Journey Prize Explained

The Journey Prize (officially called The Writers' Trust of Canada McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize) is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by McClelland and Stewart and the Writers' Trust of Canada for the best short stories published by an emerging writer in a Canadian literary magazine. The award was endowed by James A. Michener, who donated the Canadian royalty earnings from his 1988 novel Journey.[1]

From the award's inception until 2023, a single story was named the winner and received, making it the largest monetary award given in Canada to an up-and-coming writer for a short story or excerpt from a fiction work-in-progress.

The prize's winner in 2000, Timothy Taylor, was the first writer ever to have three stories nominated for the award in the same year.[2]

The Journey Prize also publishes an annual anthology of the year's longlisted short stories. Two writers, Andrew MacDonald and David Bergen, have both had a record four total stories selected for inclusion in the annual anthology.

In 2020, the Journey Prize committee announced that the upcoming award would be a special edition devoted exclusively to Black Canadian writers, considering stories published in multiple years.[3] Although the initial report was that the special Black Canadian edition of the award would be presented in 2021 for stories published in 2019, 2020 and 2021,[3] the organizers instead paused the award for 2021 and 2022, and presented a special Black Canadian award in early 2023 to honour works published since 2020.[4] At the same time, they announced that the award will no longer select a single prize winner, and instead all of the writers whose stories are selected for inclusion in the anthology will henceforth be deemed equal winners of the award and will receive $1,000 each in prize money.

Winners and nominees

1990s

YearAuthorTitleRef
1990"My Father Took a Cake to France"[6]
1991[7]
"Theories of Grief"[8]
1992"No Rosa, No District Six"[9]
"How Beautiful Upon the Mountains"[10]
"Bella's Story"
1993"Sister Doyle's Men"[11]
"With the Band"[12]
1994"Long Man the River"[13]
"Water Margins"[14]
"Anomie"
1995"Of Marranos and Gilded Angels"[15]
"Song of Ascent"[16]
"Hand Games"
1996"Can You Wave Bye Bye, Baby?"[17]
"Bones"
"Lessons from the Sputnik Diner"
1997"Maladies of the Inner Ear"[18]
"Dreaming Snow"
"Speedboat"
1998[19]
[20]
"Downwind"
1999[21]

2000s

YearAuthorTitleRef.
2000"Doves of Townsend"
2001[22]
"Anything That Wiggles"[23]
"Little Suitcase"
2002"Miss Canada"[24]
"Listen"[25]
"Green Fluorescent Protein"
2003"My Husband’s Jump"[26]
"Hansel and Gretel"[27]
"Hush"
2004[28]
"Packers and Movers"[29]
2005"Matchbook for a Mother's Hair"[30]
[31]
"Seven Ways to Chandigarh"
2006"BriannaSusannaAlana"[32]
"Conjugation"[33]
"Cretacea"
2007"Ozy"[34]
"Swimming in Zanzibar"[35]
"Chilly Girl"
2008"My Three Girls"[36]
"Steaming for Godthab"[37]
"Chaperone"
2009"Floating Like the Dead"[38]
[39]

2010s

YearAuthorTitleRef.
2010"Uncle Oscar"[40]
[41]
"Mating"
2011"Petitions to Saint Chronic"[42]
[43]
"First-Calf Heifer"
2012"Crisis on Earth-X"[44]
"To Have to Wait"[45]
"Manning"
2013"Cinema Rex"[46]
"How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun?"[47]
"My Sister Sang"
2014"Sealskin"[48]
"Monsoon Season"
"Juvenile"
2015"The Wise Baby"[49]
"Last Animal Standing on Gentleman’s Farm"[50]
"Red Egg and Ginger"
2016"The Emigrants"[51]
"If I Ever See the Sun"[52]
"How the Grizzly Came to Hang in the Royal Oak Hotel"
2017"Butter Tea at Starbucks"[53]
"She Is Water"
2018"Mute"[54]
"Love"[55]
"Never Prosper"
2019"Pooka"[56]
"Every True Artist"[57]

