2024 Canadian Authors Fred Kerner Book Award

The Fred Kerner Book Award is awarded annually to a Canadian Authors member who has the best overall book published in the previous calendar year, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Fred Kerner was a devoted and longtime CAA member. An Honorary President of the association until his passing in 2011 at 90, Fred was an author, journalist, editor, teacher, and mentor. He wrote more than twelve books and also wrote for magazines, radio and TV, and he gave unstintingly of his time to assist emerging writers.

 

Prize: $400 and a one-year membership with Canadian Authors Association

Entry Fee: $30 per title entered (no limit to the number of titles)

Deadline: March 1, 2024 (postmark date)

 

Eligibility Criteria

  • Only current CAA members whose memberships are up to date are eligible for this award.
  • Entries must be full-length English-Language literature written by a single author or co-written by two or more authors. In the case of multiple authors, at least three must be current CAA members.
  • Books in all genres are eligible, as are self-published books. However, ebooks are not eligible at this time.
  • Publication may have taken place outside Canada, but the author must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
  • The book must have been published in the previous calendar year (i.e., 2023).
  • Entrants cannot win a prize two years in a row.
  • Reprints, translations, and posthumous entries are not eligible.

Submission to this competition opens October 5, 2023.

 

How to Enter

Since the competition is only open to members, you must sign into your membership account in order to access the entry form and pay the entry fee(s). Once logged in, click on the Submit to Book Award button and scroll to the Ready to Submit section of the page, where you will find a link to the online entry form. Remember to

  1. Complete and submit one entry form for each title being entered
  2. Pay $30 for each title you are submitting
  3. Ship four copies of each submitted book plus a cover letter listing the books to:

CAA Kerner Book Award
c/o Anita Purcell
45 Penetang Street
Orillia, ON  L3V 3N3

NOTE TO PUBLISHERS:

Publishing houses wishing to submit titles on behalf of their authors are encouraged to do so, as long as the author is a CAA member or is in the process of joining the association. To submit, follow the above three steps after accessing the awards entry form here. Remember to complete one form per title. You can email the form(s) to apurcell@canadianauthors.org but please include a copy of each entry form in your book shipment. Payment may be made by credit card or cheque — please complete the payment section of the entry form with necessary details.

Process

Each Fall, the awards trustee selects and works with two judges. The identities of the judges are confidential throughout the judging process. Decisions of the judges and the trustee are final, and they may choose not to award a prize in any given year.

A shortlist of the top five entries will be announced by early June, and the winner will be announced during the association’s annual general meeting (AGM) in June 2024.

 

Questions? Contact Anita at apurcell(at)canadianauthors.org.

 

 

The Whistler Independent Book Awards

Canadian Authors has partnered with the Whistler Writing Society and Vivalogue Publishing to administer the Whistler Independent Book Awards (WIBAs), open to independently published authors across Canada and sponsored by The Writers Union of Canada.

Submission for the WIBAs is now closed. Submission for the WIBAs 2024 will open March 1, 2024.

 

Eligibility

  • Authors must be either Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada
  • The author must have paid all costs associated with the production of the book
  • All entries must be available for purchase in physical form (ebook-only publications not eligible)
  • The book must be copyrighted within the last six years and the author must retain all rights

Entry Fee

  • $100 plus GST per fiction and non-fiction entry (Paypal or cheque made payable to Vivalogue Publishing)
  • The fee is refundable only in the case of the entry being ruled ineligible

Books Submitted

  • Hard copies of books entered to the competition must be mailed to:
    PO BOX 16067, 617 Belmont Street, New Westminster, BC V3M 5Z8, Canada
  • Copies submitted cannot be returned to the author
  • Hard copies of the books entered are donated to Frontier College, a Canadian national literacy organization, at the conclusion of the competition

Evaluations

  • Written evaluations are prepared as part of the submission process for the Whistler Independent Book Awards, and are included the submission fee.
  • The opinions and recommendations contained in the evaluations are the professional opinions of the judges and are deemed to have been solicited by the author.
  • All content in this evaluation is confidential and will not be disclosed by the WIBA administrators to any third party without the prior permission of the submitting author.
  • The author has the right to use any or all of the evaluation for personal or promotional purposes.

FAQs

What qualifies as non-fiction?

The Non-Fiction category is intended to recognize literary treatment of factual material. Creative non-fiction that uses imagined dialogue or description to enhance a true story is eligible. Manuals and catalogues intended to provide factual information only are not eligible as the judges would have no basis to assess the literary merit of the submission. If you require further clarification, contact us.

Is my book eligible if I received grant funding?

Yes, as long as your grant was not specifically intended to cover the costs of publication. If you received grant funding after your book was published, or if your grant was awarded for research purposes, your book is eligible. If you received grant funding in order to pay for printing or other publication costs, your book is not eligible as you did not assume the financial risk normally associated with independent publishing.

What about hybrid publishing?

In general, these book ARE eligible, but the Awards Committee will make a determination on a case-by-case basis.

How are entries evaluated by the Selection Committee?

The Selection Committee assesses each book based on its design and production values, and on the quality of the writing, based on the substantial opening and closing sections of each book. All shortlisted books are read in full.

 

More details and the submission guidelines are available at https://independentbookawards.ca/.
You can also sign up to receive news about the awards and reminds of the awards opening at https://independentbookawards.ca/submissions-wiba.