Awards
Here you’ll find notable Canadian book awards celebrating:
Canadian writing, literary talent, the joy of reading, and the support of local Canadian content.
Click on the logo for each award to be directed to the award’s website.
Five books, five champions, one winner: CBC’s annual Battle of the Books has been getting people listening, watching and, of course, reading, for the past 18 years.
Canada Reads is a “literary Survivor,” with celebrities championing books. Each day, panellists vote to eliminate one book, until a single title is chosen as the title the whole country should read this year.
The 2023 Canada Reads nominees are:
The Scotiabank Giller Prize award recognizes excellence in Canadian fiction – long format or short stories – with a cash prize, annually.
The Canada Council for the Arts is responsible for administering and promoting the Governor General’s Literary Awards (GGBooks), which recognize Canada’s best English-language and French-language books in seven categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Young People’s Literature – Text, Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books, and Translation.
The awards promote Canadian literature and encourage Canadians to read. They provide finalists and winners with valuable recognition from peers and readers across the country.
The GGBooks 2022 Adult nominees are:
The GGBooks 2022 Children’s nominees are:
First Nation Communities READ (FNCR) celebrates the very best of Indigenous literature across Turtle Island. The program encourages family literacy, intergenerational storytelling as well as intergenerational knowledge transmission. FNCR also helps to increase awareness of the importance of First Nation, Metis and Inuit writing, illustration and publishing.
The FNCR 2023 Children’s nominees are:
Run by the Ontario Library Association, the Forest of Reading champions a love of reading for individuals of all ages. Goals for this program include: developing recognition for Canadian authors and books, contributing to the financial stability of the Canadian publishing industry, and providing meaningful materials to improve literacy across Canada.
To borrow Forest of Reading books, select your category below and then click on the book covers to visit the library’s catalogue.
Blue Spruce
JK – Gr. 2
Silver Birch Express
Gr. 3 – 4
Silver Birch Fiction
Gr. 3 – 6
Yellow Cedar
Gr. 4 – 8
Red Maple
Gr. 7 – 8
White Pine
Gr. 9 – 12
Evergreen
Adults
Le prix Peuplier
varies
Le prix Mélèze
varies
Le prix Tamarac
varies
The Blue Spruce program introduces children ages 4 to 7 (kindergarten to grade 2) to recently published Canadian picture books.
The Blue Spruce 2023 nominees are:
The Silver Birch Express Award is comprised of fiction and nonfiction titles and is geared to readers ages 8-10 (grades 3-4).
The Silver Birch Express 2023 nominees are:
The Silver Birch Fiction Award
The Silver Birch Fiction list provides fiction books for readers aged 8 to 12 (grades 3-6).
The Silver Birch Fiction 2023 nominees are:
For the 2020 program year, the Forest of Reading consolidated our two school-aged nonfiction programs, the Silver Birch Nonfiction Award and the Red Maple Nonfiction Award, into one award program – the Yellow Cedar Award. This award provides nonfiction books for readers aged 9-14 (grades 4-8).
The Yellow Cedar 2023 nominees are:
The Red Maple program is for grade 7 & 8 students aged 12 to 13.
The Red Maple 2023 nominees are:
The White Pine program offers high school-aged students, of all grade levels, the chance to engage with Canadian books and authors of fiction.
The White Pine 2022 nominees are:
A group of experienced librarians come together each year to share their favourite Canadian books with adult readers. The Evergreen program is designed for adults of any age and includes both fiction and nonfiction titles.
The Evergreen 2023 nominees are:
Le prix Peuplier is a reading program that invites young people to participate in read-alouds of French books written by Canadian authors.
The Le prix Peuplier 2023 nominees are:
The Le prix Mélèze 2023 nominees are:
Le prix Tamarac is a program that invites young people to read by allowing them to vote for their favourite books (fiction and nonfiction) from a selection of the best Canadian books written in French.
The Le prix Tamarac 2023 nominees are: