Governor General's Literary Awards

The Governor General's Literary Awards recognize books by creators from Canada in both of the country's official languages. They were established in 1936 at the initiative of Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir and the Canadian Authors Association, and the Canada Council for the Arts has funded, run and promoted them since 1959, when French-language awards were added.

Awards are given in seven categories in English and the same seven in French: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, young people's literature in text, young people's illustrated books, and translation. For each of the fourteen awards, a peer assessment committee reviews the eligible titles submitted by publishers and selects one winning book and up to four more finalists. The creators of each winning book share $25,000, the winning publisher receives a $3,000 grant for promotion, and each other finalist receives $1,000.

English- and French-language books by Canadian citizens or permanent residents, submitted by their publishers during the annual eligibility period.