# CBC Literary Prize

The CBC Literary Prize is a Canadian literary award, granted annually in three categories: short stories, poetry, and creative non-fiction. The Award is directed towards Anglophone writers.

## About the prize

The CBC Literary Prize is granted annually in three categories: short stories, poetry, and creative non-fiction. For each category, the winner receives $6,000 and a two-week writing residency at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity. Four runners-up receive $1,000 each, and all the winning works are published on the CBC Books website.
The Prize was established as a partnership between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Canada Council for the Arts and enRoute, Air Canada’s inflight magazine. The Canada Council for the Arts has stated that, "these awards have brought to the public's attention many talented young people who have since gone on to become established writers."
Notable previous winners include writers Michael Ondaatje, W.D. Valgardson, and Gwendolyn MacEwen, as well as poets Don Domanski, Mary di Michele, and diplomat Charles Ritchie. Author Carol Shields wrote in a letter to CBC's chairperson that winning the CBC Literary Prize was fundamental to her career as a writer.

## Winners

The list of winners of the CBC Literary Prize include:
| Year | Short Story Prize | Poetry Prize | Creative Non-fiction Prize |
| 1979 | Les Rites by Shaun Virgo | A New Romance by David McFadden The Pat Lowther Poem by Gail McKay | My Cousin Gerald by Charles Ritchie (memoir) |
| 1980 | A Matter of Balance by W.D. Valgardson | Mimosa by Mary Di Michele Birds by Bill Bissett | Aga Dawn by Bill Schermbrucker (memoir) |
| 1981 | The Leaving by Budge Wilson | The Cave of Trophonius by Francis Sparshott | The Fifth Man by Ronald R. Jeffels (memoir) |
| 1982 | The Passions of Lalla by Michael Ondaatje The Hen's Castle by Alice Tomlinson (children's story) | Summer's Drug by Roo Borson | Jupiter's Feet: A Love Story by Rachel Wyatt (radio drama) A Taste of the Sweet Apple by Larry Snyder (radio drama) |
| 1983 | The Other Country by Gwendolyn MacEwen Once Upon A Village by Christel Kleitsch (children's story) | Catchpenny Poems by David Helwig | Women Waiting by Carol Shields (radio drama) |
| 1984 | An Interview by Ernst Havemann To the Mountains by Morning by Diana Wieler (children's story) | Technologies/Installations by Kim Maltman | Stations by John Gregory (drama) |
| 1985 | Mrs. Putnam at the Planetarium by Janice Kulyk Keefer | Southeasterly by Andrew Wreggitt The Blue Roofs of Japan by Robert Bringhurst | Ratzlaff vs. the Creator by Eric Nicol (radio drama) |
| 1986 | The Wind by Janice Kulyk Keefer | A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario by Christopher Dewdney | Mortal by Cordelia Strube (radio drama) |
| 1987 | Dream Land by Carol Windley | Angels of Silence by Lorna Crozier | Seiche by W.D. Valgardson (radio drama) |
| 1988 | A Van for Violet by Ernst Havemann | Spring Descending by Michael Harris | The Demon by Matthew Decter (radio drama) |
| 1989 | Peggy Lee in Africa by Patrick Roscoe | A Glossary of the Intertext by Stephen Scobie | Hungry Ghosts by Louise Young |
| 1990 | Hoodlums by Irena Friedman Karafilly | Human Acts by Heather Spears | Leaving the Farm by Ross Klatte |
| 1991 | -- | -- | -- |
| 1992 | Elizabeth by John Givner | Captain Kintail and The Church Not Made with Hands by John Terpstra | Shame and Pleasure by Amy Friedman |
| 1993 | The Girl with the Bell Necklace by Gail Anderson-Dargatz | Eleven Paintings by Mary Pratt by Diana Brebner | A Careful Man by Carolyn Smart |
| 1994 | In the Water, Like This by Gayla Reid | Poems by Roger Greenwald | The Suit by Norman Doidge |
| 1995 | Bolero by Frances Itani | Kicheraboo, We Are Dying by John B. Lee | Flight by Judith Kalman |
| 1996 | Poached Egg on Toast by Frances Itani | The Gold Luck of Carp by Susan Musgrave | Jungle Fever by Jamie Zeppa |
| 1997 | Satya by Shauna Singh Baldwin | Hoar Frost by Roberta Rees | Hair by Elaine Kalman Naves |
| 1998 | Where It Comes From, Where It Goes by Bill Gaston | One Version by Suzanne Buffam | Boo by Timothy Wilson |
| 1999 | How can men share a bottle of vodka by David Bergen | Drowning Water & Other Poems by Don Domanski | Tunnels by Roberta Rees |
| 2000 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2001 | Between Wars by Camilla Gibb | Poems for Carl Hruska by Erin Noteboom | A Desert Romance by David Tycho |
| 2002 | The Last Shot by Leon Rooke | Once a Murderer: Poems for Three Voices by Zoë Landale | Dents in the Laurentians by Roger Greenwald |
| 2003 | The Lost Boy by Jane Eaton Hamilton | Selections from Muybridge's Horse by Rob Winger | Girl Afraid of Haystacks (A story of travel and exile) by Stephen Osborne |
| 2004 | The Point David Made Earlier by Michael Winter | The Workshop by Asa Boxer | The Bus to Loja by Montana Jones |
| 2005 | The Chorus by Erin Soros | The Mind's Eye by Alison Pick | I, Witness by Kim Echlin |
| 2006 | The People Who Love Her by Amy Jones | A Walker in the City by Méira Cook | The Occupations of Muriel Thompson by Leona Theis |
| 2007 | White by Lee Kvern | Sundress, Fortress by Jeramy Dodds | In a Garden by Shelagh Plunkett |
| 2008 | Circus by Claire Battershill | Outskirts by Sue Goyette | Columbus Burning by Sarah de Leeuw |
| 2009 | Badger by Donald Ward | Us unclean by Michael Langton | The Rise by Marian Botsford Fraser |
| 2010 | Snapshots from My Father's Euthanasia Road Trip, or, Esau by Meghan Adams | To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Brian Brett | My Best Friend by Gina Leola Woolsey |
| 2011 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2012 | Mine by Daniel Karasik | Great Aunt Unmarried by Sadiqa de Meijer | Holy Bald-Headed by Hilary Dean |
| 2013 | The Three Times Rule by Becky Blake | The Trailer by James Scoles | The Gods of Scrabble by Mohan Srivastava |
| 2014 | Smiley by Jane Eaton Hamilton | Tar Swan by David Martin | The Hunter and the Swan by Patti-Kay Hamilton |
| 2015 | Mountain Under Sea by D.W. Wilson | String Theory by Mark Wagenaar | If You Have a Good Seal, the Chest Will Rise by Carrie Mac |
| 2016 | Enigma by David Huebert | African Canadian in Union Blue by Michael Fraser | Adaptation by Leslie A. Davidson |
| 2017 | Witching by Alix Hawley | Postcards for my Sister by Alessandra Naccarato | Trust Exercise by Becky Blake |
| 2018 | Lipstick Day by Leah Mol | Arrhythmia by Natalie Lim | Easy Family Dinners by Sandra Murdock |
| 2019 | Green Velvet by Krzysztof Pelc | Love Poem with Elk and Punctuation, Prairie Storm and Tasbih by Alycia Pirmohamed | Slow Violence by Jenny Boychuck |
| 2020 | Gibson by Brenda Damen | Tickling the Scar by Matthew Hollett | Value Village by Jonathan Poh |
| 2021 | Kids in Kindergarten by Corinna Chong | James by Lisa Gaston | Umbrella by Chanel M. Sutherland |
| 2022 | Beneath the Softness of Snow by Chanel M. Sutherland | Spell World Backwards by Bren Simmers | Advice to a New Beekeeper by Susan Cormier |