# Indigenous Voices Awards

The Indigenous Voices Awards are a Canadian literary award program, created in 2017 to honour Indigenous literatures in Canada. It is administered by the Indigenous Literary Studies Association, a non-profit organization that promotes the production, study and teaching of Indigenous literatures.
The awards grew out of a 2017 controversy, when a group of Canadian writers were criticized for campaigning on Twitter in favour of a prize supporting cultural appropriation. In response, Toronto lawyer Robin Parker launched a crowdfunding campaign to create a new prize for First Nations, Métis and Inuit writers in Canada. The crowdfunding campaign was set with a goal of $10,000, but ultimately attracted over $140,000 in donations.
The awards honour both published and unpublished work by Indigenous writers in Indigenous languages, English and French. The first winners were announced in May 2018. On National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21, 2022, IVA announced that an anthology of selected works by the finalists will be published by Penguin Random House Canada in 2023 to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the award.

## Recipients

Indigenous Voices Awards winners :
| Year | Category | Author | Title | Award |
| 2018 | Alternative Format | Mich Cota | Musical Selections | Winner |
| 2018 | Alternative Format | Mika Lafond | Nipê Wânîn | Winner |
| 2018 | Alternative Format | Keith Barker | This is How We Got Here | Finalist |
| 2018 | Alternative Format | Cliff Cardinal | Huff & Stitch | Finalist |
| 2018 | English Poetry | Billy-Ray Belcourt | This Wound Is a World | Winner |
| 2018 | English Poetry | Tenille K. Campbell | #IndianLovePoems | Finalist |
| 2018 | English Poetry | Joshua Whitehead | Full-Metal Indigiqueer | Finalist |
| 2018 | English Prose | Aviaq Johnston | Those Who Run in the Sky | Winner |
| 2018 | English Prose | Carleigh Baker | Bad Endings | Finalist |
| 2018 | English Prose | Dawn Dumont | Glass Beads | Finalist |
| 2018 | English Prose | Joanne Robertson | The Water Walker | Finalist |
| 2018 | French Prose | J. D. Kurtness | De Vengeance | Winner |
| 2018 | French Prose | Naomi Fontaine | Manikanetish | Finalist |
| 2018 | Unpublished English Poetry | Smokii Sumac | #haikuaday and other poems | Winner |
| 2018 | Unpublished English Poetry | David Agecoutay | Poetic Selections | Finalist |
| 2018 | Unpublished English Poetry | Brandi Bird | Two Poems | Finalist |
| 2018 | Unpublished English Poetry | Francine Merasty | Poetry of a Northern Rez Girl | Finalist |
| 2018 | Unpublished French Poetry | Marie-Andrée Gill | Uashteu | Winner |
| 2018 | Unpublished Prose | Elaine McArthur | Queen Bee | Winner |
| 2018 | Unpublished Prose | Treena Chambers | Hair Raizing | Finalist |
| 2018 | Unpublished Prose | Nazbah Tom | The Hand Trembler | Finalist |
| 2018 | Unpublished Prose | Amanda Peters | Pejipug (Winter Arrives) | Finalist |
| 2019 | Alternative Format | Tasha Spillett and Natasha Donovan | Surviving the City | Winner |
| 2019 | Alternative Format | Kìzis | Wàsakozi | Finalist |
| 2019 | English Poetry | Smokii Sumac | You are Enough: Love Poems for the End of the World | Winner |
| 2019 | English Poetry | Wanda John-Kehewin | Seven Sacred Truths | Finalist |
| 2019 | English Poetry | Jules Arita Koostachin | Unearthing of Secrets, Gathering of Truths | Finalist |
| 2019 | English Prose | Tanya Tagaq | Split Tooth | Winner |
| 2019 | English Prose | Lindsay Nixon | nîtisânak | Finalist |
| 2019 | English Prose | Joshua Whitehead | Jonny Appleseed | Finalist |
| 2019 | French Prose | Joséphine Bacon | Uiesh, Quelque Part | Winner |
| 2019 | French Prose | Pierrot Ross-Tremblay | Nipimanitu – L’esprit de l’eau | Winner |
| 2019 | Indigenous Language | Francine Merasty | Iskotew Iskwew | Winner |
