Quebec Writers' Federation Awards


The Quebec Writers' Federation Awards are a series of Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the Quebec Writers' Federation to the best works of literature in English by writers from Quebec. They were known from 1988 to 1998 as the QSPELL Awards.

Categories

They are currently presented in seven literary categories:
A Community Award is also frequently presented to a person who has played a significant role in building and supporting Quebec's anglophone writing community.
The awards have been presented annually since 1988.

Winners

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

The Janet Savage Blachford Prize, established in 2008, is presented annually for children's and young adult books. Picture books with text and books intended for beginner readers are eligible in even-numbered years, whereas books intended for middle grade or young adult readers are eligible in odd-numbered years. The award was established in 2008, was sponsored by sponsored by Janet and John Blachford beginning in 2014, and has been sponsored in the memory of Janet Savage Blachford since 2018.

''carte blanche'' Prize

The carte blanche Prize, established in 2008, is awarded annual "in recognition of an outstanding submission to QWF's online literary journal, carte blanche, by a Quebec writer, artist, or translator. Winners receive a cash prize and a unique trophy—'The Lori'—created by Montreal artist Glen LeMesurier."
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
2008"Wyoming Is Haunted"Winner
2009"Changing Winter Tires"Winner
2010"Something Important and Delicate"Winner
2010"Picnic"Second
2010"Letters Out"Third
2011"Like This Together"Winner
2011""Second
2011, trans. by Howard Scott"EXilium"Third
2012"Aria"Winner
2012""Second
2012"William and Robbie"Third
2013"Bluefooted"Winner
2013"Finding Snow in Wyoming"Second
2013"Death in the Midden"Third
2014 and Sheryl Curtis "It's Late, Doctor Schweitzer" by Didier LeclairWinner
2014"Dung Beetle"Second
2014""Third
2015"Self-Serve"Winner
2015Cathon"Old Shit I Still Feel Guilty About"Second
2015"Holy Treasures"Third
2016"Rabbits with Red Eyes"Winner
2016""Second
2016"Bridges We Build"Third
2017"Ferrante in the Cellar: A Vulgar Appreciation"Winner
2017""Second
2017"Self-Trolling"Third
2018"loss of self"Winner
2018"Tracking Animal"Second
2018"Bow"Third
2019"Aquanauts"Winner
2019"On killing a spider"Second
2019"My Home Movie"Third
2020Winner
2020"Thin"Second
2020"Emote: A Time Capsule"Third
2021"Tricks"Winner
2021"Sickness in Limbo"Second
2021""Third
2022"Some Kind of Light"Winner
2022""Second
2022"Gardens of Dirty Laundry"Third
2023"Disorientations"Winner
2023"Relieved"Shortlist
2023"The Cows Are Benevolent and Full of Flies"Shortlist
2024"Playtime in Carmella's Room"Winner
2024"Zoologies"Shortlist
2024"Bone-Eating Snot Flower"Shortlist

The Cole Foundation Prize for Translation

The Cole Foundation Prize for Translation, also known as Le Prix de traduction de la Fondation Cole and established in 1998, is awarded annually to books written by an English-language Quebec writer or an English-language Quebec translator of a book by a French author. English-language Quebec writers are eligible in even-numbered years, whereas English-language Quebec translators are eligible in odd-numbered years.

