2025 Alberta Literary Awards Finalists Announced!
The Writers’ Guild of Alberta is excited to announce the finalists for the 2025 Alberta Literary Awards. Each year, the Alberta Literary Awards celebrates the highest standards of literary excellence from Alberta authors.
The WGA would like to send our congratulations to those whose work is among this year’s finalists! We look forward to celebrating your creativity and hard work, and we will do all we can to spread the word about the wonderful writing you did in 2024.
We will be hosting finalists’ readings and celebrations on April 25th for Calgary and May 4th for Edmonton.
You are also invited to attend the Alberta Literary Awards Gala in Calgary on Friday, June 6th, which takes place the same weekend as the WGA Conference: Genre and From through Time. To learn more or register, visit the conference page.
Our juries deliberated on an overwhelming number of submissions to select the following 31 finalists in ten categories. Finalists represent excellence in literary work written by Alberta authors and published or created in 2023-24. We encourage you to check out these fantastic titles!
***Please Note: Finalists for the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize were announced separately by the city.
The 2025 Alberta Literary Awards Finalists
R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature (Illustrated)
(Sponsored by Under the Arch Youth Foundation at The Calgary Foundation)
- What to Bring (Owl Kids) – Lorna Shultz Nicholson
- The Only Way to Make Bread (Tundra Books) – Cristina Quintero
- This Land is a Lullaby (Orca Books) –Tonya Simpson
James H. Gray Award for Short Nonfiction
(Supported by Marilyn and Bob Stallworthy)
- “In the Footsteps of Migrants Who Never Made It” (The Walrus) – Marcello Di Cintio
- “Green Rivers Louching” (The Prairie Journal) – Myrna Garanis
- “War For Drugs” (Maclean’s) – Omar Mouallem
Howard O’Hagan Short Story Award
(Supported by the Alexandra Writers’ Centre Society)
- “Rat King” (The Dalhousie Review) – Nicole Boyce
- “Gusher” (Hexagon) – E.C. Dorgan
- “The Triller” (Grain) – Ben Lof
Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Book of Poetry
(Sponsored by The Benediktson Family)
- What Kind of Daughter? (Frontenac House) – Rayanne Haines
- Attic Rain (NeWest Press) – Samantha Jones
- Invisible Lives (University of Calgary Press) – Cristalle Smith
Jon Whyte Memorial Unpublished Essay Award
(Supported by the Haynes Family – In Memory of Dr. Sterling Haynes)
- “Grapeful” – Katherine Abbass
- “Laid Bear” – Lareina Abbott
- “Threads of The Night Watch” – Diana Davidson
Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama
- Ministry of Grace (Scirocco Drama) – Tara Beagan
- Eden – Fran Kimmel
- The Resurrection of Dottie Reed – Nicole Moeller
Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction
(Sponsored by Scott Saxberg)
- To See What He Saw (Figure1 Publishing) – Patricia Cucman and Stanley Munn
- Here After: A Memoir (Zibby Books) – Amy Lin
- All Our Ordinary Stories (Arsenal Pulp Press) – Teresa Wong
Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction
(Sponsored by the University of Calgary’s Calgary Distinguished Writers Program)
- An Astonishment of Stars (ECW Press) – Kirti Bhadresa
- The Game of Giants (Freehand Books) – Marion Douglas
- I Hope This Finds You Well (HarperCollins) – Natalie Sue
Memoir Award
(Supported by Vivian Hansen, Toby Roch, and Arnold Hansen)
- Here After (Zibby Books) – Amy Lin
- Linguaphile (Farrar Strauss, & Giroux) – Julie Sedivy
- All Our Ordinary Stories (Arsenal Pulp Press) – Teresa Wong
The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize
- Limited Verse (University of Calgary Press) – David Martin
- Linguaphile (Farrar Strauss, & Giroux) – Julie Sedivy
- All Our Ordinary Stories (Arsenal Pulp Press) – Teresa Wong
Golden Pen Award
- Richard Harrison – The Golen Pen Award will also be presented at the 2025 Alberta Literary Awards Gala in June
Our Thanks…
