Governor General’s Literary Awards

Eligibility

The author must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada as defined by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. They do not need to be living in Canada. Authors must be living on the date of book publication.

• For the Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books category and for all graphic novels, both the author and illustrator must meet these criteria.
• For the Translation category, the translator must meet these criteria. The author of the original work must be a Canadian citizen or have permanent resident status but does not need to be living on the date of publication.

See the Guidelines for full eligibility criteria. 

Summary

In 1936, His Excellency the Right Honourable John Buchan, Lord Tweedsmuir, was approached by members of the Canadian Authors Association to establish a system of literary prizes. He agreed to lend the name of his office in order to stimulate writers and encourage a deeper interest in their work among the general public. As a result of these talks, the Governor General's Literary Awards were created. In 1959, the Canada Council for the Arts assumed responsibility for them and added prizes for works written in French. In 1987, three categories were added: Translation and the two children’s literature categories (text and illustration), which are now known as Young People’s Literature – Text and Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books. 

The Governor General's Literary Awards are presented to English-language and French-language books in each of the following seven categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Young People’s Literature – Text, Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books and Translation (from French to English and vice versa). 

Application deadlines

Program application deadline

Books must be published and available on the market between 1 August 2023 and 30 June 2024. Deadlines for nominations are:

• 15 February 2024 – for books published between 1 August 2023 and 31 January 2024
• 15 May 2024 – for books published between 1 February 2024 and 15 May 2024
• 15 July 2024 – for books published between 16 May 2024 and 30 June 2024

Only eligible publishing houses can submit titles for consideration.