Concordia University First Book Prize

The Concordia University First Book Prize, established in 1996 and sponsored by Concordia University, is awarded annually to the first book of an English-language Quebec writer. The award has been known as the First Book Award, McAuslan First Book Prize, the QWF First Book Prize, and the Concordia University First Book Prize.
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
1996Shame and Humiliation: Presidential Decision Making on VietnamWinner
1997Picking Up PearlsWinner
1997Buntys and Pinkies: Chronicles of a New CanadianShortlist
1997 and R. Bruce HenryHalf Man, Half Beast: Making a Life in Canadian TheatreShortlist
1998Fuzzy Logic: Dispatches from the Information RevolutionWinner
1998More Than Life ItselfShortlist
1998Stories to Hide From Your MotherShortlist
1999Can You Wave Bye-Bye, Baby?Winner
1999Prisoner in a Red-Rose ChainShortlist
1999Charlevoix County, 1930Shortlist
2000Sacré Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through QuebecWinner
2000Wardlife, the Apprenticeship of a Young Writer as a Hospital ClerkShortlist
2000Social Discredit, Anti-Semitism, Social Credit and the Jewish ResponseShortlist
2001'Winner
2001If Looks Could KillShortlist
2001Other Conundrums: Race, Culture and Canadian ArtShortlist
2002Blues from the Malabar CoastWinner
2002Empress of Ireland: The Story of an Edwardian LinerShortlist
2002Like Everyone Else…But Different: The Paradoxical Success of Canadian JewsShortlist
2003One Day Even Trevi Will CrumbleWinner
2003Shortlist
2003My Own DevicesShortlist
2004Seventeen Tomatoes: Tales from KashmirWinner
2004Shortlist
2004Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in RwandaShortlist
2005'Winner
2005BlackbodyingWinner
2005Cities of WeatherShortlist
2006De Niro's GameWinner
2006I, Nadja, and Other PoemsShortlist
2006Dreadful ParisShortlist
2007Bang CrunchWinner
2007RopewalkShortlist
2007Shortlist
2008'Winner
2008Seven Openings of the HeadShortlist
2008Mother SuperiorShortlist
2009'Winner
2009Fish BonesShortlist
2009Ruins and RelicsShortlist
2010'Winner
2010MammothShortlist
2010YOU Comma IdiotShortlist
2011'Winner
2011Shortlist
2011Spat the DummyShortlist
2012All The Voices CryWinner
2012PollenShortlist
2012Waking in the Tree HouseShortlist
2013'Winner
2013Shortlist
2013Shortlist
2014Sweet AfflictionWinner
2014Us ConductorsShortlist
2014Palawan StoryShortlist
2015Swing in the House and Other StoriesWinner
2015Giving UpShortlist
2015Shortlist
2016Small FiresWinner
2016Sleeping GiantsShortlist
2016Indigenous WritesShortlist
2017Uncertain Weights and MeasuresWinner
2017Arabic for BeginnersShortlist
2017Shortlist
2018ZolitudeWinner
2018Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the PresentShortlist
2018Excitement TaxShortlist
2019nîtisânakWinner
2019Shortlist
2019Seeker: A Sea OdysseyShortlist
2019We Were Like Everyone ElseShortlist
2020'Winner
2020ZOM-FAMShortlist
2020PluviophileShortlist
2021Fighting for a Hand to HoldWinner
2021Knot BodyShortlist
2021Ten Thousand Crossroads: The Path As I Remember ItShortlist
2021We, JaneShortlist
2022Winner
2022ProphetessShortlist
2022Dream of No One But MyselfShortlist
2022We Have Never Lived on EarthShortlist
2023, Douglas SandersonValley of the BirdtailWinner
2023Halal Sex: The Intimate Lives of Muslim Women in North AmericaShortlist
2023The House You Were Born InShortlist
2023End TimesShortlist
2024Little CrossesWinner
2024spokenShortlist
2024Here Is Still HereShortlist

Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction

The Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, established in 1988, is awarded annually to an English-language non-fiction book written by a Quebec author. The award was original named the Non-fiction Prize, though it changed in 1999.
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
1988Home: A Short History of an IdeaWinner
1989'Winner
1989Shortlist
1989Shortlist
1990Education Lost: Reflections on Contemporary Pedogogical PracticeWinner
1990Missed Opportunities: The Story of Canada's Broadcasting PolicyShortlist
1990Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern IdentityShortlist
1991Flight from FamineWinner
1991Shortlist
1991Remembrance of Grandeur: The Anglo-Protestant Elite of MontrealShortlist
1992In the Company of StrangersWinner
1992Sketches in WinterShortlist
1992Shortlist
1993Foxspirit: A Woman in Mao's ChinaWinner
1993Civilization and its DiscontentedShortlist
1993If I Am Not for Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the JewsShortlist
1994E.K. Brown: A Study in ConflictWinner
1994 and Rhoda CohenInsights, Discoveries, SurprisesShortlist
1994E. K. Brown: A Study in ConflictShortlist
1995'Winner
1995Patient No More: The Politics of Breast CancerShortlist
1995Before the End of the Day: Stories from a Doctor's JournalShortlist
1996'Winner
1996Defiance in Their EyesShortlist
1996Shortlist
1997City Unique: Montreal Days and Nights in the 40s and 50sWinner
1997Tango on the MainShortlist
1997Journey to VajaShortlist
1998Progeny of Ghosts: Travels in Russia and the Old EmpireWinner
1998Saint Patrick's of Montreal: The Biography of a BasilicaShortlist
1998This Distant and Unsurveyed CountryShortlist
1999Putting Down RootsWinner
1999Voice of the Vanishing MinorityShortlist
1999Charlevoix County, 1930Shortlist
2000Sacré Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through QuebecWinner
2000Shortlist
2000Wardlife, the Apprenticeship of a Young Writer as a Hospital ClerkShortlist
2001'Winner
2001River Song: Sailing the History of the St. LawrenceShortlist
2001Getting Started: A Memoir of the 1950sShortlist
2002'Winner
2002LeCarré's LandscapeShortlist
2002Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Re-invention of DeathShortlist
2003Shoshanna's StoryWinner
2003Shortlist
2003Shortlist
2004Mordecai and Me: An Appreciation of a KindWinner
2004Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in RwandaShortlist
2004 and William MarsdenShortlist
2005Survival: A Refugee LifeWinner
2005Sir William Hingston : Montreal Mayor, Surgeon and BankerShortlist
2005Shortlist
2006Translating Montreal: Episodes in the Life of a Divided CityWinner
2006 and Julian SherAngels of DeathShortlist
2006Truth Is Naked, All Others Pay CashShortlist
2007 and Jean-Benoît Nadeau'Winner
2007Shortlist
2007My Sister, My Self: Understanding the Relationship That Shapes Our Lives, Our Loves, and OurselvesShortlist
2008Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing SeafoodWinner
2008Shortlist
2008No Limits: The Amazing Life Story of Rhona and Rhoda Wurtele, Canada's Olympian Skiing PioneersShortlist
2009'Winner
2009Shortlist
2009Idiocy: A Cultural HistoryShortlist
2010Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic, and Political Crises Will Redraw the World MapWinner
2010Shortlist
2010Done with SlaveryShortlist
2011Bad Animals: A Father's Accidental Education in AutismWinner
2011They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like ChildrenShortlist
2011Shortlist
2012Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the AutomobileWinner
2012Fools Rule: Inside the Failed Politics of Climate ChangeShortlist
2012Epistolophilia: Writing the Life of Ona ŠimaitėShortlist
2013'Winner
2013Slouching Towards SirteShortlist
2013Shortlist
2014'Winner
2014Shortlist
2014Shortlist
2015Teaching Plato in Palestine: Philosophy in a Divided WorldWinner
2015Shortlist
2015BoundlessShortlist
2016'Winner
2016Shanghai GrandShortlist
2016Indigenous WritesShortlist
2017Out Standing in the Field: A Memoir by Canada's First Female Infantry OfficerWinner
2017Tax, Order, and Good Government: A New Political History of Canada, 1867–1917Shortlist
2017Shortlist
2018In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic FrontWinner
2018Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the PresentShortlist
2018Sitting Shiva on Minto Avenue, by 'TootsShortlist
2019'Winner
2019Shortlist
2019nîtisânakShortlist
2020Possess the Air: Love, Heroism, and the Battle for the Soul of Mussolini's RomeWinner
2020Shortlist
2020Shortlist
2021Fighting for a Hand to HoldWinner
2021Peacekeeper's Daughter: A Middle-East MemoirShortlist
2021Bent Out of ShapeShortlist
2021Neglected No More: The Urgent Need to Improve the Lives of Canada's Elders in the Wake of a PandemicShortlist
2021Music, Late and SoonShortlist
2022Looking for Alicia: The Unfinished Life of an Argentinian RebelWinner
2022Spin Doctors: How Media and Politicians Misdiagnosed the COVID-19 PandemicShortlist
2022Shortlist
2022Rooms: Women, Writing, WoolfShortlist
2023, Douglas SandersonValley of the BirdtailWinner
2023The New Masculinity: A Roadmap for a 21st-Century Definition of ManhoodShortlist
2023The North Star: Canada and the Civil War Plots Against LincolnShortlist
2023The Long Road Home: On Blackness and BelongingShortlist
2024Furniture MusicWinner
2024Ghost Stories: On Writing BiographyShortlist
2024The Lost Supper: Searching for the Future of Food in the Tastes of the PastShortlist
2024Picturing the Game: An Illustrated Story of Hockey''Shortlist

