The 2003

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. Th ...

s for Literary Merit: Finalists in 14 categories (70 books) were announced October 20, the four children's literature winners announced and presented November 10, other winners announced and presented November 12. Each winner received a cheque for $15,000. The separate announcement and presentation of children's literature awards – four, recognizing text and illustration in English- and French-language books – was a novelty in 2003 (continued for at least a few years). The event at Rideau Hall, the Governor General's residence in Ottawa, was scheduled to begin at 10:00 on a Monday morning. "Children from across the National Capital Region will be invited to attend the event, which will also include readings and workshops related to children's literature."

English-language finalists

Fiction

* Douglas Glover, ''Elle'' * Margaret Atwood, '' Oryx and Crake'' * Elizabeth Hay, ''Garbo Laughs'' * Jean McNeil, ''Private View'' * Edeet Ravel, ''Ten Thousand Lovers''

Poetry

* Tim Lilburn, ''Kill-site'' *

Tim Bowling Tim Bowling (born 1964 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Guggenheim winning Canadian novelist and poet. He spent his youth in Ladner, British Columbia, and now lives in Edmonton, Alberta. He has published four novels. He was a judge for the 2 ...

, ''The Witness Ghost'' * Evan Jones, ''Nothing Fell Today But Rain'' * Anne Simpson, ''Loop'' * Tom Wayman, ''My Father's Cup''

Drama

Vern Thiessen Vern Thiessen (born c. 1964) is a Canadian playwright. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Thiessen studied at the University of Winnipeg and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. He later attended the University of Alberta, where he obtained a Master of ...

, ''

Einstein's Gift ''Einstein's Gift'' is a 2003 play written by Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen and published in 2003 by Playwrights Canada Press. Through the recollections of Albert Einstein, the play focuses on the life and career of German chemist Dr. Fritz Ha ...

'' *

Marie Clements Marie Clements (born January 10, 1962) See p. 147. is a Canadian Métis playwright, performer, director, producer and screenwriter. Marie was founding artistic director of urban ink productions, and is currently co-artistic director of red diva pr ...

, ''Burning Vision'' * Brian Drader, ''Prok'' * Sunil Kuruvilla, ''Rice Boy'' *

Michael MacLennan Michael Lewis MacLennan (born June 5, 1968) is a Canadian playwright, television writer and television producer, best known as a writer and producer of television series such as '' Queer as Folk'' and ''Bomb Girls''. As a playwright he is a two ...

, ''Last Romantics''

Non-fiction

Margaret MacMillan Margaret Olwen MacMillan, (born 1943) is a Canadian historian and professor at the University of Oxford. She is former provost of Trinity College, Toronto, and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously at Ryerson Univer ...

, '' Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World'' * Andrew Clark, ''A Keen Soldier: The Execution of Second World War Private Harold Pringle'' * Andrew Cohen, ''While Canada Slept: How We Lost Our Place in the World'' *

Maggie de Vries Maggie de Vries, born in 1961 in Ontario, Canada (but growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a writer for children, teens and adults and creative writing instructor. Her 2010 book, ''Hunger Journeys'' and her 2015 book ''Rabbit Ea ...

, ''Vancouver, for Missing Sarah: A Vancouver Woman Remembers Her Vanished Sister'' * Ross King, ''Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling''

Children's literature (text)

Glen Huser Glen Huser (born 1 February 1943 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a Canadian fiction writer. Vancouver School of Art, second year qualification, 1965; University of Alberta, BEd (with distinction), 1970, M.A., 1988. Career Huser completed two years in t ...

, ''Stitches'' * Sarah Ellis, ''The Several Lives of Orphan Jack'' * Barbara Haworth-Attard, ''Theories of Relativity'' *

Kevin Major Kevin Major (born September 12, 1949) is a Canadian author who lives in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador with his wife. He writes for both young people and adults, including fiction, literary non-fiction, poetry, and plays. Major was born a ...

, ''Ann and Seamus'' * Judd Palmer, ''The Maestro''

Children's literature (illustration)

Allen Sapp Allen Sapp (January 2, 1928 – December 29, 2015) was a Canadian Cree painter, who resided in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. His art and his story have become known throughout Canada. His paintings tell a personal story, and many feature image ...

, ''

The Song Within My Heart ''The Song within my Heart by Dave Bouchard'' is a children's picture book by David Bouchard with illustrations by Allen Sapp. It was first published in 2002 by Raincoast Books. A story about a young Cree boy, it is based on the memories of the ...

'' *

Nicolas Debon Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

, ''Four Pictures by Emily Carr'' *

Rob Gonsalves Robert "Rob" Gonsalves (July 10, 1959 – June 14, 2017) was a Canadians, Canadian painter of magic realism (surrealism). He produced original works, limited edition prints and illustrations for his own books. His style is similar to that of Salv ...

, ''Imagine a Night'' *

Barbara Reid Barbara Reid (born November 16, 1957) is a Canadian illustrator and author of children's books. She has been called "one of Canada's major literary figures". She was born in Toronto, Ontario and studied at the Ontario College of Art. She began her ...

, ''The Subway Mouse'' *

Ludmila Zeman Ludmila Zeman (born 23 April 1947) is a Czech Canadians, Czech–Canadian artist, animator, and creator of children's books. She is the daughter of filmmaker Karel Zeman. Zeman was born in the Moravian Czech city of Zlín (renamed Gottwaldov in ...

