STRONG FINISH

Book Awards

It’s truly satisfying to see the projects I’ve contributed to earn recognition, whether local, national, or international. So far, my clients have earned 136 celebrations of excellence (see the following book awards list for specific details).

It’s equally gratifying to see my clients achieve other significant milestones: the book’s launch; the client’s readings and events; books placed into the hands of friends and family and readers at large; the book’s sales debut online and in bookstores; social media buzz, reviews, and book club interest; spotting a client’s book being read “in the wild” at the park, on the bus, in the coffee shop. These are all book awards in their own way, not to mention earning a place on best-seller lists. I’m grateful to be trusted to work so closely with authors to reach their book publishing goals, whatever they may be.

  • 2001 White Pine Award: Leslie’s Journal by Allan Stratton
  • 2008 Independent Publisher Book Award: The Apprentice’s Masterpiece: A Story of Medieval Spain by Melanie Little
  • 2008 Independent Publisher Book Award: The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor
  • 2008 Nautilus Silver Award: The Apprentice’s Masterpiece: A Story of Medieval Spain by Melanie Little
  • 2008 Young Adult Honour Award, Canadian Library Association: The Apprentice’s Masterpiece: A Story of Medieval Spain by Melanie Little
  • 2009 Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction: Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road by Priscilla Galloway (with Dawn Hunter)
  • 2009 Red Maple Award, Ontario Library Association: Royal Murder: The Deadly Intrigue of Ten Sovereigns by Elizabeth MacLeod
  • 2010 Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award: Cry of the Giraffe by Judie Oron
  • 2011 World Storytelling Honor Award: Born to Write: The Remarkable Lives of Six Famous Authors by Charis Cotter
  • 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards (gold medal): Desserts from My Kitchen by Lesley Stowe
  • 2011 Independent Publisher Book Award: Falling from Grace by Ann Erikkson
  • 2012 Independent Publisher Book Award: Cadillac Couches by Sophie B. Watson
  • 2012 Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize: Freddy’s War by Judy Schultz
  • 2015 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize: The Pull of the Moon by Julie Paul
  • 2015 Independent Publisher Book Award: The Pull of the Moon by Julie Paul
  • 2015 Saskatchewan Book Awards University of Regina Book of the Year Award: Flying Time by Suzanne North
  • 2015 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize: The World Before Us by Aislinn Hunter
  • 2008 Amazon.ca First Novel Award: Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas
  • 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book (Canada and the Caribbean): Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas
  • 2008 On the Same Page, Manitoba Reads: Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas
  • 2009 H.R. (Bill) Percy Novel Prize: The Rest Is Silence by Scott Fotheringham
  • 2011 Commonwealth Book Prize, Canada and the Caribbean: The Town That Drowned by Riel Nason
  • 2011 Frye Academy Award: The Town That Drowned by Riel Nason
  • 2011 Margaret and John Savage First Book Award: The Town That Drowned by Riel Nason
  • 2014 Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction: Mr. Jones by Margaret Sweatman
  • 2018 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize: The Hunter and the Wild Girl by Pauline Holdstock
  • 2009 The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize: Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent by Andrew Nikiforuk
  • 2009 Rachel Carson Environment Book Award: Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent by Andrew Nikiforuk
  • 2007 CLA Children’s Book of the Year Award: Johnny Kellock Died Today by Hadley Dyer
  • 2008 OLA Evergreen Award: Coventry by Helen Humphreys
  • 2006 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction: De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage
  • 2006 ReLit Award: Alligator by Lisa Moore
  • 2006 McAuslan First Book Prize: De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage
  • 2007 Hammet Prize: The Outlander by Gil Adamson
  • 2007 ReLit Award: Gargoyles by Bill Gaston
  • 2008 Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award: The Outlander by Gil Adamson
  • 2008 Danuta Gleed Literary Award: The Withdrawal Method by Pasha Malla
  • 2008 Dashiell Hammett Prize: The Outlander by Gil Adamson
  • 2008 Drummer General’s Award: The Outlander by Gil Adamson
  • 2008 Grand Prix du Livre de Montreal: Cockroach by Rawi Hage
  • 2008 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction: Cockroach by Rawi Hage
  • 2008 International Dublin Literary Award: De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage
  • 2008 ReLit Award: The Outlander by Gil Adamson
  • 2009 Trillium Book Award: The Withdrawal Method by Pasha Malla
  • 2006 BMO Winterset Award: An Audience of Chairs by Joan Clark 
  • 2006 Newfoundland and Labrador Bennington Gate Fiction Award: An Audience of Chairs by Joan Clark
  • 1995 Commonwealth Writers Prize: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
  • 1995 Pat Lowther Award: Everything Arrives at the Light by Lorna Crozier
  • 1995 Scotiabank Giller Prize: A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
  • 1995 Trillium Book Award: Morning in the Burned House by Margaret Atwood
  • 1996 Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award: Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
  • 1996 National Business Book Award: Who Killed Confederation Life? by Rod McQueen
  • 1996 Orange Prize: Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
  • 1996 Scotiabank Giller Prize: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
  • 1996 Trillium Book Award Winner: Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
  • 1997 Arthur Ellis Award: Trial of Passion by Bill Deverell
  • 1997 Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award: Opium Dreams by Margaret Gibson
  • 1997 Governor General’s Award: Land to Light On by Dionne Brand
  • 1997 Governor General’s Award: The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart
  • 1997 Hammett Prize: Trial of Passion by William Deverell
  • 1997 Trillium Book Award: Land to Light On by Dionne Brand
  • 1998 Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award: Childhood by André Alexis
  • 1998 Trillium Book Award: Childhood by André Alexis
  • 1999 Canadian Authors Association Award: No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
  • 1999 Governor General’s Award: Gabrielle Roy: A Life by François Ricard, translated by Patricia Claxton
  • 1999 Trillium Book Award: No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
  • 2000 Booker Prize: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
  • 2000 Thomas Head Raddall Award: No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
  • 2001 Hammett Prize: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
  • 2001 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award: No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
  • 2003 Pat Lowther Award: Thirsty by Dionne Brand
  • 2003 Canadian Authors Association Award: Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
  • 2004 Governor General’s Award: Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida by Roo Borson
  • 2004 Griffin Poetry Prize: Loop by Anne Simpson
  • 2005 Arthur Ellis Award: April Fool by William Deverell
  • 2005 Dafoe Book Prize: Loss of Faith: How the Air-India Bombers Got Away with Murder by Kim Bolan
  • 2005 Griffin Poetry Prize: Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida by Roo Borson
  • 2005 Pat Lowther Award: Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida by Roo Borson
  • 2005 Trillium Book Award: Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida by Roo Borson
  • 2006 ALA Alex Award: Midnight at the Dragon Café by Judy Fong Bates
  • 2006 PEN Canada/Paul Kidd Courage Prize: Loss of Faith: How the Air-India Bombers Got Away with Murder by Kim Bolan
  • 2007 B.C. Award for Canadian Non-Fiction: This Is My Country, What’s Yours? by Noah Richler
  • 2007 Griffin Poetry Prize: Strike/Slip by Don McKay
  • 2007 Pat Lowther Award: Quick by Anne Simpson
  • 2009 Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction: Falling by Anne Simpson
  • 2009 Writer’s Trust of Canada / Samara’s—Best Canadian Political Book of the Last 25 Years: Shakedown: How Our Government Is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights by Ezra Levant
  • 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize: Ossuaries by Dionne Brand
  • 2011 National Business Book Award: Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands by Ezra Levant
  • 2012 Governor General’s Award: The Purchase by Linda Spalding
  • 2013 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Non-Fiction: The Devil’s Cinema: The Untold Story Behind Mark Twitchell’s Kill Room by Steve Lillebuen
  • 2014 Orion Book Award: MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood
  • 2015 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Story: Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood
  • 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair’s Literaturpreis: Dogs at the Perimeter by Madeleine Thien
  • 2015 Governor General’s Award: Daddy Lenin and Other Stories by Guy Vanderhaeghe
  • 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize: Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent by Liz Howard
  • 2016 Kitschies Red Tentacle Award: The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
