Alberta Readers' Choice Award

VOTE NOW - click here to place your vote for the 2013 Alberta Readers' Choice Award.

The Edmonton Public Library's Alberta Readers' Choice Award is back for another thrilling year.

Our panel of jurors have made the difficult choices needed to narrow down the list of finalists, and now it's up to the readers throughout Alberta to pick the ultimate winner of the 2013 Alberta Readers' Choice Award!

Last year, with our change in eligibility criteria, we saw five terrific books and their Alberta-based authors duke it out for the $10,000 prize. In the end it was an extremely close race and Wayne Arthurson took home the award for his mystery novel, Fall From Grace.

Who will be the winner this year? It's up to you, Alberta!

2013 Alberta Readers' Choice Award Final Five

The following titles represent the final five titles as chosen by the jurors.

419
by Will Ferguson
Penguin Canada

Find it in EPL's catalogue now.

I Know Who You Remind Me Of
by Naomi K. Lewis
Enfield & Wizenty

Find it in EPL's
catalogue now.

The Shore Girl
by Fran Kimmel
NeWest Press

Find it in EPL's catalogue now.

The Tinsmith
by Tim Bowling
Brindle & Glass Publishing

Find it in EPL's catalogue now.

Walls: Travels Along the Barricades
by Marcello Di Cintio
Goose Lane Editions

Find it in EPL's catalogue now.

Click here to place your vote for the 2013 Winner.

2013 Alberta Readers' Choice Award Top Ten

The following titles represent the top ten titles as chosen by Alberta library staff.


Not With A Bang by Gail Sidonie Sobat Magpie Books	A Killing Winter by Wayne Arthurson Forge Books	Barnabas Bigfoot A Hairy Tangle by Marty Chan Thistledown Press	419 by Will Ferguson Penguin Canada	The Tinsmith by Tim Bowling Brindle & Glass Publishing


The Shore Girl by Fran Kimmel NeWest Press	The Cure For Everything! by Timothy Caulfield Penguin Canada	Walls: Travels Along the Barricades by Marcello Di Cintio Goose Lane Editions	Goddess Gone Fishing for a Map of the Universe by Sheri-D Wilson Frontenac House Ltd.	I Know Who You Remind Me Of by Naomi K. Lewis Enfield & Wizenty

Meet the 2013 Alberta Readers' Choice Award Jurors

	Diana Davidson is the Director of the Public Library Services Branch, Municipal Affairs, of the Government of Alberta. Davidson holds a Ph.D. in literature and has taught at the University of Alberta and the University of York, UK. She has published numerous academic articles and reviewed over 50 books for The Edmonton Journal. Davidson’s creative writing has appeared in Alberta Views, Avenue Edmonton Magazine, and The Winnipeg Review as well as being long-listed for the “CBC Writes” prize and winning a Writers Guild of Alberta award. Davidson’s first book Pilgrimage will be published by Brindle & Glass in the fall of 2013.
	Lori Graff is currently working as the Readers’ Services Librarian at Calgary Public Library. A love of story drew her to a career in librarianship, but the opportunities to facilitate knowledge creation are what drive her passion for her job. Continually seeking new ways to connect readers to other readers as well as authors, she sees the Alberta Readers’ Choice Award as supporting this goal well. In her free time, she enjoys baking and reading as well as taking photographs and going on road trips.
	Michael Hingston is the Edmonton Journal's books columnist, as well as a journalist whose writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Alberta Venture, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency. His first novel will be published by Freehand Books this fall. Hingston lives in Edmonton with his partner and two kids.
	Gregory Koop grew up on the border of central Alberta and Saskatchewan. Living the life of Garp, Gregory cares for his daughter, practices Muay Thai, and writes. A finalist for a 2010 Alberta Literary Award, Gregory has also been a resident of The Banff Centre’s 2011 Writing Studio. His work has been featured in Carte Blanche, The Nashwaak Review, Other Voices Journal of the Literary and Visual Arts, paperplates, and Raving: The Raving Poets Magazine. He is currently polishing a new collection of short fiction.
	Judy Mott is born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. She attended University of Alberta, where she earned a Bachelor of Education in Elementary Education, Minor in Special Education and a Master of Library Science. Working in university, government and public libraries has given her a broad background. She has close to 15 years of experience in the library field. Judy is part of a local Writers’ Club, and still plans to write a book someday. She’s lived west of Edmonton for about 17 years, and loves to look at the lake, sky and woods on her acreage. She’s the Library Manager of Seba Beach Public Library, a rural library serving the village and Parkland County. Her hobbies include yoga, hiking, singing, and gardening.

