2024 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards

WritersNL Announces Finalists for the 2024 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards

(September 24, 2024) – WritersNL is pleased to announce the finalists for the prestigious Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards (NLBAs). This year, the Awards honour excellence in the categories of Fiction and Children’s/Young Adult.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards are held annually by WritersNL to recognize excellence in writing by authors residing in Newfoundland and Labrador!

This year, we are proud to honour two categories – Children’s/Young Adult Literature Award and Fiction Award, sponsored by Killick Capital.

Authors are listed alphabetically by last name below.
Please join us in congratulating the shortlisted authors!

2024 NL Book Award 
Finalists for the Children’s/Young Adult Literature Award

LORI DOODY for The Island (Running the Goat)
CARA KANSALA for The Ewe Who Knew Who Knit You (Breakwater Books)
KATE SPARKES for Scars and Seams (self-published)

Jury Members: Emily Blackmore, Charis Cotter and Andrea Currie

What the jury members said about the shortlisted books:

Fiction Finalists:

BRIDGET CANNING, No One Knows About Us
“Canning’s writing is hauntingly evocative, making her equally adept at depicting lives as disparate as those in metropolitan Toronto and rural Newfoundland. Yet, even more compelling than the words she chooses are those she omits, often taking readers to the very edge of a precipice and forcing them to make the leap on their own. No One Knows About Us is guaranteed to illuminate and intrigue, remaining with readers long after they turn its final page.”

TERRY DOYLE, The Wards
“Written with the affecting combination of minimalistic efficiency, deep-cutting empathy, and unabashed humanity that has become Terry Doyle’s trademark, The Wards is at the same time a work of deep Newfoundlandia and utterly universal in its themes.
Doyle’s cast of working class “Townies”, their ways, and their words will be immediately familiar to anyone au fait with life in Newfoundland and Labrador – particularly St. John’s.
Real, evocative, salt of the earth, The Wards is an instant entrant onto any respectable Newfoundland and Labrador literary must-read list.”

SHELLY KAWAJA, The Raw Light of Morning
“The Raw Light of Morning is an antidote to the myth of the bucolic rural Newfoundland childhood. Kawaja has written fiction that exposes the claustrophobia that comes from living in a small town, and a small province, where the actions of the past are always present.
Kawaja has the gift of describing people and places that feel real. Each character earns their place in this novel, and the writing creates a world we can see, smell, and hear. The fine details in this book place the reader at the kitchen tables and kitchen parties Kawaja writes about.
In the cracks of the lives of these characters, light comes in. There is joy in the midst of domestic chaos, and there is always hope. At its core, this book is about love and friendship.”

Children’s/Young Adult Finalists:

LORI DOODY, The Island
“The Island, by author and illustrator Lori Doody, is a quiet, thoughtful book about resettlement in Newfoundland and Labrador communities. The spare text and detailed illustrations combine to form a haunting poem of loss and remembrance. The illustrations are somehow both simple and deep, inviting the reader to look closer. The story gives rise to questions as it introduces children to the concept of resettlement, which many cultures and displaced groups who live here share. The book celebrates community and encourages empathy. This is an emotional book that will have different layers of meaning for people of different ages, and it is one that readers will want to go back to, with each reading revealing more. ”

CARA KANSALA, The Ewe Who Knew Who Knit You
“The Ewe Who Knew Who Knit You, by author and illustrator Cara Kansala, has a playfulness and joy of expression evident in the language. The illustrations are a delight, inviting readers to come along on Lämmin’s quest to find where she belongs, or “who knit her.” The underlying themes of peer pressure, conformity, celebrating and accepting differences, and non-traditional families are present but not preachy. The extraordinary visual appeal, skilful writing, and heartfelt story combine to make this a classic that children (and adults!) will want to read again and again. ”

KATE SPARKES, Scars and Seams
“Scars and Seams by Kate Sparkes is the second in a trilogy that uses popular fairy tales as the jumping-off point for a wild ride through an imaginative world where good and evil are never quite as clear-cut as in the old stories. The author excels at her craft, with an intricate plot that builds intention and suspense, keeping the reader completely engaged. Her skills at world-building are formidable and detailed, creating a believable world where magic has a long and complicated history. Her two main characters are layered and compelling as they seek to find where they belong in their challenging world. Their struggle resonates with readers of all ages, as they each develop a sense of integrity that grows with experience. Although the text is richly descriptive, the author has an economy with words that makes the book easy to read as the story races along to a stunning conclusion. The inclusion of LGBTQ characters in a way that feels natural to the story was appreciated. This is a high concept novel that lives up to the execution.” 

(June 6, 2024) – WritersNL is pleased to announce the call for submissions for the 2024 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards (NLBAs).

