Past CBC Literary Prize winners

CBC Books | | Posted: May 2, 2017 8:15 PM | Last Updated: May 14

1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s

2023

Short Story: Just a Howl by Will Richter

Nonfiction: Glossary for an Aswang by Louie Leyson

Poetry: lotus flower blooming into breasts by Kyo Lee

2022

Short Story: Beneath the Softness of Snow by Chanel M. Sutherland

Nonfiction: Advice to a New Beekeeper by Susan Cormier

Poetry: Spell World Backwards by Bren Simmers

2021

Short Story: Kids in Kindergarten by Corinna Chong

Nonfiction: Umbrella by Chanel M. Sutherland

Poetry: James by Lise Gaston

2020

Short Story: Gibson by Brenda Damen

Nonfiction: Value Village by Jonathan Poh

Poetry: Tickling the Scar by Matthew Hollett

2019

Short Story: Green Velvet by Krzysztof Pelc

Nonfiction: Slow Violence by Jenny Boychuck

Poetry: Love Poem with Elk and Punctuation, Prairie Storm and Tasbih by Alycia Pirmohamed

2018

Short Story: Lipstick Day by Leah Mol

Nonfiction: Easy Family Dinners by Sandra Murdock

Poetry: Arrhythmia by Natalie Lim

2017

Short Story: Witching by Alix Hawley

Poetry: Postcards for my Sister by Alessandra Naccarato

Creative Nonfiction: Trust Exercise by Becky Blake

2016

Short Story: Enigma by David Huebert

Poetry: African Canadian in Union Blue by Michael Fraser

Creative Nonfiction: Adaptation by Leslie A. Davidson

2015

Short Story: Mountain Under Sea by D.W. Wilson

Poetry: String Theory by Mark Wagenaar

Creative Nonfiction: If You Have a Good Seal, the Chest Will Rise by Carrie Mac

2014

Short Story: Smiley by Jane Eaton Hamilton

Poetry: Tar Swan by David Martin

Creative Nonfiction: The Hunter and the Swan by Patti-Kay Hamilton

2013

Short Story: The Three Times Rule by Becky Blake

Poetry: The Trailer by James Scoles

Creative Nonfiction: The Gods of Scrabble by Mohan Srivastava

2012

Short Story: Mine by Daniel Karasik

Poetry: Great Aunt Unmarried by Sadiqa de Meijer

Creative Nonfiction: Holy Bald-Headed by Hilary Dean

2010

Short Story: Snapshots from My Father's Euthanasia Road Trip, or, Esau by Meghan Adams

Poetry: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Brian Brett

Creative Nonfiction: My Best Friend by Gina Leola Woolsey

2009

Short Story: Badger by Donald Ward

Poetry: Us unclean by Michael Langton

Creative Nonfiction: The Rise by Marian Botsford Fraser

2008

Short Story: Circus by Claire Battershill

Poetry: Outskirts by Sue Goyette

Creative Nonfiction: Columbus Burning by Sarah de Leeuw

2007

Short Story: White by Lee Kvern

Poetry: Sundress, Fortress by Jeramy Dodds

Creative Nonfiction: In a Garden by Shelagh Plunkett

2006

Short Story: The People Who Love Her by Amy Jones

Poetry: A Walker in the City by Méira Cook

Creative Nonfiction: The Occupations of Muriel Thompson by Leona Theis

2005

Short Story: The Chorus by Erin Soros

Poetry: The Mind's Eye by Alison Pick

Creative Nonfiction: I, Witness by Kim Echlin

2004

Short Story: The Point David Made Earlier by Michael Winter

Poetry: The Workshop by Asa Boxer

Travel Writing: The Bus to Loja by Montana Jones

2003

Short Story: The Lost Boy by Jane Eaton Hamilton

Poetry: Selections from Muybridge's Horse by Rob Winger

Travel Writing: Girl Afraid of Haystacks (A story of travel and exile) by Stephen Osborne

