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
Sponsored in memory of Janet Savage BlachfordWinner
Room for One More
(Kar-Ben Publishing)
shortlisted
The Year Shakespeare Ruined My Life
(Second Story Press)
Journal of a Travelling Girl
(Wandering Fox (Heritage House))
Zee
(Bouton d’or Acadie)
Jury
Natasha Deen
Darren Groth
Curran Jacobs
2020
Sponsored in memory of Janet Savage BlachfordWinner
The Three Brothers
(Groundwood Books)
shortlisted
Pokko and the Drum
(Paula Wiseman Books – Simon & Schuster Canada)
Fern and Horn
(Groundwood Books)
Jury
Alan Cumyn
Shauntay Grant
Deanna Smith
2019
Sponsored in memory of Janet Savage BlachfordWinner
Yipee’s Gold Mountain
(Red Deer Press)
shortlisted
In Which
(Broken Rules Press)
I Am a Feminist: Claiming the F-Word in Turbulent Times
(Orca Book Publishers)
Jury
Gillian O'Reilly
Matthew Skelton
Sarah Tsiang
2018
Sponsored in memory of Janet Savage BlachfordWinner
Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament
(Kids Can Press)
shortlisted
The Big Bed
(Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
That`s Not Hockey
(Annick Press)
Jury
Matt McCarney (Greensfeild Park)
Nadia Hohn (Toronto)
Ellen Schwartz (Burnaby)
2017
Sponsored by Janet and John BlachfordWinner
Subject to Change
(Orca Book Publisher)
shortlisted
Chico
(Paper Dog Press)
Lightning Lou
(DCB)
Jury
Catherine Austen
Lisa Doucet
Raziel Reid
2016
Sponsored by Janet and John BlachfordWinner
Oscar Lives Next Door
(Owlkids Books)
shortlisted
This is Sadie
(Tundra Books)
Bug in a Vacuum
(Tundra Books)
Jury
Gary Barwin
Rhonda Batchelor
Heather Phipps
2014
Sponsored by Janet and John BlachfordWinner
Hate Mail
(Orca Book Publishers)
shortlisted
Any Questions?
(Groundwood Books)
Straight Punch
(Orca Book Publishers)
Jury
Penny Fransblow
Robert Priest
Farida Zaman
2013
Winner
Undercurrent
(Doubleday Canada)
shortlisted
Desperate Freedom
(Brian Wrixon Books)
The Extraordinary Life of Anna Swan
(Cape Breton University Press)
Jury
JonArno Lawson
Horace I. Goddard
Alice Kuipers
Maya Munro Byers
2012
Winner
26 Tips for Surviving Grade 6
(James Lorimer & Co. Ltd.)
shortlisted
Pyro
(Orca Book Publishers)
Yellow Mini
(Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
Jury
Nick Thran
Lori Joy Smith
Sigmund Brouwer
2011
Sponsored by Babar BooksWinner
Milo
(Simon & Schuster)
shortlisted
Without You
(Kids Can Press)
The Circle Cast: The Lost Years of Morgan LeFay
(Tradewind Books)
Jury
Shannon Babcock
Sarah Ellis
Anne Fine
