Amazon Canada First Novel Award postpones 2020 winner announcement and ceremony
Samraweet Yohannes | | Posted: March 25, 2020 7:19 PM | Last Updated: March 25, 2020
The Amazon Canada First Novel Award program has postponed this year's ceremony amid concerns over COVID-19.
The 44th ceremony will now take place on Aug. 27, 2020, at the Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto.
The prize, established in 1976, is worth $60,000 and honours the best first novel in English published the previous year by a citizen or resident of Canada. The six finalist authors each receive $6,000.
The announcement of this year's shortlisted authors will also be postponed, until a month before the new ceremony date.
This year marks the third year of the Youth Short Story Category, in which young writers between the ages of 13 and 17 submit a short story under 3,000 words.
The winning short story, chosen by the panel of judges, receives $5,000 and a mentorship lunch with The Walrus editors.
Casey Plett won the 2019 Amazon First Novel Award for her debut novel, Little Fish.
Other past winners include novelists Michael Ondaatje, Joy Kogawa, W. P. Kinsella and André Alexis.