Awards / The QWF Literary Awards

The Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature

This prize is awarded in even-numbered years to a picture book with text or a book for beginner readers, and in odd-numbered years to a longer chapter book or a book for middle grade or young adult readers.

2021 submissions closed

Sponsored in memory of Janet Savage Blachford

Click on the links below to visit the page for each prize, where you can see all the past winners and finalists as well as the 2021 lists of submissions. The shortlist will be announced in mid-October.

See all winners

Winners archive

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2020

Sponsored in memory of Janet Savage Blachford

Winner
The Three Brothers (Groundwood Books) by  Marie-Louise Gay

shortlisted

Pokko and the Drum (Paula Wiseman Books – Simon & Schuster Canada) by  Matthew Forsythe
Fern and Horn (Groundwood Books) by  Marie-Louise Gay

Jury

Alan Cumyn
Shauntay Grant
Deanna Smith

2019

Sponsored in memory of Janet Savage Blachford

Winner
Yipee’s Gold Mountain (Red Deer Press) by  Raquel Rivera

shortlisted

In Which (Broken Rules Press) by  Louise Carson
I Am a Feminist: Claiming the F-Word in Turbulent Times (Orca Book Publishers) by  Monique Polak

Jury

Gillian O'Reilly
Matthew Skelton
Sarah Tsiang

2018

Sponsored in memory of Janet Savage Blachford

Winner
Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament (Kids Can Press) by  Anne Renaud, ill. By Felicita Sala

shortlisted

The Big Bed (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux) Bunmi Laditan, ill. by Tom Knight
That`s Not Hockey (Annick Press) by  Andrée Poulin, ill. By Félix Girard

Jury

Matt McCarney (Greensfeild Park)
Nadia Hohn (Toronto)
Ellen Schwartz (Burnaby)

2017

Sponsored by Janet and John Blachford

Winner
Subject to Change (Orca Book Publisher) by  Karen Nesbitt

shortlisted

Chico (Paper Dog Press) by  Kate Lavut
Lightning Lou (DCB) by  Lori Weber

Jury

Catherine Austen
Lisa Doucet
Raziel Reid

2016

Sponsored by Janet and John Blachford

Winner
Oscar Lives Next Door (Owlkids Books) by  Bonnie Farmer (Marie Lafrance, illustrator)

shortlisted

This is Sadie (Tundra Books) by  Sara O'Leary (Julie Morstad, illustrator)
Bug in a Vacuum (Tundra Books) by  Mélanie Watt

Jury

Gary Barwin
Rhonda Batchelor
Heather Phipps

2014

Sponsored by Janet and John Blachford

Winner
Hate Mail (Orca Book Publishers) by  Monique Polak

shortlisted

Any Questions? (Groundwood Books) by  Marie-Louise Gay
Straight Punch (Orca Book Publishers) by  Monique Polak

Jury

Penny Fransblow
Robert Priest
Farida Zaman

2013

Winner
Undercurrent (Doubleday Canada) by  Paul Blackwell

shortlisted

Desperate Freedom (Brian Wrixon Books) by  Melinda Cochrane
The Extraordinary Life of Anna Swan (Cape Breton University Press) by  Anne Renaud

Jury

JonArno Lawson
Horace I. Goddard
Alice Kuipers
Maya Munro Byers

2012

Winner
26 Tips for Surviving Grade 6 (James Lorimer & Co. Ltd.) by  Catherine Austen

shortlisted

Pyro (Orca Book Publishers) by  Monique Polak
Yellow Mini (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) by  Lori Weber

Jury

Nick Thran
Lori Joy Smith
Sigmund Brouwer

2011

Sponsored by Babar Books

Winner
Milo (Simon & Schuster) by  Alan Silberberg

shortlisted

Without You (Kids Can Press) by  Geneviève Coté
The Circle Cast: The Lost Years of Morgan LeFay (Tradewind Books) by  Alex Epstein

Jury

Shannon Babcock
Sarah Ellis
Anne Fine

2010

Sponsored by Babar Books

Winner
Rough Magic (Second Story Press) by  Caryl Cude Mullin

shortlisted

Walking Backward (Orca Book Publishers) by  Catherine Austen
The Middle of Everywhere (Orca Book Publishers) by  Monique Polak

Jury

Danny McAuley
Wendy Wayling
Tim Wynne-Jones

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