Cathal Kelly's humorous memoir Boy Wonders, about how a troubled family life led him to seek refuge in games, movies and books, has won the 2019 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.

The $15,000 prize, which annually recognizes the best in Canadian literary humour, was presented at a gala event in Orillia, Ont., on June 8, 2019.

Kelly is a national sports columnist at The Globe and Mail. His memoir Boy Wonders has a funny and insightful tone in revealing his hardscrabble life growing up in a single parent household during the 1970s and 1980s in Toronto's west end.

The other 2019 finalists included Ali Bryan, nominated for her novel The Figgs, which follows family matriarch June Figg who longs for peace and quiet as she deals with her adult children who still live at home, and Mark Critch for his memoir Son of a Critch, which details the comedian's childhood shenanigans growing up in 1980s Newfoundland.

Last year's winner was Jennifer Craig for Gone To Pot, a novel about a pot-growing grandmother.

Other past winners include Patrick deWitt, Cassie Stocks and Terry Fallis.