Jean Little First-Novel Award

The Jean Little First-Novel Award is a Canadian literary award, administered by the Canadian Children's Book Centre, to recognize a Canadian author's first middle-grade novel.

Named in honour of the late Jean Little, the award was established by fellow children's authors and Little's friends, Sarah Ellis, Kit Pearson, and Maggie de Vries, who is also Little's niece.[1] The award carries a monetary prize of $5,000. Jean Little (1932–2020) was an award-winning Canadian writer of more than 50 books for young readers.[2]

The award is one of several presented by the Canadian Children's Book Centre each year; others include the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction, the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award.

Honourees

Award winners and finalists
Year Author Title Publisher Result Ref.
2021 Tziporah Cohen No Vacancy Groundwood Books Winner [3]
Nadine Neema Journal of a Travelling Girl Wandering Fox Finalist [4]
Alisa Siegel My Name is Konisola Second Story Press
2022 Leslie Gentile Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer DCB Young Readers Winner [5][6]
Rosena Fung Living with Viola Annick Press Finalist [7]
Chad Lucas Thanks a Lot, Universe Amulet Books
2023 Kim Spencer Weird Rules to Follow Orca Book Publishers Winner [8]
Dee Hahn The Grave Thief Puffin Canada Finalist [9]
Jane Baird Warren How to Be a Goldfish Scholastic Canada
Jade Armstrong Scout Is Not a Band Kid Orca Book Publishers
Sid Sharp The Wolf Suit Annick Press
2024 Tho Pham and Sandra MacTavish The Cricket War Kids Can Press Winner [10][11]
Alan Barillaro Where the Water Takes Us Candlewick Press Finalist [12][13]
Joanna Cacao The Secret of the Ravens Clarion Books
Emi Pinto Bee Bakshi and the Gingerbread Sisters HarperCollins
A. T. Woodley and Mike Deas The Boy Who Woke the Sun Red Deer Press
2025 Ray Xu Alterations Union Square Kids Winner [14]
Calyssa Erb Maya Plays the Part Annick Press Finalist [15]
Braden Hallett Teddy vs. the Fuzzy Doom: Secrets of Ravensbarrow Annick Press

References

  1. ↑ Deziel, Shanda (November 3, 2020). "Friends of Jean Little announce a new Canadian middle-grade novel award in her memory". Quill & Quire. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  2. ↑ "Children's author Jean Little dead at 88". CBC Books. April 7, 2020. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  3. ↑ Doegun, Inderjit (November 3, 2021). "Winners of the 2021 CCBC Book Awards revealed". Quill & Quire. Archived from the original on June 15, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  4. ↑ Doegun, Inderjit (September 14, 2021). "CCBC Book Awards announces 2021 shortlist". Quill & Quire. Archived from the original on December 2, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
  5. ↑ Deogun, Inderjit (2022-09-30). "Winners of the 2022 CCBC Book Awards revealed". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved 2026-08-29.
  6. ↑ "On the Trapline by David A. Robertson and Julie Flett wins $50K TD Canadian Children's Literature Award". CBC Books. 2022-10-03. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
  7. ↑ "David A. Robertson, Xiran Jay Zhao & Christian Allaire among finalists for top Canadian children's book awards". CBC Books. September 12, 2022. Archived from the original on September 13, 2022. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
  8. ↑ Karagiannis, Zoie (2023-10-24). "Kim Spencer wins $50K Canadian children's book award for first novel Weird Rules to Follow". CBC Books. Archived from the original on July 11, 2024. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
  9. ↑ "Canadian Children's Book Centre 2023 awards shortlists announced". Quill and Quire. 2023-09-12. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved 2026-08-29.
  10. ↑ "Jean E. Pendziwol and Jack Wong among winners for Canadian children's book awards". CBC Books. October 29, 2024. Archived from the original on November 29, 2024. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
  11. ↑ Deogun, Inderjit (2024-10-29). "Winners of the 2024 CCBC Book Awards revealed". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on October 10, 2025. Retrieved 2026-08-29.
  12. ↑ Vilkoff, Natalie (October 8, 2024). "Jack Wong, Sydney Smith and Liselle Sambury among finalists for top Canadian children's book awards". CBC Books. Archived from the original on November 30, 2024. Retrieved 2026-08-28.
  13. ↑ Deogun, Inderjit (2024-10-01). "Canadian Children's Book Centre 2024 awards shortlists announced". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on February 17, 2025. Retrieved 2026-08-29.
  14. ↑ Deogun, Inderjit (2025-10-28). "Winners of the 2025 CCBC Book Awards revealed". Quill and Quire. Retrieved 2026-08-29.
  15. ↑ Deogun, Inderjit (2025-08-27). "Canadian Children's Book Centre 2025 awards finalists announced". Quill and Quire. Archived from the original on October 12, 2025. Retrieved 2026-08-29.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.