  • 2016 Northern Lit Award: We’re All in This Together by Amy Jones
  • 2016 Pat Lowther Award: The Wrong Cat by Lorna Crozier
  • 2016 Raymond Souster Award: The Wrong Cat by Lorna Crozier
  • 2016 Saskatchewan Book Award/First Book Award: Hacker Packer by Cassidy McFadzean
  • 2016 Saskatchewan Book Award/Regina Book Award: Hacker Packer by Cassidy McFadzean
  • 2016 The Puritan’s Thomas Morton Memorial Prize for Poetry: Settler Education: Poems by Laurie D. Graham
  • 2018 Margaret and John Savage First Book Award for Fiction: All Is Beauty Now by Sarah Faber
  • 2019 Booker Prize: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
  • 2019 Goodreads Choice Awards Best Fiction: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
  • 2019 Trillium Book Award: The Blue Clerk by Dionne Brand
  • 2020 British Book Awards Audiobook of the Year: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
  • 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards Book Club Winner for Best Poetry: Dearly: New Poems by Margaret Atwood
  • 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction: This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart by Madhur Anand
  • 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize: How to Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa
  • 2021 Trillium Book Award: How to Pronounce Knife: Stories by Souvankham Thammavongsa
  • 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award for Young People’s Literature – Text (English): The King of Jam Sandwiches by Eric Walters
  • 2022 Forest of Reading Red Maple Award: The King of Jam Sandwiches by Eric Walters
  • 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize: Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden (Viking)
  • 2010 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award for Fiction: The Disappeared by Kim Echlin (Hamish Hamilton)
  • 2010 Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year: The Gryphon Project by Carrie Mac (Puffin)
  • 2010 Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize: The Gryphon Project by Carrie Mac (Puffin)
  • 2018 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction: Run, Hide, Repeat: A Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood by Pauline Dakinc (Viking)
  • 2018 Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award for Nonfiction: A History of Canada in Ten Maps by Adam Shoalts (Allen Lane)
  • 2019 Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, Non-Fiction: Son of a Critch: A Childish Newfoundland Memoir by Mark Critch (Viking)
  • 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for New Writers: The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly
  • 2019 Quebec Writers’ Federation Literary Awards Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction: The Ghost Garden: Inside the Lives of Schizophrenia’s Feared and Forgotten by Susan Doherty
  • 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Silver Medal Winner: LGBT Non-Fiction Category: A Family by Any Other Name: Exploring Queer Relationships edited by Bruce Gillespie
  • 2007 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People: Kanada by Eva Wiseman
  • 2011 American Library Association Book of the Year Award (Silver Medal): Cyclist BikeList: The Book for Every Rider by Laura Robinson
  • 2013 Independent Publisher Book Award for Military/Wartime Fiction (gold): Brock’s Railroad by Tom Taylor (Hancock & Dean)
  • 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award for Best Regional Fiction—Canada East (bronze): Brock’s Traitor by Tom Taylor (Hancock & Dean)
  • 2016 Chaucer Grand Prize Ribbon for Historical Fiction Pre-1750s: The Towers of Tuscany by Carol M. Cram (Lake Union Publishing)
  • 2022 American Writing Award for Best Biography: Lost in Beirut: A True Story by Ashe and Magdalena Stevens (Anounymous Inc.)
  • 2022 Canadian Book Club Awards Winner for Best Memoir: Lost in Beirut: A True Story by Ashe and Magdalena Stevens (Anounymous Inc.)
  • 2022 Firebird Book Awards Winner: Lost in Beirut: A True Story by Ashe and Magdalena Stevens (Anounymous Inc.)
  • 2022 Grand Prize Winner Chanticleer International Book Awards Military & Front Line: Lost in Beirut: A True Story by Ashe and Magdalena Stevens (Anounymous Inc.)
  • 2022 Literary Titan Gold Award: Lost in Beirut: A True Story by Ashe and Magdalena Stevens (Anounymous Inc.)
  • 2022 Shelf Unbound Best Indie Book Notable Indie: Lost in Beirut: A True Story by Ashe and Magdalena Stevens (Anounymous Inc.)
  • 2023 BookFest Awards Winner Transformational Memoir: Lost in Beirut: A True Story by Ashe and Magdalena Stevens (Anounymous Inc.)
  • 2023 Indie Reader Discovery Book Award for Best Memoir: Lost in Beirut: A True Story by Ashe and Magdalena Stevens (Anounymous Inc.)
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