| 2019 | Unpublished English Poetry | Elaine McArthur | Brush of a Bustle | Winner |
| 2019 | Unpublished English Poetry | Autumn Schnell | FemmNDN Commandments | Finalist |
| 2019 | Unpublished English Poetry | Craig Commanda | My Ghosts Roam this Land and other poems | Finalist |
| 2019 | Unpublished English Prose | Francine Cunningham | Teenage Asylums | Winner |
| 2019 | Unpublished English Prose | Blair Yoxall | Little Bull | Finalist |
| 2019 | Unpublished English Prose | Brittany Johnson | Transit | Finalist |
| 2020 | Alternative Format | Elaine McArthur | Elizabeth Dances Pow-wow | Winner |
| 2020 | Alternative Format | Phyllis Webstad | Phyllis’s Orange Shirt | Finalist |
| 2020 | English Poetry | Michelle Sylliboy | Kiskajeyi—I am Ready | Winner |
| 2020 | English Poetry | Arielle Twist | Disintegrate / Dissociate | Winner |
| 2020 | English Poetry | Brandi Bird | I Am Still Too Much | Finalist |
| 2020 | English Poetry | Francine Cunningham | On/Me | Finalist |
| 2020 | English Prose | Jesse Thistle | From the Ashes | Winner |
| 2020 | English Prose | Helen Knott | In My Own Moccasins | Finalist |
| 2020 | English Prose | Kaitlyn Purcell | ʔbédayine | Finalist |
| 2020 | French Poetry | Maya Cousineau Mollen | Bréviaire du matricule 082 | Winner |
| 2020 | French Poetry | Marie-Andrée Gill | Chauffer le dehors | Winner |
| 2020 | French Prose | Naomi Fontaine | Shuni — Ce que tu dois savoir, Julie | Winner |
| 2020 | French Prose | J. D. Kurtness | Aquariums | Finalist |
| 2020 | Indigenous Language | Rene Meshake | Injichaag: My Soul in Story | Winner |
| 2020 | Indigenous Language | Cole Pauls | Dakwäkãda Warriors | Winner |
| 2020 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Keely Shirt | Two Little Foxes, Buttertown Beach, and I Will Never Be Happier | Winner |
| 2020 | Unpublished Poetry in English | David Agecoutay | Willow A Quartet | Finalist |
| 2020 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Corri Daniels | A Memory of Mary | Finalist |
| 2020 | Unpublished Prose in English | Cody Caetano | Half-Bads in White Regalia | Winner |
| 2020 | Unpublished Prose in English | Treena Chambers | Forest Fires and Falling Stars | Finalist |
| 2020 | Unpublished Prose in English | Steven Hall | Gatzi Naka | Finalist |
| 2021 | English Prose | Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler | Ghost Lake | Winner |
| 2021 | English Prose | Jenn Ashton | People Like Frank | Finalist |
| 2021 | English Prose | Michelle Good | Five Little Indians | Finalist |
| 2021 | English Prose | Michael Hutchinson | The Case of the Missing Auntie | Finalist |
| 2021 | English Prose | Katłįà Land-Water-Sky | Ndè-Tı-Yat’a | Finalist |
| 2021 | English Creative Nonfiction and Life-Writing | Bevann Fox | Genocidal Love | Winner |
| 2021 | English Creative Nonfiction and Life-Writing | Karen Pheasant-Neganigwane | Powwow: A Celebration through Song and Dance | Finalist |
| 2021 | English Creative Nonfiction and Life-Writing | Michelle Porter | Approaching Fire | Finalist |
| 2021 | English Poetry | jaye simpson | it was never going to be okay | Winner |
| 2021 | English Poetry | Norma Dunning | Eskimo Pie: A Poetics of Inuit Identity | Finalist |
| 2021 | English Poetry | shalan joudry | Waking Ground | Finalist |
| 2021 | English Poetry | Tyler Pennock | Bones | Finalist |
| 2021 | French Poetry | Shayne Michael | Fif et sauvage | Winner |
| 2021 | French Poetry | Félix Perkins | Boiteur des bois | Finalist |
| 2021 | French Prose | Émilie Monnet | Okinum | Winner |
| 2021 | French Prose | Jocelyn Sioui | Mononk Jules | Finalist |
| 2021 | Graphic Novels, Comics, and Illustrated Books | Brianna Jonnie with Nahanni Shingoose, Neal Shannacappo (illus.) | If I Go Missing | Winner |
| 2021 | Graphic Novels, Comics, and Illustrated Books | Lisa Boivin | I Will See You Again | Finalist |
