Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award

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The Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award is a literary prize awarded annually by the BC Book Prizes for the "best book in terms of public appeal, initiative, design, production and content." [1] The prize is shared by the author and publisher. To qualify, the publisher must be located in British Columbia or the Yukon and in full creative control (editing, design and production). [2] The winner, unlike the other prizes which are determined by judges, is selected by ballot sent to bookstores across the province of British Columbia. [3]

Contents

History

The award is named in honour of BC bookseller Bill Duthie who founded Duthie Books in 1957. [1] It was first awarded in 1985 and was one of the original four prizes awarded by the BC Book Prizes. The prize used to be called "BC Booksellers' Choice Award in Honour of Bill Duthie" but the name was simplified in 2010 to align with the other BC Book Prizes.

Winners and finalists

Caption text
YearWinnerNominees
1985 Islands Protection Society - Islands at the Edge (Douglas & McIntyre)
  • Hilary Stewart - Cedar (Douglas & McIntyre)
  • John Edwards - The Roman Cookery of Apicius (Hartley & Marks)
1986 Cameron Young et al., - The Forests of British Columbia (Whitecap Books)
  • John Adams and Becky Thomas - Floating Schools and Frozen Inkwells (Harbour Publishing)
  • Philip Hersee - Vancouver: Touch The Magic (self-published)
1987 Doris Shadbolt - Bill Reid (Douglas & McIntyre)
1988 Hilary Stewart - The Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt (Douglas & McIntyre)
1989 Michael M'Gonigle, Wendy Wickwire - Stein: The Way of the River (Talonbooks)
1990 Western Canada Wilderness Committee - Carmanah (Western Canada Wilderness Committee)
1991 Michael Kluckner - Vanishing Vancouver (Whitecap Books)
1992 Robert Bringhurst and Ulli Steltzer (photographer) - The Black Canoe: Bill Reid and the Spirit of Hakla Gwaii (Douglas & McIntyre)
  • Liv Kennedy - Coastal Villages (Harbour Publishing)
  • Bruce Obee, Tim Fitzharris - Coastal Wildlife of British Columbia (Whitecap Books)
1993 Nick Bantock - Sabine's Notebook (Chronicle Books)
  • Terry Glavin and the Nemiah Valley Peoples - Nemiah: The Unconquered Country (New Star Books)
  • Bruce MacDonald - Vancouver: A Visual History (Talonbooks)
1994 Alan Haig-Brown - Fishing for a Living (Harbour Publishing)
1995 Robert Davidson, Ulli Steltzer - Eagle Transforming (Douglas & McIntyre)
1996 Bill Richardson - Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast Pillow Book (Douglas & McIntyre)
  • Candace Savage - Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays (Greystone Books)
  • Ken Drushka - HR: A Biography of H. R. MacMillan (Harbour Publishing)
1997 Richard Cannings, Sydney Cannings - British Columbia: A Natural History (Greystone Books)
1998 Ian McAllister, Karen McAllister, Cameron Young - The Great Bear Rainforest (Harbour Publishing)
1999 Tom Henry - Westcoasters: Boats that Built BC (Harbour Publishing)
2000 Derek Hayes - Historical Atlas of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest (Douglas & McIntyre)
2001 Dan Francis - The Encyclopedia of British Columbia (Harbour Publishing)
2002 Terry Reksten - Illustrated History of BC (Douglas & McIntyre)
2003 Robb Douglas, Peter A. Robson, Betty Keller - Skookum Tugs: British Columbia's Working Tugboats (Harbour Publishing)
2004 R. Samuel Bawif - The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake, 1577-1580 (Douglas & McIntyre)
  • Doreen Armitage - From the Wheelhouse: Tug Boaters Tell Their Own Stories (Harbour Publishing)
  • Bill Proctor and Yvonne Maximchuk - Full Moon, Flood Tide: Bill Proctor's Raincoast(Harbour Publishing)
  • David Nunuk - Natural Light: Visions of British Columbia (Harbour Publishing)
  • Andrew Scott - Painter, Paddler: The Art and Adventures of Stewart Marshall (TouchWood Editions)
2005 Harvey Thommasen, Kevin Hutchings, R. Wayne Campbell, Mark Hume - Birds of the Raincoast: Habits and Habitat (Harbour Publishing)
2006 James P. Delgado - Waterfront: The Illustrated Maritime Story of Greater Vancouver (Stanton Atkins & Dosil Publishers)
2007 David Suzuki - David Suzuki: The Autobiography (Greystone Books)
2008 Ian McAllister - The Last Wild Wolves: Ghosts of the Great Bear Rainforest (Greystone Books)
2009 Stephen R. Bown – Madness, Betrayal and the Lash: The Epic Voyage of Captain George Vancouver (Douglas & McIntyre)
  • Jean Barman – British Columbia: Spirit of the People (Harbour Publishing)
  • Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas – Flight of the Hummingbird: A Parable for the Environment (Greystone Books)
  • Cathy Converse – Following the Curve of Time: The Legendary M. Wylie Blanchet (TouchWood Editions)
  • Andrew Nikiforuk – Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent (Greystone Books)
2010 Brian Brett – Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life (Greystone Books)
2011 Grant Lawrence – Adventures in Solitude: What Not to Wear to a Nude Potluck and Other Stories from Desolation Sound (Harbour Publishing)
2012 Chuck Davis – The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver (Harbour Publishing)
2013 Shelley Fralic, with research by Kate Bird - Making Headlines: 100 Years of The Vancouver Sun (The Vancouver Sun) [4]
2014 Grant Lawrence - The Lonely End of the Rink: Confessions of a Reluctant Goalie (Douglas & McIntyre) [5]
  • Jesse Donaldson - This Day in Vancouver (Anvil Press)
  • Michael Layland - The Land of Heart's Delight: Early Maps and Charts of Vancouver Island (TouchWood Editions)
  • Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd - Raven Brings the Light (Harbour Publishing)
  • Paula Wild - The Cougar: Beautiful, Wild and Dangerous (Douglas & McIntyre)
2015 Aaron Chapman - Live at the Commodore: The Story of Vancouver's Historic Commodore Ballroom (Arsenal Pulp Press) [6]
  • Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd - Cloudwalker (Harbour Publishing)
  • Alicia Priest - A Rock Fell on the Moon: Dad and the Great Yukon Silver Ore Heist (Harbour Publishing)
  • Richard Beamish and Gordon McFarlane (eds) - The Sea Among Us: The Amazing Strait of Georgia (Harbour Publishing)
  • Lisa Ahier with Andrew Morrison - The Sobo Cookbook: Recipes from the Tofino Restaurant at the End of the Canadian Road (Appetite by Random House)
2016 Susan Musgrave - A Taste of Haida Gwaii: Food Gathering and Feasting at the Edge of the World (Whitecap Books) [7]
2017 Richard Wagamese - Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations (Douglas and McIntyre) [8]
  • Aaron Chapman - The Last Gang in Town: The Epic Story of the Vancouver Police vs. the Clark Park Gang (Arsenal Pulp Press)
  • Wade Davis - Wade Davis: Photographs (Douglas and McIntyre)
  • Michael Layland - A Perfect Eden: Encounters by Early Explorers of Vancouver Island (TouchWood Editions)
  • Roy Henry Vickers and Robert Budd - Peace Dancer (Harbour Publishing)
2018 Pat Carney - On Island: Life Among the Coast Dwellers (TouchWood Editions) [9]
2019 Bob Joseph - 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act (Page Two Strategies)
2020Aaron Chapman - Vancouver After Dark: The Wild History of a City’s Nightlife (Arsenal Pulp Press)
2021Robert Amos, The E.J. Hughes Book of Boats [10]
2021 Blueribbon icon.png TBA September 24, 2022

