The Writers’ Guild of Alberta is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Alberta Literary Awards. More than 120 guests attended the 2018 Alberta Literary Awards Gala on June 2, part of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta’s 2018 provincial conference, Refining Our Narratives, held in Calgary.
This celebration marked the 36th anniversary of the Alberta Literary Awards and brought together writers from across Alberta.
The Alberta Literary Awards were created by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta in 1982 to recognize excellence in writing by Alberta authors. This year, jurors deliberated over 260 submissions to select 24 finalists in eight categories.
The Writers’ Guild of Alberta is the largest provincial writers’ organization in Canada, and was formed in 1980 to provide a meeting ground and collective voice for the writers of the province. Our mission is to inspire, connect, support, encourage, and promote writers and writing, to safeguard the freedom to write and to read, and to advocate for the well-being of writers.
For more information, please contact the Writers’ Guild of Alberta at 780-422-8174 or 1-800-665-5354.
2018 Alberta Literary Award Winners
R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature (Sponsored by the Under the Arch Youth Foundation at The Calgary Foundation)
- Sarah Everett (Edmonton) – Everyone We’ve Been, Knopf / Penguin Random House
Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction (Sponsored by the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity)
- Deborah Willis (Calgary) – The Dark and Other Love Stories, Hamish Hamilton Canada / Penguin Random House Canada
Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction
- Stephen Bown (Canmore) – Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on Bering’s Great Voyage to Alaska, Douglas & McIntyre
Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama (Sponsored by Alberta Views)
- Karen Hines (Calgary) – Crawlspace, Coach House Books
Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry (Sponsored by Stephan V. Benediktson)
- Benjamin Hertwig (Edmonton) – Slow War, McGill-Queen’s University Press
James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction
- Sadia Masud (Edmonton) – “Taken Over By the West,” Glass Buffalo
Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story (Supported by Vanna Tessier and Guy Tessier)
- Norma Dunning (Edmonton) – “Elipsee,” University of Alberta Press
Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Award (Supported by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Board of Directors)
- Cynthia Scott Wandler (Morinville) – “Things You Can’t Do With A Broken Left Arm”
WGA Golden Pen Award for Lifetime Achievement (Supported by Aritha van Herk)
- Cecelia Frey
The 2018 Alberta Literary Awards Sponsors and Supporters
Sponsors:
- Alberta Views
- Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
- Stephan V. Benediktson
- Under the Arch Youth Foundation
- Vanna Tessier and Guy Tessier
- WGA Board of Directors
- Aritha van Herk
The WGA is also grateful to our funders!
