2020 Governor General Literary Awards: Winners announced

Today, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the winners for the Governor General's Literary Awards for books published in 2020.

Please join me in congratulating this year's winners in the two categories for young readers. 

Young People's Literature -  Text

The King of Jam Sandwiches

Written by Eric Walters

Orca Book Publishers

Reviewed here

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young People's Literature - Illustrated Books

The Barnabus Project

Written and illustrated by The Fan Brothers 

(Eric Fan, Terry Fan and Devin Fan)

Tundra Books

 

 

2020 IODE Jean Throop Book Award: Shortlist and Winner

Since 1974, IODE, the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire,  a women’s charitable organization that provides education support, community service and citizenship programs, has awarded the Jean Throop Book Award to encourage excellence in children’s literature. Originally awarded by the Municipal Chapter of Toronto IODE, the IODE Jean Throop Book Award is now funded from the IODE Toronto Legacy Fund and administered by IODE Ontario.

In March, IODE announced its shortlist for the Jean Throop Book Award. Congratulations to these picture book nominees published in 2020.

What If Bunny's Not a Bully? 

Written by Lana Button
Illustrated by Christine Battuz
Kids Can Press

Reviewed here

What Grew in Larry's Garden

Written by Laura Alary
Illustrated by Kass Reich
Kids Can Press
Reviewed here

The Nut That Fell from the Tree

Written by Sangeeta Bhadra
Illustrated by France Cormier
Kids Can Press

Reviewed here

 

Scrub: How a Simple Soap Saved the Day

Written by Suzanne Belliveau

Illustrated by Jennifer Thornhill

Captus Creations

Fast Friends

Written by Heather M. O'Connor
Illustrated by Claudia Dávila
Scholastic Canada 

Reviewed here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The winner of the 2020 IODE Jean Throop Book Award is...

 

What Grew in Larry's Garden

Written by Laura Alary
Illustrated by Kass Reich
Kids Can Press
978-1-5253-0108-7
32 pp.
Ages 4-7

2020

 

 

Congratulations 

to all nominated authors and illustrators 

and to the winners!

2020 Governor General's Literary Awards: Finalists announced

 

Yesterday, the Canada Council for the Arts announced the finalists for the Governor General's Literary Awards for books published in 2020. Normally this announcement and that of the winners would have taken place last fall. However, because of the pandemic, the announcements of the finalists and the winners have been deferred until this spring. (The 2021 awards will again take place in the fall of this year.) 

 

Awards are given in seven different categories:

• Fiction
• Poetry
• Drama
• Non-fiction
• Young People's Literature - Text
• Young People's Literature - Children's Illustration
• Translation 

Please join me in congratulating this year's finalists in the two categories for young readers. 

Young People's Literature -  Text

(Jury: Catherine Austen, Cary Fagan, Shenaaz Nanji)

 

Harvey Holds His Own

Written by Colleen Nelson
Pajama Press

Reviewed here

Nevers

Written by Sara Cassidy

Orca Book Publishers

Pine Island Home

Written by Polly Horvath

Puffin Canada

The Barren Grounds (Book One of The Misewa Saga)

Written by David A. Robertson

Puffin Canada

The King of Jam Sandwiches

Written by Eric Walters

Orca Book Publishers

Reviewed here

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young People's Literature - Illustrated Books

(Jury: Wallace Edwards, Bonnie Farmer, Kyo Maclear)

 

I Talk Like a River

Written by Jordan Scott

Illustrated by Sydney Smith

Neal Porter Books / Holiday House

 

Our Little Kitchen

Written and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki

Groundwood Books 

Reviewed here

 

Swift Fox All Along

Written by Rebecca Thomas

Illustrated by Maya McKibbin

Annick Press

 

The Barnabus Project

Written and illustrated by The Fan Brothers 

Tundra Books

 

Weekend Dad

Written by Nassem Hrab

Illustrated by Frank Viva

Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

 

The winners will be announced on June 1, 2021.

Congratulations to all finalists!

The 2020 CCBC Book Awards: French-language Winners announced

Two weeks ago, the Canadian Children's Book Centre announced the winners of its six English-language book awards. Yesterday, the final two awards, specifically for French-language children's books, were announced as a part of Salon du Livre de Montreal. From the nominees posted here, the following awards were presented:

• Le Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse ($50,000) Sponsored by TD Bank Group; and
  
• Le Prix Harry Black de l’album jeunesse ($5,000) Sponsored by Mary Macchiusi

Congratulations to all nominees and most especially to the winners:

Le Prix TD de littérature pour l'enfance et la jeunesse canadienne: WINNER

Les étoiles
Written and illustrated by Jacques Goldstyn
Éditions de la Pastèque

 

Prix Harry Black de l'album jeunesse: WINNER

Des couleurs sur la Grave
Written by Marie-Andrée Arsenault
Illustrated by Dominique Leroux
Éditions la Morue verte

The winners of the English-language awards were announced on October 30th and the winners posted here.

 

The 2020 CCBC Book Awards: Winners announced (English-language awards)

Tonight, the Canadian Children's Book Centre, in partnership with the Toronto International Festival of Authors, broadcast its awards ceremony live from the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. From impressive shortlists–see the website announcement here with pdf–the following books have been selected by juries as this year's winners.

Congratulations to all nominees and most especially tonight's winners!

Here are the six English-language awards given out tonight with details of the prize money and sponsors. (Winners of the two French-language awards will be announced on November 13.)

• TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award ($50,000) Sponsored by TD Bank Group;
• Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award ($20,000) Sponsored by A. Charles Baillie;
• Norma Fleck Award For Canadian Children's Non-Fiction ($10,000) Sponsored by the Fleck Family Foundation;
• Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People ($5,000) Sponsored by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Bilson Endowment Fund;
• John Spray Mystery Award ($5,000) Sponsored by John Spray of Mantis Investigation Agency;
• Amy Mathers Teen Book Award ($5,000) Sponsored by Amy Mathers' Marathon of Books.

TD Canadian Children's Literature Award: WINNER

Birdsong

Written and illustrated by Julie Flett 

Greystone Kids

Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award: WINNER 

Small in the City

Written by Sydney Smith 

Groundwood Books

Reviewed here

Norma Fleck Award For Canadian Children's Non-Fiction: WINNER

Killer Style: How Fashion Has Injured, Maimed, & Murdered Through History

Written by Serah-Marie McMahon and Alison Matthews David 

Illustrated by Gillian Wilson 

Owlkids Books

Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People: WINNER 

Orange for the Sunsets

Written by Tina Athaide 

Katherine Tegen Books

John Spray Mystery Award: WINNER

The Starlight Claim
Written by Tim Wynne-Jones
Candlewick
Reviewed here

Amy Mathers Teen Book Award: WINNER

In the Key of Nira Ghani

Written by Natasha Deen 

Running Press Teens

Congratulations to all winners and nominees!

2020 Forest of Reading® Winners and Honour Books announced

Everything has been a little different this year. Readers would normally be reading and voting in their schools for the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading's readers' choice award programs but this pandemic has certainly changed the way things are normally done. Rather than announcing the awards at the annual Festival of Trees, this year's award ceremonies were held online, hosted by CBC Books on Curio.ca, an educational streaming platform (normally subscription based). Fortunately, these ceremonies were posted for all to see. It was a wonderful way to experience the authors and illustrators up close and hear their words and witness the awarding of the readers' choice favourites.

Here are this year's winners for each reading program as announced at the Forest of Reading Festival Award Ceremonies streamed on Curio CBC. The ceremonies for the English-language books were held on June 16, 2020 and can be viewed at https://curio.ca/en/collection/forest-of-reading-2020-2822/ while the ceremonies for the French-language awards were held on June 18, 2020 and shown at https://curio.ca/fr/collection/la-foret-de-la-lecture-2020-2823/.

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Winner

That’s Not Hockey
Written by Andrée Poulin
Illustrated by Félix Girard
Annick Press

Honour Books:

The Reptile Club
Written by Maureen Fergus
Illustrated by Elina Ellis
Kids Can Press

Sloth at the Zoom
Written by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Orbie
Kids Can Press

Winner

Megabat
Written by Anna Humphrey
Illustrated by Kass Reich
Tundra Books

Honour Books:

Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13
Written by Helaine Becker
Illustrated by Dow Phumiruk
Henry Holt & Company

The Mushroom Fan Club
Written and illustrated by Elise Gravel
Drawn & Quarterly

Winner

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane
Written by Julia Nobel
Sourcebooks

Honour Books:

Inkling
Written by Kenneth Oppel
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
HarperCollins Canada

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
Written by Jonathan Auxier
Puffin Canada

Winner

Too Young to Escape: A Vietnamese Girl Waits to be Reunited with Her Family

Written by Van Ho and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Pajama Press

Honour Books:

The Superpower Field Guide to Beavers
Written by Rachel Poliquin
Illustrated by Nicholas John Frith
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Killer Style: How Fashion Has Injured, Maimed, and Murdered Through History
Written by Allison Matthews-David and Serah-Marie McMahon
Illustrated by Gillian Wilson
Owlkids Books

Winner

No Fixed Address

Written by Susin Nielsen

Tundra Books

Honour Books:

In the Key of Nira Ghani
Written by Natasha Deen
Running Kids Press

The Unteachables
Written by Gordon Korman
Scholastic Canada

Winner

Sadie

Written by Courtney Summers

Wednesday Books

Honour Books:

All Our Broken Pieces
Written by L. D. Crichton
Disney-Hyperion

Crown of Feathers
Written by Nicki Pau Preto
Simon & Schuster

Winner/Lauréat

La corde à linge
Written and illustrated by Orbie
Less 400 coups  

Honour Books/Livres distingués:

Tellement sauvage!
Written by Mireille Messier
Illustrated by France Cormier
Éditions D’eux

Ils ne veulent pas jouer avec moi!!!
Written by Andrée Poulin
Illustrated by Lucile Danis Drouot
Dominique et compagnie

Winner/Lauréat

Aventurosaure 01: Le réveil de Rex
Written and illustrated by Julien Paré-Sorel
Presses Aventure 

Honour Books/Livres distingués:

L’étrange fille au chat
Written by Rémy Simard
Illustrated by Julie Rocheleau
La courte échelle

Collé
Written and illustrated by Jean Lacombe
Soulières éditeur 

Winner/Lauréat

Vingt-cinq moins un
Written by Geneviève Piché   
Éditions Québec Amérique 

Honour Books/Livres distingués:

Jules et Jim, frères d’armes
Written and illustrated by Jacques Goldstyn
Bayard Canada Livres

Les timbrés 01: Le navet spatial
Written and illustrated by Dom Pelletier
Éditions Scholastic
 

The full press release is available at the Ontario Library Association's Forest of Reading® website.

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Congratulations to everyone!