The City of Vancouver Book Award . Winners 1989 to present. Current shortlists.

The City of Vancouver Book Award is a $2,000 prize that has been presented annually since 1989 to authors of books in any genre that demonstrate excellence and contribute to the appreciation and understanding of Vancouver’s history, unique character or the achievements of its residents.

The book may be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or drama written for adults or children and may deal with any aspects of the city: history, geography, current affairs, or the arts. The winning book must also exhibit excellence in content, illustration, design, and/or format.

The prize is funded by interest earned from the City’s Publishing Reserve which was established in 1977 as a permanent legacy for writers and publishers. The fund received royalties generated from Vancouver’s First Century: a photo history of Vancouver edited by City staff. The third edition of the book, renamed Vancouver: A City Album, for many years generated royalty payments for the fund.

2007

* Michael Kluckner for Vancouver Remembered (Whitecap Books)
Grant Arnold and Michael Turner for Fred Herzog: Vancouver Photographs (Douglas and McIntyre and the Vancouver Art Gallery
Anita Rau Badami for Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? (Knopf Canada)
Brett Josef Grubisic for The Age of Cities (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Judges: University of B.C. English professor Glenn Deer; bookseller Marc Fournier; and novelist and screenwriter Karen X. Tulchinsky.

Detailed author information

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2006

*Jean Barman, Stanley Park’s Secret: The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi, Kanaka Ranch and Brockton Point, Harbour Publishing
*James P. Delgado, Waterfront:The Illustrated Maritime History of Greater Vancouver, Stanton Atkins & Dosil.
Derek Hayes, Historical Atlas of Vancouver and the Lower Fraser Valley, Douglas & McIntyre
Abraham J. Rogatnick, Ian M. Thom, and Adele Weder for B.C. Binning, Douglas & McIntyre

Judges: Rod Clarke, bookseller; Glenn Deer, University of B.C. English professor; and Laurie Roggeman, former president of the Friends of the Vancouver Public Library.

News Release - Winner of the 2006 Award
Detailed author information
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2005

*Lance Berelowitz, Dream City: Vancouver and the Global Imagination, Douglas & McIntyre
Wayson Choy, All That Matters, Doubleday Canada
Leslie Robertson and Dara Culhane (editors), In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver, Talonbooks
Various authors, The Vancouver Stories: West Coast Fiction from Canada’s Best Writers, Raincoast Books

Judges: Keith Bunnell, University of B.C. librarian; Laurie Roggeman, Vancouver booklover and former president of the Friends of the Vancouver Public Library; and author and cultural advocate Max Wyman

News Release - Winner of the 2005 Award
Detailed author information
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2004

*Daniel Francis, L.D.: Mayor Louis Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver, Arsenal Pulp Press
Annabel Lyon, The Best Thing for You, McClelland & Stewart
Paul Yee, The Bone Collector’s Son, Tradewind Books
Caroline Adderson, Sitting Practice, Thomas Allen Publishers (honourable-mention)
Maggie de Vries, Missing Sarah, Penguin Canada (honourable-mention)
John Punter, The Vancouver Achievement: Urban Planning & Design, UBC Press (honourable-mention)

Judges: George Fetherling, author; Keith Bunnell, UBC librarian; Crystal Allen, bookseller
News Release - Winner of 2004 Award
Detailed author information
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2003
*Lincoln Clarkes, Heroines, essays by Ken Dietrich et al., Anvil Press
*Reid Shier, ed, Stan Douglas: Every Building on 100 Block West Hastings, Contemporary Art Gallery/Arsenal Pulp Press
John Clague and Bob Turner, Vancouver, City on the Edge, Tricouni Press
Fiona Tinwei Lam, Intimate Distances, Nightwood Editions/Harbour Publishing
Judges: Anne Yandle, librarian; George Fetherling, author; Michael Varty, bookseller
News Release - Winner of 2003 Award
2003 Finalists and Winners Announced

2002
*Keith Carlson et al., A Sto:lo-Coast Salish Historical Atlas, Douglas and McIntyre
Doreen Armitage, Burrard Inlet: A History, Harbour Publishing
Cynthia Flood, Making a Stone of the Heart, Key Porter Books
Bart Campbell, The Door is Open: Memoir of a Soup Kitchen Volunteer, Anvil Press
Judges: Brenda Peterson, librarian; Denise Ryan, editor; Michael Varty, bookseller
News Release - Winner of 2002 Award

2001
*Madeleine Thien, Simple Recipes, McClelland & Stewart
Douglas Coupland, City of Glass – Douglas Coupland’s Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre
Timothy Taylor, Stanley Park, Knopf Canada
Gary Wyatt, ed., Susan Point: Coast Salish Artist, Douglas & McIntyre
Judges: Brenda Peterson, librarian; Shamina Senaratne, writer; and Don Stewart, bookseller
News Release - Announcement of Finalists
News Release - Winner of 2001 Award