Judy Mappin Community Award

The Judy Mappin Community Award, established in 1995 and first awarded to Judith Mappin, is awarded annually "to a member of the extended literary community who has made a significant and longstanding contribution to the development and/or dissemination of English-language literature in Quebec."

A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry

The A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry, established in 1988, is awarded annually to a book of English-language poetry written by a Quebec poet. The prize was known as the Poetry Prize from 1988 to 1922. From 2011 to 2015, the prize was sponsored by Richard Pound, in memory of his brother Robert, and in 2022, it was sponsored by Byron Rempel.
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
1988Modern MarriageWinner
1989Balthazar and Other PoemsWinner
1989Blue Sand, Blue MoonShortlist
1989Infinite Worlds: The Poetry of Louis DudekShortlist
1990Cold Rubber FeetWinner
1990WSW Winner
1991Bavarian Shrine and Other PoemsWinner
1991Rue Sainte FamilleShortlist
1991Woman ListeningShortlist
1992Reasons for WinterWinner
1992Small Perfect ThingsShortlist
1992Shortlist
1993Configurations at MidnightWinner
1993Short TalksShortlist
1993CoastlinesShortlist
1994'Winner
1994Flowers in Magnetic FieldsWinner
1994Sheepish Beauty, Civilian LoveShortlist
1994Shortlist
1995'Winner
1995GlasburyonShortlist
1996Glass, Irony and GodWinner
1996Search ProceduresShortlist
1996Swimming into the LightShortlist
1997Visions FugitiveWinner
1997David and JonathanShortlist
1997Shortlist
1998Autobiography of RedWinner
1998Debriefing the RoseShortlist
1998Shortlist
1999FactsWinner
1999Grounding SightShortlist
1999Shortlist
2000Giving My Body to ScienceWinner
2000Land Without ChocolateShortlist
2000OctoberShortlist
2001'Winner
2001Shortlist
2001HistoriesShortlist
2002Girls and Handsome DogsWinner
2002Shortlist
2002O'CidadánShortlist
2003VoltaWinner
2003Snow FormationsShortlist
2003Shortlist
2004With English SubtitlesWinner
2004Shortlist
2004Franklin's PassageShortlist
2005Little TheatresWinner
2005Shortlist
2005Shortlist
2006I, Nadja and Other PoemsWinner
2006Shortlist
2006He Claims He Is the Direct HeirShortlist
2007O CadoiroWinner
2007Reaching for Clear: The Poetry of Rhys SavarinShortlist
2007SitcomShortlist
2008Sympathy for the CouriersWinner
2008Radius of LightShortlist
2008What if red ran outShortlist
2009This Way OutWinner
2009Shortlist
2009JackShortlist
2010'Winner
2010CircusShortlist
2010O ResplandorShortlist
2011'Winner
2011SkullduggeryShortlist
2011Some FramesShortlist
2012We, BeastsWinner
2012Shortlist
2012Shortlist
2013'Winner
2013Shortlist
2013ConjureShortlist
2014MxTWinner
2014Here in ThereShortlist
2014Needs ImprovementShortlist
2014Peeling RambutanShortlist
2015Asbestos HeightsWinner
2015Hyena SubpoenaShortlist
2015KapustaShortlist
2016Small FiresWinner
2016Saint TwinShortlist
2016 and Gillian SzeRedrafting WinterShortlist
2017Rag CosmologyWinner
2017Feel Happier in Nine SecondsShortlist
2017Shortlist
2018My ArielWinner
2018Museum of KindnessShortlist
2018PanicleShortlist
2019ObitsWinner
2019Magnetic EquatorShortlist
2019I am a Body of LandShortlist
2020Winner
2020Eight TrackShortlist
2020POPShortlist
2020Shortlist
2020rushes from the river disappointmentShortlist
2021I Am the Big HeartWinner
2021Because the SunShortlist
2021Hell Light FleshShortlist
2021Shortlist
2022Dream of No One But MyselfWinner
2022Horrible DanceShortlist
2022EmanationsShortlist
2022Quiet Night ThinkShortlist
2023Wet DreamWinner
2023Dream RoomsShortlist
2023Slows: TwiceShortlist
2024National AnimalWinner
2024Bottom Rail on TopShortlist
2024TidalShortlist
2024Listening in Many PublicsShortlist