| 2021 | Graphic Novels, Comics, and Illustrated Books | Tasha Spillett, with Natasha Donovan (illus.) | From the Roots Up: Surviving the City Vol. 2 | Finalist |
| 2021 | Indigenous Language | Zacharias Kunuk with Megan Kyak-Monteith (illus.) | The Shaman's Apprentice: Inuktitut | Winner |
| 2021 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Samantha Martin-Bird | the indian (adultery) act & other poems | Winner |
| 2021 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Brandi Bird | Ode to Diabetes | Finalist |
| 2021 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Erica Violet Lee | A Manifesto for the Morning and Forever After | Finalist |
| 2021 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Shaya MacDonald | She Said to Me | Finalist |
| 2021 | Unpublished Prose in English | Amanda Peters | Waiting for the Long Night Moon | Winner |
| 2021 | Unpublished Prose in English | Troy Sebastian | The Mission | Finalist |
| 2021 | Unpublished Prose in English | Deanna M. Jacobson | Hockey and Hot Chocolate | Finalist |
| 2022 | English Prose | Brian Thomas Isaac | All the Quiet Places | Winner |
| 2022 | English Prose | Sheryl Doherty | Finding Izzy | Finalist |
| 2022 | English Poetry | Selina Boan | Undoing Hours | Winner |
| 2022 | English Poetry | Tenille K. Campbell | nedí nezų | Finalist |
| 2022 | English Poetry | Dallas Hunt | Creeland | Finalist |
| 2022 | English Poetry | Diana Hope Tegenkamp | Girl running | Finalist |
| 2022 | French Language | Édouard Itual Germain | Ni kistisin / Je me souviens | Winner |
| 2022 | French Language | Andrée Levesque Sioui | Chant(s) | Finalist |
| 2022 | French Language | Daniel Sioui | Indien stoïque | Finalist |
| 2022 | Graphic Novels, Comics, and Illustrated Books | Aimée Craft | Treaty Words: For As Long As the Rivers Flow | Winner |
| 2022 | Graphic Novels, Comics, and Illustrated Books | Lisa Boivin | We Dream Medicine Dreams | Finalist |
| 2022 | Graphic Novels, Comics, and Illustrated Books | Teoni Spathelfer with Natassia Davies (illus.) | White Raven | Finalist |
| 2022 | Indigenous Language | Brittany Luby with Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley (illus.) and Alvin Ted Corbiere (trans.) and Alan Corbiere (trans.) | Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know | Winner |
| 2022 | Indigenous Language | Jodie Callaghan, with Georgia Lesley (illus.) and Joe Wilmot (trans.) | Ga’s / The Train | Finalist |
| 2022 | Indigenous Language | Sharon King | Amik | Finalist |
| 2022 | Unpublished Prose in English | Leslie Butt | Tanked | Winner |
| 2022 | Unpublished Prose in English | David Agecoutay | It’s For the Best | Finalist |
| 2022 | Unpublished Prose in English | Jenn Ashton | Hail Mary, Mother of Pearl | Finalist |
| 2022 | Unpublished Prose in English | Bianca Martin | Paqt’sm / I Was Born with the Spirit of the Wolf | Finalist |
| 2022 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Meghan Eaker | mistahi maskikiy | Winner |
| 2022 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Brandi Bird | A Dawn | Finalist |
| 2022 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Jacqueline Gibbon | tante ohci kiya / Displaced Métis Iskwew | Finalist |
| 2022 | Unpublished Poetry in English | Samantha Martin-Bird | Poems for White Men | Finalist |
| 2023 | English Prose | Cody Caetano | Half-Bads in White Regalia | Winner |
| 2023 | English Prose | Francine Cunningham | God Isn't Here Today | Finalist |
| 2023 | English Prose | Frances Koncan | Women of the Fur Trade | Finalist |
| 2023 | English Prose | Kim Spencer | Weird Rules to Follow | Finalist |
| 2023 | English Prose | Chelsea Vowel | Buffalo Is the New Buffalo | Finalist |
| 2023 | English Prose | Joshua Whitehead | Making Love with the Land | Finalist |
| 2023 | French Prose | Carole Labarre | L'Or des mélèzes | Winner |
| 2023 | French Prose | J. D. Kurtness | Bienvenue | Finalist |
