Wednesday 19 November 2014

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



Monday 17 November 2014

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