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