# Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People

The Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, colloquially called the Vicky, is given annually at the Writers' Trust Awards to a writer or illustrator whose body of work has been "inspirational to Canadian youth". It is a top honour for Canadian children's writers and Canadian children's book illustrators.
Vicky Metcalf, a Canadian librarian, established the award "in 1963 to stimulate the writing of literature for Canadian children." Before 2013, the prize was known as the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature. The award is sponsored by the Metcalf Foundation, whose objective "is to enhance the effectiveness of people and organizations working together to help Canadians imagine and build a just, healthy and creative society." In 2002, the award was taken over by the Writers' Trust of Canada from the Canadian Authors Association.
To be eligible for the award, recipients must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents, have published a minimum of four English-language children's book, and have published at least one first-edition book in the previous three years. Winners are selected by a three-person jury and receive $25,000 CAD.

## Winners
### 20th Century

Award winners, 1963–1999 :
| Year | Winner |
| 1963 | Kerry Wood |
| 1964 | John F. Hayes |
| 1965 | Roderick Haig-Brown |
| 1966 | Fred Swayze |
| 1967 | John Patrick Gillese |
| 1968 | Lorrie McLaughlin |
| 1969 | Audrey McKim |
| 1970 | Farley Mowat |
| 1971 | Kay Hill |
| 1972 | William Toye |
| 1973 | Christie Harris |
| 1974 | Jean Little |
| 1975 | Lyn Harrington |
| 1976 | Suzanne Martel |
| 1977 | James Archibald Houston |
| 1978 | Lyn Cook |
| 1979 | Cliff Faulknor |
| 1980 | John Craig |
| 1981 | Monica Hughes |
| 1982 | Janet Lunn |
| 1983 | Claire Mackay |
| 1984 | Bill Freeman |
| 1985 | Edith Fowke |
| 1986 | Dennis Lee |
| 1987 | Robert Munsch |
| 1988 | Barbara Smucker |
| 1989 | Stéphane Poulin |
| 1990 | Bernice Thurman Hunter |
| 1991 | Brian Doyle |
| 1992 | Kevin Major |
| 1993 | Phoebe Gilman |
| 1994 | Welwyn Wilton Katz |
| 1995 | Sarah Ellis |
| 1996 | Margaret Buffie |
| 1997 | Tim Wynne-Jones |
| 1998 | Kit Pearson |
| 1999 | Joan Clark |
| 2000 | Sheree Fitch |

### 21st Century

Award winners, 2000–present :
| Year | Winner | Selected works |
| 2001 | Linda Granfield | |
| 2002 | Julie Johnston | |
| 2003 | Roslyn Schwartz | |
| 2004 | Deborah Ellis | |
| 2005 | Marie-Louise Gay | |
| 2006 | Kenneth Oppel | |
| 2007 | Martha Brooks | |
| 2008 | Michael Kusugak | |
| 2009 | Marthe Jocelyn | |
| 2010 | Polly Horvath | |
| 2011 | Iain Lawrence | The Winter Pony Gemini Summer The Convicts The Smugglers The Wreckers |
| 2012 | Paul Yee | Money Boy Dead Man’s Gold and Other Stories Ghost Train Tales from Gold Mountain Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter! |
| 2013 | Barbara Reid | The Night Before Christmas Picture a Tree Perfect Snow The Party Sing a Song of Mother Goose |
| 2014 | Cary Fagan | The Show to End All Shows Mr. Zinger’s Hat Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas Thing-Thing The Market Wedding |
| 2015 | Jan Thornhill | Kyle Goes Alone This is My Planet I Found a Dead Bird The Rumor The Wildlife 123 |
| 2016 | Alan Cumyn | Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend Tilt Dear Sylvia After Sylvia The Secret Life of Owen Skye |
| 2017 | Ruby Slipperjack | Dear Canada: These Are My Words Dog Tracks Little Voice Silent Words Honour the Sun |
| 2018 | Christopher Paul Curtis | The Journey of Little Charlie The Madman of Piney Woods Elijah of Buxton Bud, Not Buddy The Watsons Go to Birmingham |
| 2019 | Susin Nielsen | No Fixed Address Optimists Die First We Are All Made of Molecules Word Nerd |
| 2020 | Marianne Dubuc | The Lion and the Bird The Bus Ride Up the Mountain Path Otto and Pio Little Cheetah's Shadow |
| 2021 | Linda Bailey | Stanley's Party Toads on Toasy The Tiny Hero of Ferny Creek Library Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein Princesses Versus Dinosaurs |
| 2022 | Elise Gravel | Le Grand Antonio (2014) / The Great Antonio (2017) |
| 2023 | Kyo Maclear | Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli Operatic It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way |
| 2024 | Sara O'Leary | |