Lynn Coady

Book awards! They’ve been dropping like leaves from trees and I’ve been walking, head down into the wind, kicking acronyms right and left. I mean this figuratively, of course.

I just returned from a walk in the woods, literally, and decided to curl up in front of the fireplace with some cocoa and a laptop. My afternoon project, to rake up these book awards and find out the what’s-what and the who’s-who of it all — from winners to judges.

	Governor General’s Award	Scotiabank Giller Prize	Man Booker Prize	Rogers Writer’s Trust Fiction
Winners 2013:	Eleanor Catton	Lynn Cody	Eleanor Catton	Colin McAdam
Awarded for:
Awarded to:	The year’s best English-language and the best French-language book in each of the seven categories.	The year’s best Canadian fiction novel or short story collection.	The year’s best Canadian fiction *There is also a Man Booker International Prize.	The year’s best Canadian fiction novel or short story collection * Writer’s Trust also gives out nine other awards annually.
Eligibility:	Eligibility Guidelines “… must have been writ-ten, translated or illustra-ted by Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada (they do not need to be residing in Canada). Self published books are ineligible	Eligibility Guidelines Must be a first edition full length novel or short story collection written by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada Must be written in English Self published books are ineligible	Eligibility Guidelines Must be a first edition full length novel written by a citizen of the Common-wealth or Republic of Ireland, published in the United Kingdom. Must be an original work in English (not a translation) Self published books are ineligible	Eligibility Guidelines Writers must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. (Canadian writers living overseas are eligible.) Self published books are ineligible
Judging:	A jury of fellow authors, translators and illustrators, makes the final selection in each category.	A panel of three celebrated Canadian authors	“… judges are chosen from a wide range of disciplines, including critics, writers and academics, but also poets, politicians and actors, all with a passion for quality fiction.”	“An Author’s Committee composed of writers from across the country recommends writers” to fill a three member, independent judging panel