The 2008

Governor General's Award 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 ...

s for Literary Merit: Finalists in 14 categories (73 books) were announced October 21, winners announced November 18. The prize for writers and illustrators was $25,000 and "a specially bound copy of the winning book".

Controversy

The Canada Council for the Arts, the award program's administrator, faced some criticism around its nomination of the

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

'' Skim'' in the Children's Literature category. The nomination was credited to Mariko Tamaki, who wrote the graphic novel's text, but not to her cousin and co-creator

Jillian Tamaki Jillian Tamaki (born April 17, 1980) is a Canadian American illustrator and comic artist known for her work in ''The New York Times'' and ''The New Yorker'' in addition to the graphic novels ''Boundless'', as well as '' Skim'' and ''This One Summ ...

, who drew the illustrations. Two prominent Canadian graphic novelists, Chester Brown and

Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. ...

, circulated an open letter to the Canada Council asking them to revise the nomination, arguing that unlike a more traditional illustrated book, a graphic novel's text and illustration are inseparable parts of the work's narrative, and that both women should accordingly be credited as equal co-authors. Their letter was also endorsed by other prominent Canadian and American graphic novelists, including Lynda Barry,

Dan Clowes Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa ** Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Iv ...

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel '' Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines '' Arcade'' and '' R ...

Chris Ware Franklin Christenson "Chris" Ware (born December 28, 1967) is an American cartoonist known for his ''Acme Novelty Library'' series (begun 1994) and the graphic novels '' Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth'' (2000), ''Building Stories'' (201 ...

and

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

, as well as by Chris Oliveros of Canadian comic and graphic novel publisher

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, ...

and Peter Birkemore of Toronto comic store The Beguiling. Melanie Rutledge, a spokesperson for the Canada Council, responded that it was too late to revise the nominations for the 2008 awards, but that the council would take the feedback into account in the future. The Canada Council later faced controversy over its selection of

Jacob Scheier Jacob Scheier (born February 2, 1980) is a Canadians, Canadian poet born in Toronto. His debut poetry collection, ''More to Keep Us Warm'', was published by ECW Press in 2007 and was named the winner of the 2008 Governor General's Awards, 2008 Gove ...

's ''More to Keep Us Warm'' as the winner in the poetry category. Di Brandt, one of the poetry award's jurors, was credited by Scheier as a friend and mentor in the book's creation, resulting in debate over whether Brandt should have recused herself from the judging panel.

André Alexis André Alexis (born 15 January 1957 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) is a Canadian writer who grew up in Ottawa and lives in Toronto, Ontario.

"Literary prizes and judgment calls"
'' The Globe and Mail'', November 29, 2008. (purchase required) Lead paragraph archived
2008-12-17. Retrieved 2015-08-20.

English

French

References

{{GovernorGeneralsAwards 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 ...