toronto.

The 2014 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards shortlists

The Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal are children's book awards presented by the CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the United Kingdom.  Shortlists and winners are selected by librarians who serve young readers.

To be eligible for the 2014 Awards titles must have been first published in the UK between 1 September 1, 2012 and August 31,  2013.  Books first published in another country must have been co-published in the UK within three months of the original publication date.

The winning titles will be announced at an awards ceremony on June 23, 2014 on their website here.

This year, there are no Canadian authors' books on the shortlist for the 2014 CILIP Carnegie Medal for the writer of an outstanding book for children.

However, among the seven nominated illustrators shortlisted for the 2014 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, two feature Canadian-born illustrator, Jon Klassen. (I have only posted covers of these two.)

Here is the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Shortlist for 2014

Rebecca Cobb (illustrator)
The Paper Dolls
Julia Donaldson (text)
Macmillan Children's Books

Olivia Gill (illustrator)
Where My Wellies Take Me
Michael Morpurgo and Clare Morpurgo (text)
Templar

Oliver Jeffers (illustrator)
The Day the Crayons Quit
Drew Daywalt (text)
HarperCollins

Jon Klassen (author/illustrator)
This is Not My Hat
Walker Books

Jon Klassen (illustrator)
The Dark
Lemony Snicket (text)
Orchard Books






 
Dave McKean (illustrator)
Mouse, Bird, Snake, Wolf
David Almond (text)
Walker Books

Birgitta Sif (author/illustrator)
Oliver
Walker Books

2014 Atlantic Book Awards shortlists announced

On April 4, 2014 , the Atlantic Book Awards Society announced the shortlists of nominated titles for its various book prizes.  Winners of the 2014 Atlantic Book Awards will be announced at a special awards show on Wednesday, May 21 at 7:00 p.m. at the Delta Prince Edward/PEI Convention Centre in Charlottetown, PEI.

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

This year, the ten Atlantic Book Awards that will be presented are:

• Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature
• APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award, sponsored by Friesens
• Atlantic Book Award for Scholarly Writing, sponsored by Marquis Imprimeur
• 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
• Prince Island Book Award for Fiction
• Prince Island Book Award for Non-Fiction

The nominees for the two 2014 Atlantic Book Awards for young readers are listed below.

ANN CONNOR BRIMER AWARD

 FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Nix Minus One
By Jill MacLean
Pajama Press

Reviewed here

The Power of Harmony
by Jan L. Coates
Red Deer Press

Reviewed here

The Stowaways
by Meghan Marentette
Pajama Press

Reviewed here

LILLIAN SHEPHERD AWARD 

FOR EXCELLENCE IN ILLUSTRATION

Illustrator: Susan Tooke
Lasso the Wind:  Aurélia’s Verses and Other Poems
by George Elliott Clarke
Nimbus Publishing

Illustrator: Leonard Paul
Pīsim Finds Her Miskanow 
by William Dumas
Portage & Main Press







Illustrator: Deanne Fitzpatrick
Singily Skipping Along 
by Sheree Fitch
Nimbus Publishing

2014 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards' nominees announced

On Wednesday, April 16, the Ontario Arts Foundation announced the 2014 nominees for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards that recognize artistic excellence in writing and illustration in English-language Canadian children’s literature.  The awards will be selected by two juries of young readers, this year from Aldergrove Public School in Markham, Ontario.  Five students from Grades 3 and 4 will select the award-winning book for the Children's Picture Book Award, and five students from Grades 7 and 8 will select the Young Adult/Middle Reader Book Award recipient.  The prizes will be given out May 20 at the school.

Here are the two short-lists of nominees announced Wednesday:

• • •                                        

In the CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOK CATEGORY, the nominees are:

The Boy Who Paints
by K. Jane Watt
Illustrations by Richard Cole
Fenton Street Press

Loula is Leaving for Africa
by Anne Villeneuve
Kids Can Press

The Man with the Violin
by Kathy Stinson 
Illustrations by Dušan Petričić
Annick Press

Reviewed here

Once Upon a Northern Night
by Jean E. Pendziwol
Illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault
Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

Read Me a Story, Stella 
by Marie-Louise Gay
Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

• • •                                       

In the  YOUNG ADULT/MIDDLE READER CATEGORY, the nominees are:

Little Red Lies 

by Julie Johnston
Tundra Books

Ultra
by David Carroll
Scholastic Canada 

Reviewed here

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B
by Teresa Toten
Doubleday Canada

Reviewed here

Jane, the Fox and Me
by Fanny Britt
Illustrations by Isabelle Arsenault 
Groundwood Books

Sorrow's Knot 
by Erin Bow
Scholastic Canada

Congratulations to all nominees

2014 CLA Book Award winners announced!

Cue the fanfare! Break out the bubbly! Exciting news is emanating from the Canadian Library Association. The announcements of winners of the CLA's annual book awards have just been released.  From extraordinary shortlists to outstanding winners, the selection committees have once again done their association proud. 

This award recognizes an illustrator of a noteworthy Canadian book, published in 2013, that appeals to children up to the age of 12 years.

 
Congratulations to the Winner:

* The Dark *

Illustrated by Jon Klassen
Written by Lemony Snicket
HarperCollins

Press release announcement from CLA

This notable award recognizes a Canadian author of an outstanding book published in Canada in 2013, which appeals to children up to and including age 12.

Congratulations to the Winner:

* Curse of the Dream Witch *

by Allan Stratton
Scholastic Canada

Reviewed here

Congratulations also to the two Honour Books selected:

 
Metro Dogs of Moscow
by Rachelle Delaney

Puffin Canada

 
Prince Puggly and the Kingdom of Spiff

by Robert Paul Weston
Puffin Canada

Reviewed here

Press release announcement from CLA

This award recognizes an author of an outstanding English-language Canadian work of fiction (novel, collection of short stories or graphic novel), published in 2013, that appeals to young adults between the ages of 13 and 18.

Congratulations to the Winner:

* Graffiti Knight *

by Karen Bass
Pajama Press

Reviewed here

Congratulations also to the only Honour Book selected:

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B 

by Teresa Toten

Doubleday Canada

Reviewed here

Press release announcement from CLA


The full list of press releases from CLA is available here.

2014 Alberta Literary Awards short lists announced

The short-lists for the Alberta Literary Awards were just announced a few days ago. (Press release here.) The Alberta Literary Awards, created by the Writers Guild of Alberta in 1982, recognize excellence in writing by Alberta authors.

The Writers Guild of Alberta presents the following nine awards as well as administers two city book awards:

• R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature This award alternates yearly between picture and chapter books

• Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction

• Wilfred Eggleston Award for Non-Fiction
 
• Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama
 
• Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry 

• Amber Bowerman Memorial Travel Writing Award

• James H. Gray Award for Short Non-Fiction

• Howard O'Hagan Award for Short Story

• Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Prize

The two city book awards are:
• The City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Book Prize

• The Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize


The one award that is always about youngCanLit is the R. Ross Annett Award, whose nominees, all books penned by Alberta authors, I present here:

The 2014 nominees for the
R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature 

 are:

Graffiti Knight
by Karen Bass
Pajama Press

Reviewed here

The Great Bike Rescue
by Hazel Hutchins
Orca Book Publishers

Not With a Bang
by Gail Sidonie Sobat
Magpie Books

Reviewed here

The winners of all awards will be announced in June. 

Congratulations to all nominees!