Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award facts for kids
The Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award was a special prize given each year in Canada. It honored the best illustrator of a new Canadian children's book. The book had to be good for kids up to age 12. Also, its story needed to be as great as its pictures! The artist had to be a Canadian citizen or live permanently in Canada. The winner received a plaque and $1000. This award was named after Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon. She was a teacher and artist in Ontario in the 1860s and 1870s. She taught both school subjects and art. Her famous work, An Illustrated Comic Alphabet, was published in 1966.
Award Winners
The award was given to one illustrator for one book every year since 1971. Sometimes, the writer of the book was different from the illustrator. If so, the writer's name is mentioned.
- 1971 - Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver, The Wind Has Wings: poems from Canada, anthology
- 1972 - Shizuye Takashima, A Child in Prison Camp, biography
- 1973 - Jacques de Roussan, Au-Delà du Soleil / Beyond the Sun (bi-lingual)
- 1974 - William Kurelek, A Prairie Boy's Winter
- 1975 - Carlo Italiano, The Sleighs of My Childhood
- 1976 - William Kurelek, A Prairie Boy's Summer
- 1977 - Pam Hall, Down by Jim Long's Stage: rhymes for children and young fish, by Al Pittman
- 1978 - Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver, The Loon's Necklace, retold by William Toye
- 1979 - Ann Blades, A Salmon for Simon, by Betty Waterton
- 1980 - László Gál, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, retold by Janet Lunn
- 1981 - Douglas Tait, The Trouble with Princesses, by Christie Harris
- 1982 - Heather Woodall, Ytek and the Arctic Orchid: an Inuit legend, by Garnet Hewitt
- 1983 - Lindee Climo, Chester's Barn
- 1984 - Ken Nutt, Zoom at Sea, by Tim Wynne-Jones
- 1985 - Ian Wallace, Chin Chiang and the Dragon's Dance
- 1986 - Ken Nutt, Zoom Away, by Tim Wynne-Jones
- 1987 - Marie-Louise Gay, Moonbeam on a Cat's Ear
- 1988 - Marie-Louise Gay, Rainy Day Magic
- 1989 - Kim LaFave, Amos's Sweater, by Janet Lunn
- 1990 - Kady MacDonald Denton, 'Til All the Stars Have Fallen: Canadian poems for children, anthology
- 1991 - Paul Morin, The Orphan Boy, by Tololwa M. Mollel
- 1992 - Ron Lightburn, Waiting for the Whales, by Sheryl McFarlane
- 1993 - Paul Morin, The Dragon's Pearl, by Julie Lawson
- 1994 - Leo Yerxa, Last Leaf, First Snowflake to Fall, poetry
- 1995 - Barbara Reid, Gifts, by Jo Ellen Bogart
- 1996 - Karen Reczuch, Just Like New, by Ainslie Manson
- 1997 - Harvey Chan, Ghost Train, by Paul Yee
- 1998 - Barbara Reid, The Party
- 1999 - Kady MacDonald Denton, A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, anthology
- 2000 - Zhong-Yang Huang, The Dragon New Year: A Chinese Legend, by Dave Bouchard
- 2001 - Laura Fernandez and Rick Jacobson, The Magnificent Piano Recital, by Marilynn Reynolds
- 2002 - Frances Wolfe, Where I Live
- 2003 - Pascal Milelli, The Art Room, by Susan Vande Griek
- 2004 - Bill Slavin, Stanley's Party, by Linda Bailey
- 2005 - Wallace Edwards, Monkey Business
- 2006 - Leslie Elizabeth Watts, The Baabaasheep Quartet
- 2007 - Mélanie Watt, Scaredy Squirrel
- 2008 - Mélanie Watt, Chester
- 2009 - Dušan Petričić, Mattland, by Hazel Hutchins and Gail Hebert
- 2010 - Barbara Reid, Perfect Snow
- 2011 - Marie-Louise Gay, Roslyn Rutabaga and the Biggest Hole on Earth!
- 2012 - Matthew Forsythe, My Name is Elizabeth, by Annika Dunklee
- 2013 - Soyeon Kim, You are Stardust, by Elin Kelsey
- 2014 - Jon Klassen, The Dark, by Lemony Snicket
- 2015 - Marie-Louise Gay, Any Questions?
- 2016 - Sydney Smith, Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson
Illustrators Who Won More Than Once
Some talented illustrators have won this award multiple times. Marie-Louise Gay has won the Illustrator's Award four times since 1987. Her most recent win was in 2015. Several other artists have won it twice.
Books Winning Other Awards
Nine books that won the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award also won another important Canadian prize. This was the Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration. Before 1987, it was called the Canada Council Children's Literature Prize.
