The Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young Readers is a Canadian literary award that goes to the best work of historical fiction written for youth each year. The award is named after Geoffrey Bilson, a writer of historical fiction for youth and a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan who died suddenly in 1987.
The Geoffrey Bilson Award is selected by a jury chosen by the Canadian Children's Book Centre. Award winners must be Canadian authors, and the winning novel must have been published in the previous calendar year. Each year's winner receives a $1000 (C$) prize.
The award is one of several presented by the Canadian Children's Book Centre each year; others include the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction and the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award.
Honourees
| Year | Author | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Carol Matas | Lisa | Winner | |
| Bill Freeman | Danger on the Tracks | Finalist | ||
| Margaret Maloney, illustrated by Lazlo Gal | The Goodman of Ballengeich | Finalist | ||
| Bernice Thurman Hunter | Lamplighter | Finalist | ||
| Mary Razzell | Salmonberry Wine | Finalist | ||
| Myra Paperny | Take A Giant Step | Finalist | ||
| 1989 | Martyn Godfrey | Mystery in the Frozen Lands | Winner | |
| Ann Blades | Moses, Me and Murder | Finalist | ||
| Dorothy Perkyns | Rachel's Revolution | Finalist | ||
| Robert Sutherland | Son of the Hounds | Finalist | ||
| 1990 | Kit Pearson | The Sky is Falling | Winner | |
| 1991 | Marianne Brandis | The Sign of the Scales | Winner | |
| 1992 | Award deferred | |||
| 1993 | Celia Barker Lottridge | Ticket to Curlew | Winner | |
| John Ibbitson | Jeremy's War 1812 | Finalist | ||
| Ainslie Manson, illustrated by Ann Blades | A Dog Came, Too | Finalist | ||
| Joyce Barkhouse | Yesterday's Children | Finalist | ||
| 1994 | Kit Pearson | The Lights Go On Again | Winner | |
| Carol Matas | Daniel's Story | Finalist | ||
| John Ibbitson | The Night Hazel Come To Town | Finalist | ||
| Margaret Bunel Edwards, illustrated by Linda Potts | The Ocean Between | Finalist | ||
| David Richards | Soldier Boys | Finalist | ||
| 1995 | Joan Clark | The Dream Carvers | Winner | |
| Carol Matas | The Burning Time | Finalist | ||
| Jean Booker | Ellen's Secret | Finalist | ||
| Jean Little | His Banner Over Me | Finalist | ||
| Sharon Gibson Palmero | The Lie That Had to Be | Finalist | ||
| Connie Brummel Crook | Nellie L. | Finalist | ||
| Lillian Boraks-Nemetz | The Old Brown Suitcase: A Teenager's Story of War and Peace | Finalist | ||
| Dorothy Perkyn | Signal Across the Sea | Finalist | ||
| Hazel Hutchins | Within a Painted Past | Finalist | ||
| 1996 | Marianne Brandis | Rebellion: A Novel of Upper Canada | Winner | |
| 1997 | Janet McNaughton | To Dance at the Palais Royale | Winner | |
| 1998 | Irene N. Watts | Good-Bye Marianne | Winner | |
| 1999 | Iain Lawrence | The Wreckers | Winner | |
| 2000 | Deferred to the following year | |||
| 2001 | Sharon E. McKay | Charlie Wilcox | Winner | |
| 2002 | Virginia Frances Schwartz | If I Just Had Two Wings | Winner | |
| 2003 | Joan Clark | The Word for Home | Winner | |
| 2004 | Brian Doyle | Boy O'Boy | Winner | |
| 2005 | Michel Noël | Good for Nothing | Winner | |
| 2006 | Pamela Porter | The Crazy Man | Winner | |
| 2007 | Eva Wiseman | Kanada | Winner | |
| 2008 | Christopher Paul Curtis | Elijah of Buxton | Winner | |
| 2009 | John Ibbitson | The Landing | Winner | |
| 2010 | Shane Peacock | Vanishing Girl | Winner | |
| 2011 | Valerie Sherrard | The Glory Wind | Winner | |
| 2012 | Kate Cayley | The Hangman in the Mirror | Winner | |
| 2013 | Elizabeth Stewart | The Lynching of Louie Sam | Winner | |
| 2014 | Karen Bass | Graffiti Knight | Winner | |
| 2015 | Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch | Dance of the Banished | Winner | |
| 2016 | Karen Bass | Uncertain Soldier | Winner | |
| 2017 | Kevin Sands | The Mark of the Plague | Winner | |
| 2018 | Kevin Sands | The Assassin's Curse | Winner | |
| 2019 | Christopher Paul Curtis | The Journey of Little Charlie | Winner | |
| 2020 | Tina Athaide | Orange for the Sunsets | Winner | |
| 2021 | Jordyn Taylor | The Paper Girl of Paris | Winner | |
| 2022 | Harriet Zaidman | Second Chances | Winner | |
| 2023 | Kim Spencer | Weird Rules to Follow | Winner | |
| 2024 | Jessica Outram | Bernice and the Georgian Bay Gold | Winner | |
| Julie Lawson | Out of the Dark | Finalist | ||
| Kate Leth | Mall Goth | |||
| Tho Pham, Sandra MacTavish | The Cricket War | |||
| Amanda West Lewis | Focus. Click. Wind. | |||
References
- "Sask., Man. writers win for children's books" . CBC, November 11, 2010.
- "Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 2022-12-09. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "1988 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Recipient: Carol Matas". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 2023-01-28. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "1989 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Recipient: Martyn Godfrey". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 2022-09-25. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "1990 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Recipient: Kit Pearson". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 2022-10-04. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "1991 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Recipient: Marianne Brandis". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "2009 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Recipient: John Ibbitson". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 2022-10-03. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "Awards: Canadian Children's Literature Awards". Shelf Awareness. 2010-11-12. Archived from the original on 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- "2010 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Recipient: Shane Peacock". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 2022-09-29. Retrieved 2023-05-14.
- Carter, Sue (2011-10-05). "Erin Bow's Plain Kate wins TD Canadian Children's Literature Award". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on 2022-10-05. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "2012 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Recipient: Kate Cayley". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 2022-09-30. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "Awards: Canadian Children's Literature". Shelf Awareness. 2012-11-26. Archived from the original on 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "2013 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Recipient: Elizabeth Stewart". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Archived from the original on 2023-02-05. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "2015 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People Recipient: Marsha Skrypuch". Canadian Children's Book Centre. Retrieved 2023-05-20.
- "Kim Spencer takes home three CCBC Awards - Quill and Quire". Quill and Quire - Canada's magazine of book news and reviews. 2023-10-24. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
- "Jean E. Pendziwol and Jack Wong among winners for Canadian children's book awards". CBC Books, October 29, 2024.
- Natalie Vilkoff, "Jack Wong, Sydney Smith and Liselle Sambury among finalists for top Canadian children's book awards". CBC Books, October 8, 2024.