This year’s Award categories are:

Children’s/Young Adult Literature
&
Fiction (Sponsored by Killick Capital)

The NLBAs celebrate and honour excellence in writing by authors in Canada’s easternmost province and are made possible by the generous support of sponsors.

The author(s) of the winning book in each category (Children/YA Literature and Fiction) will receive $1,500.

Two runners-up per category will be selected. Each runner-up will receive $500.

Submission Deadline: Received by July 19, 2024.

Residency Requirement:

The awards are open only to residents of Newfoundland and Labrador.
For the purposes of these awards, a resident is defined as a person who has lived in Newfoundland and Labrador for the 12 months immediately prior to the date of publication
OR
who has lived in Newfoundland and Labrador in any combination of 36 of the last 60 months.

The residency period for the 2024 awards is the five calendar years of 2018-2023.

Eligibility:

– Books published between January 1st, 2022, and December 31st, 2023.

– Submissions must be written either by a single author or by two authors who have contributed equally to a single-narrative project (ie. not an anthology). In the even that a co-authored book is selected for a prize, the money awarded will be divided equally between both authors.

– Either the author(s) or the publisher may enter a title.

– Books must be in English.

– Books that have been translated are eligible. However, in the case of a translated book, the award is to go exclusively to the author(s).

– Self-published books are eligible provided they are professionally produced (i.e. printed and bound by a commercial printer).

– Collected or selected works by a single author are eligible provided at least 50% of the text is previously unpublished material.

– Books that contain other media in addition to writing (e.g. photos, illustrations, CDs, graphics) are eligible; however, the work will only be judged on the written portion, and any award will only go to the written portion and author(s) thereof.

– Books containing material not written by the author (e.g. letters, diaries, memoirs, blogs, oral histories, selected writings) are eligible provided at least 50% of the text is written by the author(s) (e.g. introduction, exposition, commentary, reporting, narrative, footnotes, epilogue).

– The following are not eligible for the NL Book Awards: anthologies with more than one author: audiobooks; unpublished manuscripts; textbooks; self-help or how-to books; manuals or guidebooks on any subject (e.g. travel, nature, cooking); dictionaries; encyclopedias.

– Revised editions will be considered when the following conditions are met:
a) The book has not been previously submitted to the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards; and
b) In the opinion of the Literary Awards Committee, the book contains new material to the extent that it is not merely a re-issue of a previous publication.

– Current members of WritersNL’s Literary Awards Committee are not eligible for the NL Book Awards.

– Final decisions on the eligibility of submitted entries remain with WritersNL’s Literary Awards Committee.

– WritersNL reserves the right not to present the award should there not be enough entries for competitive adjudication.

Assessment Process:

– Assessment of all eligible submissions to the NL Book Awards will be adjudicated by independent juries recruited and facilitated by the WritersNL.

– A jury with appropriate literary expertise will be convened for each award.

– The independent jury for each award will submit a longlist of six books, a shortlist of three books, and a winning book from that shortlist.

– The paramount consideration is excellence in writing. Jurors should reflect on creativity, wordsmithing, and originality.

– A juror must disclose any conflict of interest. WritersNL defines conflict of interest in terms of whether a juror stands to gain any financial benefit through association with a submitted title, or if the juror stands to gain from any moral or intellectual rights, or if the juror has a significant personal relationship with the author(s) of a submitted title. If there is a conflict of interest, the juror will be asked to step aside.

– The decisions made by the NL Book Award juries are final.

Submission Procedures:

– Include four (4) non-returnable, professionally printed and bound copies of each book.

– Include a signed letter stating the category entered and confirming that all submission requirements have been met. Please also note your total word count, and page count.

– Include the non-refundable entry fee that applies to you:
• Free submission for WritersNL members paying full membership fee
• $15 submission fee per title for WritersNL members paying $25 membership fee
• $40 submission fee per title for non-WritersNL members

Submit your books to:
Newfoundland & Labrador Book Awards
c/o WritersNL
223 Duckworth Street, Suite 202
St. John’s, NL A1C 6N1

Drop off hours:

Applicants can drop off their submissions to the WritersNL office at 223 Duckworth Street, St John’s, in person every Tuesday from June 11 to July 16, during the hours of 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Please note that the WritersNL office is not accessible. Curb-side pick-up is available by calling 709-739-5215. Please pull up outside of the building, call the number listed above, and a WritersNL representative can pick up your submissions.

PLEASE NOTE:
• Ineligible and/or incomplete submissions will not be returned, and entry fees will not be refunded.
• All books and materials submitted become the property of the WritersNL and will be used for jury members, sponsors, and promotional activities.
• Late submissions will not be accepted.

Submission Deadline: Received by July 19, 2024.

For any questions or media inquiries, please contact Executive Director Jen Winsor at director@writersnl.ca or 709-739-5215

Click here for information on our 2023 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards in the categories of Non-Fiction and Poetry.