, ''Sindbad's Secret: From the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights''

French-to-English translation

Jane Brierley Jane Brierley (born 1935) is a Canadian translator, translating from French to English. She received a B.A. from Bishop's University in 1956. During the early 1960s, while her husband was completing a degree at the University of Paris, Brierley ...

, ''Memoirs of a Less Travelled Road: A Historian's Life'' * Patricia Claxton, '' A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali'' * Jo-Anne Elder, ''Tales from Dog Island: St. Pierre et Miquelon'' *

David Homel David Homel (born 1952) is an American-Canadian writer and literary translator.Ian McGillis"Montreal's David Homel counsels self-forgiveness in new memoir" ''Montreal Gazette'', April 23, 2021. He is most noted as a two-time winner of the Governo ...

and Fred A. Reed, ''The Heart Is an Involuntary Muscle'' * Susan Ouriou, ''Necessary Betrayals''

French-language finalists

Fiction

* Élise Turcotte, * Jean-François Chassay, ' * Marie Gagnier, *

Gaétan Soucy Gaétan Soucy (21 October 1958 – 9 July 2013) was a Canadian novelist and professor. Life Born in Montreal, Quebec, Soucy studied physics at Université de Montréal, completed a master's degree in philosophy, and studied Japanese language and ...

, ''Music-Hall!'' * Larry Tremblay,

Poetry

Pierre Nepveu Pierre Nepveu (born 16 September 1946 in Montreal, Quebec) is a French Canadian poet, novelist and essayist. As a scholar, he specializes in modern Quebec poetry, in particular the work of Gaston Miron. He taught at the French Studies Departm ...

, *

Nicole Brossard Nicole Brossard (born November 27, 1943) is a leading French-Canadian formalist poet and novelist. Her work is known for exploration of feminist themes and for challenging masculine-oriented language and points of view in French literature. Sh ...

, * Carle Coppens, *

Benoît Jutras Benoît Jutras (born 1963) is a Canadian composer. Jutras is best known for his work with the Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil, first as music director and later as composer for several of the company's contemporary circus shows ...

, * Louis-Jean Thibault,

Drama

* Jean-Rock Gaudreault, * François Archambault, *

François Létourneau François Létourneau (born 1974 in Sainte-Foy, Quebec) is a Canadian actor and writer, best known as co-creator and star of the television series '' Les Invincibles'', ''Série noire'' and '' Happily Married (C'est comme ça que je t'aime)''. ...

, ''Cheech'' *

Wajdi Mouawad Wajdi Mouawad, OC, (born 1968) is a Lebanese-Canadian writer, actor, and director. He is known in Canadian and French theatre for politically engaged works such as the acclaimed play ''Incendies'' (2003). His works often revolve around family t ...

, '' Incendies'' *

Jean-Pierre Ronfard Jean-Pierre or Jean Pierre may refer to: People * Karine Jean-Pierre b.1977, White House Deputy Press Secretary for President Joe Biden 2021- * Jean-Pierre, Count of Montalivet (1766–1823), French statesman and Peer of France * Eugenia Pierre ...

Non-fiction

* Thierry Hentsch, ' *

Michel Morin Michel Morin (born March 27, 1948) is a Canadian politician. He was a three-term member of the National Assembly of Quebec, a parliamentary assistant from 1999 to 2001, and whip of the Parti Québécois from 2001 to 2007. Background He was born ...

, * Louise Prescott, ' * François Ricard, ' *

Régine Robin Régine Robin (born as Rivka Ajzersztejn; 10 December 1939 – 3 February 2021) was a historian, novelist, translator and professor of sociology. Her prolific fiction and non-fiction, primarily on the themes of identity and culture and on the socio ...

Children's literature (text)

* Danielle Simard, ''J'ai vendu ma soeur'' * Mélissa Anctil, ''Gigi'' * Roger Des Roches, ''Marie Quatdoigts'' * Laurent Grimon, ''Le chevalier des Arbres'' * Paul Chanel Malenfant, ''Si tu allais quelque part''

Children's literature (illustration)

* Virginie Egger, ''Recette d'éléphant à la sauce vieux pneu'' * Geneviève Côté, ''Le Premier Printemps du monde'' *

Gérard DuBois Gérard DuBois (born 1968) is a French illustrator. In 2017, he received the Hamilton King Award. DuBois works in a variety of styles, which have been described as a consistent and remarkable blend of beauty, passion, and intelligence. Early ...

, ''Le piano muet'' * Stéphane Jorisch, ''Thésée et le Minotaure'' * Stéphane Poulin, ''Annabel et la Bête''

English-to-French translation

* Agnès Guitard, ''Un amour de Salomé'' * Yolande Amzallag, ''Le canari éthique: science, société et esprit humain'' * Paule Noyart, ''L'Or bleu: l'eau, nouvel enjeu stratégique et commercial'' * Hélène Paré, ''L'histoire spectacle: le cas du tricentenaire de Québec'' * Lori Saint-Martin and

Paul Gagné Paul L. Gagné (born February 6, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 390 games in the National Hockey League. He played for the Colorado Rockies, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders. ...

, ''L'analyste''

References

{{Governor General's Literary Awards Governor General's Awards

Governor General's Awards The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...