2002

Short Story: The Last Shot by Leon Rooke

Poetry: Once a Murderer: Poems for Three Voices by Zoë Landale

Travel Writing: Dents in the Laurentians by Roger Greenwald

2001

Short Story: Between Wars by Camilla Gibb

Poetry: Poems for Carl Hruska by Erin Noteboom

Travel Writing: A Desert Romance by David Tycho

1999

Short Story: How can men share a bottle of vodka by David Bergen

Poetry: Drowning Water & Other Poems by Don Domanski

Essay: Tunnels by Roberta Rees

1998

Short Story: Where It Comes From, Where It Goes by Bill Gaston

Poetry: One Version by Suzanne Buffam

Essay: Boo by Timothy Wilson

1997

Short Story: Satya by Shauna Singh Baldwin

Poetry: Hoar Frost by Roberta Rees

Essay: Hair by Elaine Kalman Naves

1996

Short Story: Poached Egg on Toast by Frances Itani

Poetry: The Gold Luck of Carp by Susan Musgrave

Essay: Jungle Fever by Jamie Zeppa

1995

Short Story: Bolero by Frances Itani

Poetry: Kicheraboo, We Are Dying by John B. Lee

Essay: Flight by Judith Kalman

1994

Short Story: In the Water, Like This by Gayla Reid

Poetry: Poems by Roger Greenwald

Essay: The Suit by Norman Doidge

1992/93

Short Story: The Girl with the Bell Necklace by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Poetry: Eleven Paintings by Mary Pratt by Diana Brebner

Essay: A Careful Man by Carolyn Smart

1991

Short Story: Elizabeth by John Givner

Poetry: Captain Kintail and The Church Not Made with Hands by John Terpstra

Essay: Shame and Pleasure by Amy Friedman

1990

Short Story: Hoodlums by Irena Friedman Karafilly

Poetry: Human Acts by Heather Spears

Essay: Leaving the Farm by Ross Klatte

1989

Short Story: Peggy Lee in Africa by Patrick Roscoe

Poetry (second place): A Glossary of the Intertext by Stephen Scobie

Radio Drama: Hungry Ghosts by Louise Young

1988

Short Story: A Van for Violet by Ernst Havemann

Poetry: Spring Descending by Michael Harris

Radio Drama: The Demon by Matthew Decter

1987

Short Story: Dream Land by Carol Windley

Poetry: Angels of Silence by Lorna Crozier

Radio Drama: Seiche by W.D. Valgardson

1986

Short Story: The Wind by Janice Kulyk Keefer

Poetry: A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario by Christopher Dewdney

Radio Drama: Mortal by Cordelia Strube

1985

Short Story: Mrs. Putnam at the Planetarium by Janice Kulyk Keefer

Poetry (tie for first place):
Southeasterly by Andrew Wreggitt
The Blue Roofs of Japan by Robert Bringhurst

Radio Drama: Ratzlaff vs. the Creator by Eric Nicol

1984

Short Story: An Interview by Ernst Havemann

Poetry: Technologies/Installations by Kim Maltman

Drama: Stations by John Gregory

Children's Story: To the Mountains by Morning by Diana Wieler

1983

Short Story: The Other Country by Gwendolyn MacEwen

Poetry: Catchpenny Poems by David Helwig

Radio Drama: Women Waiting by Carol Shields

Children's Story (second place): Once Upon A Village by Christel Kleitsch

1982

Short Story: The Passions of Lalla by Michael Ondaatje

Poetry: Summer's Drug by Roo Borson

Radio Drama (Adventure): Jupiter's Feet: A Love Story by Rachel Wyatt

Radio Drama (Comedy) (second place): A Taste of the Sweet Apple by Larry Snyder

Children's Story: The Hen's Castle by Alice Tomlinson

1981

Short Story: The Leaving by Budge Wilson

Poetry: The Cave of Trophonius by Francis Sparshott

Memoirs: The Fifth Man by Ronald R. Jeffels

1980

Short Story: A Matter of Balance by W.D. Valgardson

Poetry (tie for second place):
Mimosa by Mary Di Michele
Birds by Bill Bissett

Memoirs: Aga Dawn by Bill Schermbrucker

1979

Short Story: Les Rites by Seán Virgo

Poetry (tie for second place):
A New Romance by David McFadden
The Pat Lowther Poem by Gail McKay

Memoirs: My Cousin Gerald by Charles Ritchie