2020s

YearAuthorTitleRef.
2020"Bad Cree"[58]
"Hunting"[59]
"Chemical Valley"
2021No award presented
2022No award presented
2023[60]

External links

Notes and References

  1. "Author donates literary prize". Calgary Herald, December 18, 1988.
  2. "The patter of little stories". Vancouver Sun, December 2, 2000.
  3. https://www.cbc.ca/books/2021-journey-prize-will-focus-on-emerging-black-canadian-writers-1.5623783 "2021 Journey Prize will focus on emerging Black Canadian writers"
  4. Dana Gee, "Prestigious short story anthology focuses on emerging Canadian Black writers". Vancouver Sun, February 14, 2023.
  5. "Short story wins $10,000 for B.C. writer". Vancouver Sun, June 15, 1989.
  6. "Vancouver writer wins $10,000 Canadian fiction prize". The Globe and Mail, May 25, 1990.
  7. "Authors collect prizes of close to $80,000". Toronto Star, October 28, 1991.
  8. "Future winners". Kingston Whig-Standard, August 31, 1991.
  9. "Rebellious, defiant, resistant; Controversial feminist writer Rozena Maart wins $10,000 literary prize for short story". Ottawa Citizen, October 15, 1992.
  10. "McClelland and Stewart names shortlist for '92 Journey Prize". Montreal Gazette, September 12, 1992.
  11. "Burnaby author honored". Vancouver Sun, October 14, 1993.
  12. "Authors Shortlisted for Journey Prize". The Globe and Mail, September 22, 1993.
  13. "$50,000 writing prize goes to first Canadian". The Globe and Mail, October 13, 1994.
  14. "Journey Prize short list missing four names". Ottawa Citizen, September 18, 1994.
  15. "Fetherling, Woodward honoured at festival". The Globe and Mail, October 12, 1995.
  16. "2 Ottawa writers among finalists for Journey prize". Ottawa Citizen, September 23, 1995.
  17. "Elyse Gasco wins Journey Prize with grim tale about child abuse". Ottawa Citizen, October 27, 1996.
  18. "Journey Prize ends in a tie". Edmonton Journal, October 24, 1997.
  19. "Montreal writer picks up $10,000 prize for short story". Vancouver Sun, October 23, 1998.
  20. "Giller Prize nominees announced". Vancouver Sun, October 6, 1998.
  21. Andrew Tolson, "Literary award means time to do what she loves". National Post, October 21, 1999.
  22. "Writers' Trust awards $75,000 in prizes". St. Catharines Standard, March 6, 2002.
  23. "Shields, Todd, Blaise nominated for literary awards". Moose Jaw Times-Herald, February 17, 2002.
  24. "Literary award winners named". Nanaimo Daily News, March 7, 2003.
  25. "Finalists named for Writers' Trust Awards". The Globe and Mail, February 12, 2003.
  26. Rebecca Caldwell, "Writers' Trust announces winners". The Globe and Mail, March 4, 2004.
  27. "Authors nominated for Great Literary Awards". The Telegram, February 8, 2004.
  28. Anne-Marie Tobin, "Munro, Engel, Newman honoured". The Telegram, March 10, 2005.
  29. "Munro, Newman among Writers Trust nominees". Sherbrooke Record, February 4, 2005.
  30. "Canadian authors honoured in Toronto". Prince George Citizen, March 3, 2006.
  31. Pat Donnelly, "Writers' Trust helps Canadian literature thrive". Montreal Gazette, February 18, 2006.
  32. "N.L. writer's 'Inside' wins fiction prize". Telegraph-Journal, March 8, 2007.
  33. "Rudy Wiebe tapped for Writer's Trust Awards: Memoir also up for rich Charles Taylor Prize". Edmonton Journal, February 7, 2007.
  34. "Hill, Porter major winners". Victoria Times-Colonist, April 2, 2008.
  35. James Adams, "Vassanji, Ashenburg up for Trust honours". The Globe and Mail, February 27, 2008.
  36. Morley Walker, "Toews takes home rich prize for The Flying Troutmans". Winnipeg Free Press, November 18, 2008.