Max Margles Fiction Prize

The Max Margles Fiction Prize, established in 2022, is presented to a new English-language Quebec writer "to allow a writer to work uninterruptedly on a manuscript for four months." It is "the largest such prize to be awarded by any Canadian provincial writers' organization."
YearAuthor
2022

Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction

The Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, established in 1988, is presented annually to an English-language Quebec writer of fiction.
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
1988'Winner
1989Distant RelationsWinner
1989To Samerkand and BackShortlist
1989Electrical StormsShortlist
1990Solomon Gursky Was HereWinner
1990Shortlist
1990Lives of the SaintsShortlist
1991'Winner
1991EyemouthShortlist
1991From the Foot of the MountainShortlist
1992'Winner
1992Dog YearsShortlist
1992Orphaned by Halley's CometShortlist
1993Missing Fred AstaireWinner
1993Je t'aime CowboyShortlist
1993Main BridesShortlist
1994Evil EyeWinner
1994Shortlist
1994Spirits in the DarkShortlist
1995Friends & MarriagesWinner
1995Shortlist
1995Endangered SpeciesShortlist
1996'Winner
1996Shortlist
1996True Romance with a SailorShortlist
1997Butterfly LoversWinner
1997Getting Out of TownShortlist
1997Finding the EnemyShortlist
1998Barney's VersionWinner
1998City of ForgettingShortlist
1998Promise of ShelterShortlist
1999Can You Wave Bye-Bye, Baby?Winner
1999Shortlist
1999City of IceShortlist
2000'Winner
2000RealiaShortlist
2000Very Good ButterShortlist
2001Life of PiWinner
2001Ice LakeShortlist
2001Down There By the TrainShortlist
2002Doing the Heart GoodWinner
2002All Pure SoulsShortlist
2002Wound BallisticsShortlist
2003'Winner
2003Ten Thousand LoversShortlist
2003Shortlist
2004Look for MeWinner
2004Shortlist
2004Ha! A Self-Murder MysteryShortlist
2005'Winner
2005Any Day NowShortlist
2005Crazy About LilyShortlist
2006De Niro's GameWinner
2006Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?Shortlist
2006Shortlist
2007Lullabies for Little CriminalsWinner
2007Garcìa's HeartShortlist
2007Bang CrunchShortlist
2008CockroachWinner
2008Pardon Our MonstersShortlist
2008ChefShortlist
2009FallWinner
2009StripmallingShortlist
2009Shortlist
2010IllustradoWinner
2010Shortlist
2010YOU Comma IdiotShortlist
2011NikoWinner
2011MidwayShortlist
2011Dogs at the PerimeterShortlist
2012CarnivalWinner
2012PollenShortlist
2012Tell It to the TreesShortlist
2013Bone and BreadWinner
2013World of GlassShortlist
2013Beach ReadingShortlist
2014Us ConductorsWinner
2014I'm Not Scared of You or AnythingShortlist
2014New TabShortlist
2015BooWinner
2015Daydreams of AngelsShortlist
2015No SafeguardsShortlist
2016'Winner
2016The Poet is a RadioShortlist
