The Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award was established in 1985 following the death of Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver, one of Canada's pre-eminent book illustrators. In her will, Cleaver left a fund of $10,000 dollars for an award to be given annually in recognition of outstanding artistic talent in a Canadian picture book. The recipient receives a cheque for $1,000 dollars and a certificate.
The Cleaver Award is administered by a committee of three members of the Canadian section of the International Board on Books for Young People. The recipient is a Canadian illustrator of a picture book published in Canada in English or French during the previous calendar year. To be eligible, the book must be a first edition and contain original illustrations. All genres are considered: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, folk and fairy tales.
- 2008 - Christine Delezenne, La Clé by Angèle Delaunois. Montreal: Éditions de l’Isatis, 2008.
- 2007 – Stéphane Jorisch, The Owl and the Pussycat
- 2006 – Kady MacDonald Denton, Snow
- 2005 – Geneviève Côté, The Lady of Shalott
- 2004 – Stéphane Poulin, Un chant de Noël
- 2003 – Pierre Pratt, Where's Pup?
- 2002 – Janie Jaehyun Park, The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon
- 2001 – Marie-Louise Gay, Stella, Queen of the Snow
- 2000 – Michèle Lemieux, Stormy Night
- 1999 – Kady MacDonald Denton, A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes
- 1998 – Pascal Mileli, Rainbow Bay
- 1997 – Harvey Chan, Ghost Train
- 1996 – Janet Wilson, Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt
- 1995 – Murray Kimber, Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story
- 1994 – Leo Yerxa, Last Leaf First Snowflake to Fall
- 1993 – Barbara Reid, Two by Two
- 1992 – Ron Lightburn, Waiting for the Whales
- 1991 – Paul Morin, The Orphan Boy
- 1990 – Ian Wallace, The Name of the Tree
- 1989 – Eric Beddows, Night Cars
- 1988 – Stéphane Poulin, Can You Catch Josephine?
- 1987 – Barbara Reid, Have You Seen Birds?
- 1986 – Ann Blades, By the Sea: An Alphabet Book