  37. Victoria Ahearn, "Miriam Toews, Rawi Hage among finalists for Writers' Trust book prizes". Canadian Press, October 1, 2008.
  38. Tom Hawthorn, "A writer's all too real tale puts her in spotlight". The Globe and Mail, December 7, 2009.
  39. Victoria Ahearn, "Alice Munro, Douglas Coupland among contenders for Writers Trust Awards". Canadian Press, September 20, 2009.
  40. Mark Medley, "A Room with a prize". National Post, November 3, 2010.
  41. Richard Helm, "Siblings make short list for Canadian literary prize". Edmonton Journal, September 30, 2010.
  42. "Hamilton's Miranda Hill wins Journey Prize". Hamilton Spectator, November 3, 2011.
  43. Mark Medley, "First & second time's the charm for authors; few veterans in writers' trust fiction nominees". National Post, September 29, 2011.
  44. "Nanaimo writer wins Rogers fiction prize". Victoria Times-Colonist, November 8, 2012.
  45. "Writers' finalists named". Toronto Star, September 20, 2012.
  46. Simon Houpt, "Colin McAdam wins Writers' Trust award". The Globe and Mail, November 21, 2013.
  47. Mark Medley, "Writers' Trust gives nod to Lisa Moore, Lynn Coady". National Post, October 1, 2013.
  48. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2014/11/04/miriam_toews_wins_25000_writers_trust_fiction_prize.html "Miriam Toews wins $25,000 Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize"
  49. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/rogers-writers-trust-fiction-prize-goes-to-author-andre-alexis/article27079751/ "André Alexis wins Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize"
  50. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/globe-columnist-among-rogers-writers-trust-fiction-prize-nominees/article26582098/ "Globe columnist among Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize nominees"
  51. http://www.cbc.ca/books/2016/11/2016-writers-trust-awards.html "Eden Robinson, Gregory Scofield, Yasuko Thanh among 2016 Writers' Trust Prize winners"
  52. "Fiset, Langlois, McConvey Journey Prize finalists". Halifax Chronicle-Herald, September 16, 2016.
  53. https://quillandquire.com/omni/david-chariandy-billie-livingston-and-diane-schoemperlen-among-the-winners-at-the-2017-writers-trust-awards/ "David Chariandy, Billie Livingston, and Diane Schoemperlen among the winners at the 2017 Writers’ Trust awards"
  54. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2018/11/07/books-inspired-by-the-authors-parents-win-the-top-writers-trust-awards.html "Books inspired by the authors’ parents win the top Writers’ Trust Awards"
  55. https://quillandquire.com/omni/the-writers-trust-of-canada-announces-journey-prize-finalists/ "The Writers’ Trust of Canada announces Journey Prize finalists"
  56. Deborah Dundas, "Andre Alexis, Jenny Heijun Wills are big winners at Writers’ Trust Awards" . Toronto Star, November 5, 2019.
  57. http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/entertainment/article_c7fe93ae-d9cd-11e9-abd8-3f177e4e030c.html "Local writer up for $10,000 prize"
  58. https://www.cbc.ca/books/4-emerging-canadian-writers-receive-10k-prizes-from-writers-trust-of-canada-1.5770790 "4 emerging Canadian writers receive $10K prizes from Writers' Trust of Canada"
  59. Ryan Porter, "Short fiction finalists announced for the 2020 Journey Prize" . Quill & Quire, August 26, 2020.
  60. https://thecaribbeancamera.com/emerging-black-writers-win-the-journey-prize/ "Emerging black writers win the Journey Prize"

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