Sponsored by the Edmonton Public Library, the Edmonton Public Library Alberta Readers’ Choice Award is awarded annually for the best fiction or narrative non-fiction book written by an Alberta author. The prize is valued at $10,000 with the prize going to the winning author.

Eligibility Criteria

Only works of fiction and narrative non-fiction are eligible. Books must be a first edition full-length novel, short story collection or book of poetry written by an Alberta author who has been a resident of Alberta for a minimum of 12 consecutive months immediately prior to the publication of the submitted work, and who currently resides in Alberta.
Books must be published between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012 for the 2013 Award.
The primary language of the work must be English. Previous publication of the book in another language does not disqualify it. In the case of a translation, the original work must be Alberta- authored and it must have been published no more than three years prior to its English translation.
All books must carry an ISBN number, be distributed for sale in Alberta, and be available in Alberta bookstores, online bookstores or Alberta libraries.
Unpublished manuscripts are not eligible.
Reprints or new format reprints of any kind are not eligible.
Selections and collections of poetry and short stories that have been previously published in magazines are eligible.
Multi-author anthologies are not eligible.
With the exception of poetry collections, works must be 48 pages or longer.

Submission Procedures

Request for submissions will be posted to the following websites; the Edmonton Public Library Alberta Readers’ Choice page on the Edmonton Public Library website, the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, the Writers Guild of Alberta and the Canadian Authors Association.
Entries may be submitted by authors, publishers or other interested parties.
Each submission must be accompanied by two printed copies of the book, which will not be returned to the author or publisher.
Each entry must be accompanied by the submission form, a current author biography, and a high resolution electronic image (minimum 300 DPI) of the author and book cover sent by email that can be reproduced for publicity purposes.
Entries must be mailed to:

Edmonton Public Library Alberta Readers’ Choice Award
Attn: Diego Ibarra
Stanley A. Milner Library
7 Sir Winston Churchill Square
Edmonton, AB
T5J 2V4
Email: albertareaderschoice@epl.ca

Entries must be postmarked no later than December 31, 2012. Books received or postmarked after the deadline will not be eligible.

Selection Procedures and Jury

Library staff from across Alberta will vote for their top selections in order to create a longlist of 10 titles which will then be submitted to the jury.
The jury will consist of 3 to 5 members as selected by the Alberta Readers' Choice Committee.
The jury will shortlist the best books on the basis of literary quality, with no consideration given to publisher, geography, gender, or ethnicity.
The jury will shortlist no more than 5 titles to be voted on by Alberta readers. The jury will select the shortlist in private deliberations.
The jury will only discuss submissions with their fellow jurors.
The decision of the jury is binding.
The decision of the jury as to whether a book is eligible shall be binding.

Finalists

The shortlist of finalists will be announced with a press release in April 2013 (tentative).
Publicity promoting the Edmonton Public Library Readers Choice Award will begin at the time of the shortlist announcement and continue until after the winner is declared.
The winner of the Edmonton Public Library Alberta Readers’ Choice Award will be announced at the annual Alberta Literary Awards Gala. So that all shortlisted authors may attend the ceremony, the prize will bear the cost of travel and overnight accommodation for authors who live outside of the host city.

Voting

Public voting will take place online.
Public voting will take place in a 4 week voting period ending approximately one week before the Alberta Literary Awards Gala.
In order to maintain fairness while still providing the best opportunity for the public to vote for their favourite book, voting for the Alberta Readers' Choice Award is limited to one vote per computer. Some computers that share a network may not all be able to cast separate votes.
Votes will be tabulated electronically, and the author with the most votes will be declared the winner.

Conditions of the Prize

The author of the winning book will participate in all reasonable publicity associated with the Edmonton Public Library Alberta Readers’ Choice Award.

Download submission guidelines

Download submission form

Past Award Winners

2012 Alberta Readers' Choice Award

Fall From Grace
by Wayne Arthurson
Published by Forge Books

Watch our interview with Wayne Arthurson

Listen to Wayne Arthurson on CBC's Daybreak Alberta

About Fall From Grace
Leo Desroches goes straight—off the streets, into the newsroom, and up to his neck in murder.