2016Do Not Say We Have NothingShortlist
2016Rich and PoorShortlist
2017'Winner
2017Behold Things BeautifulShortlist
2017Lost in SeptemberShortlist
2018Demi-GodsWinner
2018ZolitudeShortlist
2018Beirut Hellfire SocietyShortlist
2019'Winner
2019Churchill at MunichShortlist
2019Shortlist
2019I'll Never TellShortlist
2020Dominoes at the CrossroadsWinner
2020Home GameShortlist
2020Shortlist
2020Butterflies, Zebras, MoonbeamsShortlist
2021Love Like Water, Love Like FireWinner
2021Songs for the End of the WorldShortlist
2021We, JaneShortlist
2021UndersongShortlist
2022ProphetessWinner
2022Shortlist
2022Stray DogsShortlist
2022JonesShortlist
2023FayneWinner
2023Full Fadom FiveShortlist
2023Do You Remember Being Born?Shortlist
2023The GatheringShortlist
2023Catinat BoulevardShortlist
2024Little CrossesWinner
2024Monday Rent BoyShortlist
2024Arrested SongShortlist
2024The Capital of DreamsShortlist
2024Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your AimShortlist

QWF Playwriting Prize

The QWF Playwriting Prize, established in 2018, is award every other year in even-numbered years. Typically, plays published "published or produced during the two previous years" are eligible. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on theatre, plays have been eligible for the award if they have been published or produced since 2018, "provided that the play was not already submitted for the 2020 prize."
The QWF Playwriting Prize winner received a $3,000 prize, as well as "a reading as part of Infinithéâtre's Pipeline Reading Series."
YearAuthorTitleResultRef.
2018Paradise LostWinner
2018"Sperm Count" Shortlist
2018When Memories Have Us Shortlist
2018Truth and TreasonShortlist
2020AlbumenWinner
2020Alice and the World We Live InShortlist
2020Sania the DestroyerShortlist
2020InstantShortlist
2022Winner
2022 and Ned CoxShortlist
2022BelovedShortlist
2022Beautiful ManShortlist
2024, Jovanni SySalesman in ChinaWinner
2024The Dark LadyShortlist
2024ShorelinesShortlist
2024Mizushōbai Shortlist
2024Vierge''Shortlist

Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize

The Ian Ferrier Spoken Word Prize, established in 2022 as the QWF Spoken Word Prize and renamed in 2023 in honor of Ian Ferrier, "is open to Quebec-based spoken word artists, storytelling artists, and literary performance artists working primarily in English in any form of performative writing."
YearAuthorTitleRef
2022"Not in the Bike Commercial"
2022“Free Your Mind"
2022"Odiama"
2023Deb Vanslet"Laughter in the Rain"
2023Caitlin Murphy"All the Screams"
2023BeWyrd"Survival Mechanisms"
2024Moe Clark“committing a dream / pâwakan Palestine"
2024Lucia De Luca“Congratulations"
2024Mac van den Hoeven“Memory Justice"