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References

  1. 1 2 , Award criteria and description.
  2. ↑ Joanna Karaplis (Jan 5, 2010). The Canadian Writer's Market, 18th Edition. Random House Digital, Inc. pp. 322–323.
  3. ↑ William H. New (2002). Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada. University of Toronto Press. p. 57.
  4. ↑ "Sun columnist Shelley Fralic honoured for book on newspaper's history". The Vancouver Sun. May 6, 2013. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  5. ↑ John Goodman (May 5, 2014). "Grant Lawrence the bookseller's choice at B.C. Book Prizes". North Shore News. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  6. ↑ Shawn Conner (April 27, 2015). "Vancouver Writers Take Home B.C. Book Prizes". Inside Vancouver. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  7. ↑ "BC Book Prize winners announced". North Shore News. May 2, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  8. ↑ "The late Richard Wagamese wins 2017 BC Book Prize for Embers: One Ojibway's Meditations". Kamloops This Week. April 30, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-05-01. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Winners of the 2018 B.C. Book Prizes revealed at downtown gala". The Georgia Straight. May 5, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  10. ↑ Vicky Qiao, "Billy-Ray Belcourt and Shaena Lambert among BC & Yukon Book Prizes winners". CBC Books, September 28, 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Ryan Porter, "Eight shortlists announced for BC and Yukon Book Prizes". Quill & Quire , April 8, 2021.
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