| 2023 | French Prose | Jocelyn Sioui | Frétillant et agile | Finalist |
| 2023 | English Poetry | Emily Riddle | The Big Melt | Winners |
| 2023 | English Poetry | Matthew James Weigel | Whitemud Walking | Winners |
| 2023 | English Poetry | Justene Dion-Glowa | Trailer Park Shakes | Finalist |
| 2023 | English Poetry | Ashley Qilavaq-Savard | Where the Sea Kuniks the Land | Finalist |
| 2023 | English Poetry | Délani Valin | Shapeshifters | Finalist |
| 2023 | French Poetry | Maya Cousineau Mollen | Enfants du lichen | Winner |
| 2023 | French Poetry | Rita Mestokosho | Atik u utei | Finalist |
| 2023 | Indigenous Language | Solomon Awa | Animals Illustrated: Narwhal | Winner |
| 2023 | Indigenous Language | George Paul, Loretta Gould, Barbara Sylliboy | The Honour Song | Finalist |
| 2023 | Unpublished prose in English | David Agecoutay | "Frank" | Winner |
| 2023 | Unpublished prose in English | Brandi Bird | "Home" | Finalist |
| 2023 | Unpublished prose in English | Kerissa Dickie | "Seh Woo – My Teeth" | Finalist |
| 2023 | Unpublished prose in English | Henry Heavyshield | "Settler Birds and Social NDNs in the City" | Finalist |
| 2023 | Unpublished prose in English | Scarlet Scott | "In the Morning" | Finalist |
| 2023 | Unpublished poetry in English | Cooper Skjeie | "Scattered Oblations" | Winner |
| 2023 | Unpublished poetry in English | Leah Baptiste | "Rez Girls Are Forever" | Finalist |
| 2023 | Unpublished poetry in English | Kelsey Borgford | "Once the Smudge Is Lit" | Finalist |
| 2023 | Unpublished poetry in English | Kaitlyn Purcell | "A Child Called Dream" | Finalist |
| 2023 | Graphic novels | Samantha Beynon, Lucy Trimble | Oolichan Moon | Winner |
| 2023 | Graphic novels | Raeann Brown | Bedtime in Nunatsiavut | Finalist |
| 2023 | Graphic novels | Babah Kalluk | Niitu and Chips | Finalist |
| 2023 | Graphic novels | Cole Pauls | Kwändǖr | Finalist |
| 2023 | Graphic novels | Willie Poll with Chief Lady Bird | Together We Drum, Our Hearts Beat as One | Finalist |
| 2024 | English Prose | Alicia Elliott | And Then She Fell | Winner |
| 2024 | English Prose | Caleigh Crow | There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death or, The Born-Again Crow | Finalist |
| 2024 | English Prose | Michelle Good | Truth Telling | Finalist |
| 2024 | English Prose | Peggy Janicki | The Secret Pocket | Finalist |
| 2024 | English Prose | Tiffany Morris | Green Fuse Burning | Finalist |
| 2024 | English Prose | Angela Sterritt | Unbroken | Finalist |
| 2024 | English Poetry | Brandi Bird | The All + Flesh | Winner |
| 2024 | English Poetry | Jesse Rae Archibald-Barber | The Star Poems | Finalist |
| 2024 | English Poetry | Jamesie Fournier | Elements | Finalist |
| 2024 | English Poetry | Cara-Lyn Morgan | Building a Nest from the Bones of My People | Finalist |
| 2024 | French Prose | J. D. Kurtness | La vallée de l’étrange | Winner |
| 2024 | French Prose | Georges Pisimopeo | Piisim Napeu | Winner |
| 2024 | French Prose | Moira-Uashteskun Bacon | Envole-toi, Mikun | Finalist |
| 2024 | French Poetry/Drama | Soleil Launière | Akuteu | Winner |
| 2024 | French Poetry/Drama | Alexis Vollant | Nipinapunan | Winner |
| 2024 | French Poetry/Drama | Émilie Monnet | Marguerite, le feu | Finalist |
| 2024 | Unpublished Prose | Dennis Allen | Kristopher with a K | Winner |
| 2024 | Unpublished Prose | Jenn Ashton | Hungry | Winner |
| 2024 | Unpublished Prose | Henry Heavyshield | Our Rez Anomaly | Winner |
| 2024 | Unpublished Prose | Kaitlyn Purcell | łuk'é náte | Winner |
| 2024 | Unpublished Poetry | Leah Baptiste | Coming of Age | Winner |
| 2024 | Unpublished Poetry | Hannah Big Canoe | Nanabush Trails and Four Others | Winner |
| 2024 | Unpublished Poetry | sakâw laboucan | styrofoam love | Winner |
| 2024 | Unpublished Poetry | Jordan Redekop-Jones | On the Threshold, I Taste Lightning | Winner |