The Amazon Canada First Novel Award, formerly the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Books in Canada First Novel Award, is a Canadian

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded Literature, literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award c ...

, co-presented by

Amazon.ca Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

and ''

The Walrus ''The Walrus'' is an independent, nonprofit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an eight-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a nation ...

'' to the best first

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

published the previous year by a citizen or resident of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

."First Novel Award helps write authors' careers: All awards are crapshoots, but for a prize that recognizes writers with little or no track record, a surprising number become successful". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', May 21, 2016. It has been awarded since 1976. The First Novel Award was founded by the literary magazine ''

Books in Canada ''Books in Canada'' was a monthly magazine that reviewed Canadian literature, published in print form between 1971 and 2006. In its heyday it was the most influential literary magazine in Canada. Foundation One of the co-founders of ''Books in Ca ...

''. Between 1976 and 1994, the award was sponsored by SmithBooks. During this period, the award was known as the SmithBooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award. When SmithBooks was acquired by

Chapters Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...

, it became the Chapters/''Books in Canada'' First Novel Award. The award was reorganized when ''Books in Canada'' was acquired by Adrian and Olga Stein in 1995. The Steins retained a first novel editor, introduced a comprehensive first novel review program, and formalized the adjudication process. Amazon first signed on as a sponsor of the award in 2001,"Amazon.com deal saves Canadian literary magazine from folding". ''

Cape Breton Post The ''Cape Breton Post'' is the only daily newspaper published on Cape Breton Island. Founded in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in 1901, it specializes in local coverage of news, events, and sports from communities in the Cape Breton Regional Municipali ...

'', January 18, 2001. with the award presented as the amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award through the 2000s. Full administration of the award was taken over by Amazon in 2009 and its name was changed to the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. The Amazon.com arrangement saw the prize award initially doubled to $10,000, and then increased to its current amount of $40,000, with shortlisted finalists each receiving over $6,000.

Winners and finalists

At different times in its history, the award has been presented early in the year for works published in the preceding year, late in the year for works published in the same year as the presentation, or mid-year for an eligibility period that straddled parts of both years. For clarity, the list below is organized by the year of presentation rather than the year of publication eligibility.

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

References

External links

First Novel Award
at Amazon.ca {{Amazon.ca First Novel Award Canadian fiction awards First book awards Awards established in 1976 1976 establishments in Canada * Novel awards