Award season right around the corner!

Mar 24, 2014

It’s that time again. A slew of writing awards will be dished out over the next few months, showcasing the best of the best in Alberta books this past year. A run-down of some of the major prizes includes the Alberta Literary Awards, the Alberta Book Publishing Awards, the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize, The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize, and the Edmonton Public Library’s oh-so-generous Alberta Readers’ Choice Award.

Writers go through a long, tough slog to get to this place. Before being recognized with an actual award, they first have to write the thing and then rewrite it again (and again), find a publisher, and promote their baby so thoroughly that their words literally fall into reader’s laps. And that’s just the start. To get to the awards part, there is a gauntlet of lists to get through: long-lists, short-lists, finalist lists.

Rejection looms bee-sting sharp at points along the way. With shortlist announcements just around the corner, it’s an agonizingly long wait to see whose names get called. I have a number of writing friends who have written fabulous books this past year, and I’m on pins and needles for their sakes. Hats off to the contenders! They’re all winners in my book.

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