Marking the debut of Leo Desroches, one of the most unusual amateur detectives ever to appear in Canada or points south, this fast-paced, enthralling mystery is the story of a man who had everything, lost it all, and is trying to get it back. Leo Desroches doesn’t look like a native, but his mother was Cree, and he understands the problems of indigenous Canadians of the First Nations... which is probably why the Edmonton newspaper he writes for decides he should be their Aboriginal Issues reporter.

He has his own issues to deal with: his compulsive gambling that he couldn’t stop even after it cost him his wife and children; his alcoholism; the risk-taking that threatens to derail him every time he starts to get his life back together.

When he’s assigned to cover the murder of a young native prostitute, it’s just one more story...until the cop in charge lets him view the corpse, something the Edmonton police never do. When Leo writes his article, it starts a chain of events that leads him to discover a much, much bigger story, one that could bring down the entire police department...if it doesn’t get him killed.

About Wayne Arthurson
Wayne Arthurson is an aboriginal writer / musician who lives in Edmonton. He is the author of four history books, two novels, and countless magazine articles.

2011 Alberta Readers' Choice Award

Letters from the Lost
By Helen Waldstein Wilkes
Published by AU Press

Listen to Helen Waldstein Wilkes' interview with CBC Daybreak Alberta

About Letters from the Lost
On March 15, 1939, Helen Waldstein’s father snatched his stamped exit visa from a distracted clerk to escape from Prague with his wife and child. As the Nazis closed in on a war-torn Czechoslovakia, only letters from their extended family could reach Canada through the barriers of conflict. The Waldstein family received these letters as they made their lives on a southern Ontario farm, where they learned to be Canadian and forget their Jewish roots.

Helen Waldstein read these letters as an adult―this changed everything. As her past refused to keep silent, Helen followed the trail of the letters back to Europe, where she discovered living witnesses who could attest to the letters’ contents. She has here interwoven their stories and her own into a compelling narrative of suffering, survivor guilt, and overcoming intergenerational obstacles when exploring a traumatic past.

About Helen Waldstein Wilkes
Since receiving her Ph.D in French Literature, Helen Waldstein Wilkes spent 30 years teaching at every level in Canada and in the U.S. Her research interests include cross-cultural understanding, language acquisition, and neurolinguistics. Now retired and living in Vancouver, she is actively examining her own cultural inheritance and its impact.

2010 Alberta Readers' Choice Award

Fishing for Bacon
By Michael Davie
Published by NeWest Press

About Fishing for Bacon
My name’s Bacon Sobelowski, and I’m trying to find my someone. Kenny Rogers sings a song that says there’s someone for everyone, and in Bellevue where I live, Kenny Rogers’ word is gold. It’s just too bad my mother thinks girls turn boys into pigs, but that’s probably just because my father had enough of her Eggos and walked out.

But maybe she’s right. I’m not sure if Sarah is my someone because she got mad and smashed chili peppers into a cut on my head, and maybe my someone wouldn’t do that. Karla could be it because she lets me stay at her condo, but she might be too old to be my someone. Then there’s Mr. Kwon’s daughter, but she’s sort of my cousin and I’m not sure if sort-of cousins can be someones at the same time.

I think it might all come down to timing, and if that’s true then I’m in trouble. I’m Bacon Sobelowski—who knows if I’ll ever find my someone.

"Fishing for Bacon is raw, pungent, funny, and strangely poignant. Michael Davie is one of the most engaging authors to emerge in some time. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a sudden craving for beef dip.” —Will Ferguson, author of Spanish Fly

"I wish success on any book that has the word 'bacon' in the title." —Dennis Cass, author of Head Case: How I Almost Lost My Mind Trying to Understand My Brain

About Michael Davie
While Michael Davie has lived in South Korea, it was his years spent in the Rocky Mountain towns of Waterton, Banff, Canmore, and Jasper, living immersed in an often eccentric resort subculture, that most influenced his creative output, first in publishing a cartoon series, The Last Resort, then in literature with his first novel, Fishing for Bacon.
Davie, who is originally from Lethbridge, graduated from the University of Lethbridge with a Bachelor of Management and studied Creative Writing at the University of Calgary and the Victoria School of Writing. He and his family now live in Victoria, BC.