2000
*Lilia D’Acres & Donald Luxton, Lions Gate, Talonbooks
Christine Allen & Collin Varner, Gardens of Vancouver, Raincoast Books
Wayson Choy, Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood, Penguin Canada
Wing Chung Ng, The Chinese in Vancouver: The Pursuit of Identity and Power, 1945-80, UBC Press
Judges: Shamina Senaratne, writer; Nina Smart, SFU librarian; and Joseph Stewart, bookseller

1999
*Bud Osborn, Keys to Kingdoms, Get to the Point Publishing
Shawn Blore and the editors of Vancouver magazine, Vancouver: Secrets of the City, Arsenal Pulp Press
Grant Buday, White Lung, Anvil Press
Judges: Joseph Stewart, bookseller; Mark Leier, SFU historian and author; and Bob Sarti, journalist

1998
*Chuck Davis, The Greater Vancouver Book: An Urban Encyclopaedia, Linkman Press
Betty O’Keefe and Ian Macdonald, The Mulligan Affair: Top Cop on the Take, Heritage House
Carmen Rodriguez, And a Body to Remember With, Arsenal Pulp Press
Judges: Donna Brendon, bookseller, retail consultant; Ian Chunn, B.C. Book Prizes; Vickie Jensen, author.

1997
*Rhodri Windsor Liscombe, The New Spirit: Modern Architecture in Vancouver, 1938-1963, Douglas & McIntyre/The Canadian Centre for Architecture
John A. Cherrington, Vancouver at the Dawn: A Turn-of-the-Century Portrait, Harbour
Fred Thirkell and Bob Scullion, Postcards from the Past: Edwardian Images of Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, Heritage House
Judges: Laura Hackett, bookseller; Judy Taylor, chair of the Vancouver Public Library board of directors; Anne Yandle, former head of UBC Special Collections

1996
*Wayson Choy, The Jade Peony, Douglas & McIntyre
Grant Buday, Monday Night Man, Anvil Press
Robert A. J. McDonald, Making Vancouver: Class, Status & Social Boundaries 1863-1913, UBC Press
Judges: Mary Ann Cantillon, librarian; Irene Howard, author; Brahm Kornbluth, bookseller

1995
*Elspeth Cameron, Earle Birney: A Life, Penguin Books
Lois Simmie with illus. Cynthia Nugent, Mister Got to Go, Red Deer College Press
Ulli Stelzer & Robert Davidson, Eagle Transforming: The Art of Robert Davidson, Douglas & McIntyre
Judges: Irene Howard, author; Nancy Stubbs, librarian; Greg Willett, bookseller

1994
*Denise Chong, The Concubine's Children, Penguin Books
Paul Grescoe & Karl Spreitz, Vancouver: Visions of a City, Beautiful B.C.
Robin Ward, Robin Ward's Heritage West Coast, Harbour
Michael J. Yates, Line Screw, McClelland & Stewart
Judges: Andrea Davies, owner, Hager Books; Chuck Davis, freelance writer; Bruce Macdonald, author

1993
*Bruce Macdonald, Vancouver: A Visual History, Talonbooks
Irene Howard, The Struggle for Social Justice in British Columbia, UBC Press
Michael Kluckner & John Atkin, Heritage Walks Around Vancouver, Whitecap
Judges: Gordon Elliott, editor; John Oliphant, writing instructor; Lucy Stewart, owner, Blackberry Books

1992
*Gerald Straley, Trees of Vancouver: A Guide to the Common & Unusual Trees of the City, UBC Press
Elizabeth Bower, No Forwarding Address, Douglas & McIntyre
Paul Grescoe, Flesh Wound, Douglas & McIntyre
Gregory Edwards, Hidden Cities, Talonbooks
Timothy Oke & Graeme Wynn, Vancouver & Its Regions, UBC Press
Judges: Jean Barman, historian, author; Janice Douglas, librarian; Margaret Gabriel, booksellerback to top

1991
*Michael Kluckner, Vanishing Vancouver, Whitecap
Cyril Leonoff, Leonard Frank: An Enterprising Life, Talonbooks
Robin Ward, Robin Ward's Vancouver, Harbour
Judges: Sue Baptie, archivist; Sean Rossiter, freelance writer; Don Stewart, bookseller

1990
*Sky Lee, Disappearing Moon Cafe, Douglas & McIntyre
Rosemary Brown, Being Brown: A Very Public Life, Random House
Stan Persky, Buddy's: Meditations on Desire, New Star
John Schreiner, The Refiners: A Century of BC Sugar, Douglas & McIntyre

1989
*Paul Yee, Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver, Douglas & McIntyre
Judges: Jean Barman, historian; Russell Kelly; Doreen Westgarth