St. John’s, NL (May 17, 2012) — The winners of the 2012 Atlantic Book Awards were announced Thursday night in a ceremony held at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the first time the annual event took place outside of Nova Scotia. Amy House hosted the sold-out event, which also featured a performance by Andy Jones and few words from City of St. John’s Poet Laureate Tom Dawe.

This is also the first time that two of the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards — Ches Crosbie Barristers Fiction Award and The Bruneau Family Children’s/Young Adult Literature Award — were presented as part of the Atlantic Book Awards.

The nine award-winning books represent the wide range of literary works being produced in Atlantic Canada and by Atlantic Canadian authors and publishers. The winners are:

Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature
The Year Mrs. Montague Cried, by New Brunswick author Susan White, published by PEI’s Acorn Press

APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award
Eco-Innovators: Sustainability in Atlantic Canada by Chris Benjamin, published by Halifax’s Nimbus Publishing

Ches Crosbie Barristers Fiction Award
Moonlight Sketches by Gerard Collins (Creative Book Publishing)

Dartmouth Book Award for Non-fiction in Memory of Robbie Robertson, presented by the Kiwanis Club of Dartmouth
The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History by Nova Scotian naturalist Harry Thurston, published by Greystone Books in association with the David Suzuki Foundation

Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing
Necessaries and Sufficiencies: Planter Society in Londonderry, Onslow and Truro Townships, 1761-1780 by Carol Campbell and James F. Smith, published by Cape Breton University Press

Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction), presented by Boyne Clarke
Great Village by Mary Rose Donnelly (Cormorant Books)

Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration
Sydney Smith for There Were Monkeys in My Kitchen by Sheree Fitch (Nimbus Publishing)

Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
The Town That Drowned by New Brunswick’s Riel Nason, published by Goose Lane Editions

The Bruneau Family Children’s/Young Adult Literature Award
Jack and the Manger by Andy Jones, illustrated by Darka Erdelji (Running the Goat Books & Broadsides)

***

About the Awards:
Ann Connor Brimer Award for Children’s Literature
The impetus for this $2,000 award came from the late Ann Connor Brimer who was a strong advocate of Canadian children’s literature and saw the need to recognize and encourage children’s writers in Atlantic Canada.
Shortlisted: Betsy Wickwire’s Dirty Secret by Vicki Grant (HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.) and Chasing Freedom by Gloria Ann Wesley (Roseway Publishing)

APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award
The Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association’s award for Best Atlantic Published Book recognizes publishing companies and their hardworking professionals who bring out new books each season. Each year, a publisher whose book possesses the best balance of content, presentation, quality of design and production, as well as contributing the most to an understanding of Atlantic Canada, receives the award. The first prize of $5,000 (sponsored by Friesens) is shared between the winning publishing firm ($4,000) and the book’s author ($1,000).
Shortlisted: Salmon Country by Doug Underhill, photographs by André Gallant (Goose Lane Editions) and That Forgetful Shore by Trudy J. Morgan-Cole (Breakwater Books)

Dartmouth Book Award for Non-fiction in Memory of Robbie Robertson, presented by the Kiwanis Club of Dartmouth
The Dartmouth Book Awards were established in 1989 by then mayor of Dartmouth, Dr. John Savage. The annual awards for fiction and non-fiction, valued at $1,500 each, honour the best books published the previous year in celebration of Nova Scotia and its people.
Shortlisted: Necessaries and Sufficiencies: Planter Society in Londonderry, Onslow and Truro Townships, 1761-1780 by Carol Campbell and James F. Smith, (Cape Breton University Press) and Heroes of the Acadian Resistance by Dianne Marshall (Formac Publishing)

Democracy 250 Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing
The Atlantic Book Awards Society created the Atlantic Book Award for Historical Writing and received an endowment from the Democracy 250 committee to fund the $2,000 annual prize for an outstanding work of non-fiction that promotes awareness of, and appreciation for, an aspect of the history of the Atlantic Provinces.
Shortlisted: The Lookout: A History of Signal Hill by James E. Candow (Creative Book Publishing) and Imaginary Line: Life on an unfinished border by Jacques Poitras (Goose Lane Editions)

Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction), presented by Boyne Clarke
The Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award for fiction is sponsored by Boyne Clarke Barristers and Solicitors. Jim Connors was a volunteer juror of the fiction entries from the outset of the annual competitions.
Shortlisted: Diligent River Daughter by Bruce Graham (Pottersfield Press) and a possible madness by Frank MacDonald (Cape Breton University Press)

Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration
Lillian Shepherd was a long-time buyer for The Book Room in Halifax. This award was established by her many friends to applaud the book that combines Lillian’s love for illustrated children’s books and her affinity for locally produced work.
Shortlisted: Thank You for My Bed by Doretta Groenendyk (Acorn Press) and A Day with You in Paradise by Lennie Gallant, illustrated by Patsy MacKinnon (Nimbus Publishing)

Margaret and John Savage First Book Award
The Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, presented for the first time in 2003 with a value of $1,500, recognizes the best first book of fiction or non-fiction published in the previous year by an Atlantic writer.
Shortlisted: The Lightning Field by Heather Jessup (Gaspereau Press) and A Description of the Blazing World by Michael Murphy (Freehand Books)

Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards
The Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards are co-presented by the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Literary Arts Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, under the distinguished patronage of The Honourable John C. Crosbie, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. This is the sixteenth consecutive year for the biennial awards, which cover a two-calendar-year publishing period. The pairings are Children’s/Young Adult Literature and Fiction in one year and Poetry and Non-fiction the next year. The winning author receives $1,500 and each runner-up receives $500.
Shortlisted (Ches Crosbie Barristers Fiction Award): New Under the Sun by Kevin Major  (Cormorant Books) and double talk by Patrick Warner (Breakwater Books)
Shortlisted (The Bruneau Family Children’s/Young Adult Literature Award): edge of time by Susan M. MacDonald (Breakwater Books), Dragon Seer’s Gift by Janet McNaughton (Harper Collins)

About the Atlantic Book Awards Society
The Atlantic Book Awards Society (ABAS) is a registered non-profit organization with the mandate “to promote and acknowledge excellence in Atlantic Canadian writing and book publishing through an annual awards ceremony and related events.” The board of the ABAS is committed to being a truly regional organization with representation from all four Atlantic provinces.

The ABAS recognizes the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Council, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Province of Nova Scotia through the Department of Communities, Culture & Heritage, the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association, Atlantic Books Today, Advocate Printing, Telegraph-Journal, The Chronicle Herald, The Telegram, and The Guardian.

Social Media Links:
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atlanticbookawards/ (including author photos, bios, and book covers)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/70023079714/
Twitter: @AtlBookAwards #atlanticbookawards
Storify: http://storify.com/AliasGrace/2012-atlantic-book-awards

-30-

For more information or media inquiries, please contact Kimberly Walsh (Atlantic Book Awards Festival Publicist) at (902) 452-9841 or kimberlywalsh@gmail.com

{ Comments on this entry are closed }