Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration facts for kids
The Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration is a special Canadian award. It celebrates one amazing Canadian artist each year. This artist is recognized for creating the best pictures in a children's book written in English.
This award is part of the larger Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit. These awards honor great books in Canada. There are four awards just for children's books: two for writers (one English, one French) and two for illustrators (one English, one French). The Canada Council helps manage all these awards.
Even though it's called a "Governor General's Award" since 1987, the awards for children's books actually started earlier. The Canada Council began giving out these four children's literature prizes in 1975. The award for English-language children's illustration has been given out every year since 1978.
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Early Awards: Canada Council Children's Literature Prize
In 1975, the Canada Council created four yearly prizes. Each prize was $5000. They were for the best English and French children's books by Canadian writers and illustrators. These "Canada Council Children's Literature Prizes" became part of the "Governor General's Awards" in 1987. They are still given out today. The English-language illustration prize has been awarded every year since 1978.
Here are the winners from those early years:
- 1978: Ann Blades, A Salmon for Simon, written by Betty Waterton
- 1979: László Gál, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, retold by Janet Lunn
- 1980: Elizabeth Cleaver, Petrouchka: adapted from Igor Stravinsky and Alexandre Benois, Petrushka retold by Cleaver
- 1981: Heather Woodall, Ytek and the Arctic Orchid: an Inuit legend, by Garnet Hewitt
- 1982: Vlasta van Kampen, ABC/123: The Canadian Alphabet and Counting Book
- 1983: László Gál, The Little Mermaid, retold by Margaret Crawford Maloney
- 1984: Marie-Louise Gay, Lizzy's Lion, by Dennis Lee
- 1985: Terry Gallagher, Murdo's Story, by Murdo Scribe
- 1986: Barbara Reid, Have You Seen Birds?, by Joanne Oppenheim
Some of these illustrators also won another award called the Canadian Library Association's Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award. This award recognized the same books. For example, Ann Blades won the Howard-Gibbon award in 1979, László Gál in 1980, and Heather Woodall in 1982. The Howard-Gibbon award started in 1971.
Many illustrators who won the Governor General's Award later also won the CLA award for the same book. These include Marie-Louise Gay (1988), Kim LaFave (1989), Paul Morin (1991), Ron Lightburn (1992), Barbara Reid (1998), and Kady MacDonald Denton (1999).
Winners from the 1980s
| Year | Illustrator | Book Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Marie-Louise Gay | Rainy Day Magic |
| John Bianchi | Exploring the Night Sky | |
| László Gál | The Enchanted Tapestry | |
| Shawn Steffler | Flights of Magic | |
| 1988 | Kim LaFave | Amos's Sweater |
| Marie-Louise Gay | Angel and the Polar Bear | |
| Jillian Hulme Gilliland | How the Devil Got His Cat | |
| Dayal Kaur Khalsa | Sleepers | |
| Jan Thornhill | The Wildlife ABC | |
| 1989 | Robin Muller | The Magic Paintbrush |
| Michèle Lemieux | A Gift from Saint Francis | |
| Jan Thornhill | The Wildlife 123 |
Winners from the 1990s
| Year | Illustrator | Book Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Paul Morin | The Orphan Boy |
| Warabé Aska | Seasons | |
| Frances Tyrrell | The Huron Carol | |
| 1991 | Joanne Fitzgerald | Doctor Kiss Says Yes |
| Kady MacDonald Denton | The Travelling Musicians | |
| Michèle Lemieux | Peter and the Wolf | |
| Gilles Pelletier | A Happy New Year's Day | |
| Jacquelinne White | Coyote Winter | |
| 1992 | Ron Lightburn | Waiting for the Whales |
| Eric Beddows | Zoom Upstream | |
| Suzanne Duranceau | Hickory, Dickory, Dock | |
| Maryann Kovalski | The Big Storm | |
| Mireille Levert | When Jeremiah Found Mrs. Ming | |
| 1993 | Mireille Levert | Sleep Tight, Mrs. Ming |
| Scott Cameron | Beethoven Lives Upstairs | |
| Marc Mongeau | There Were Monkeys in My Kitchen! | |
| Russ Willms | Brewster Rooster | |
| Leo Yerxa | Last Leaf First Snowflake to Fall | |
| 1994 | Murray Kimber | Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story |
| Marie Lafrance | La Diablesse and the Baby | |
| Michèle Lemieux | There Was An Old Man...: A Collection of Limericks | |
| Laurie McGaw | Polar, the Titanic Bear | |
| Martin Springett | Who | |
| 1995 | Ludmila Zeman | The Last Quest of Gilgamesh |
| Warabé Aska | Aska's Sea Creatures | |
| Geoff Butler | The Killick: A Newfoundland Story | |
| Gary Clement | Just Stay Put | |
| Frances Tyrrell | Woodland Christmas | |
| 1996 | Eric Beddows | The Rooster's Gift |
| Alan Daniel and Lea Daniel | Sody Salleratus | |
| Wang Kui | The Wise Washerman – A Folktale from Burma | |
| Johnny Wales | Gruntle Piggle Takes Off | |
| Werner Zimmermann | Whatever You Do, Don't Go Near That Canoe! | |
| 1997 | Barbara Reid | The Party |
| Blair Drawson | Flying Dimitri | |
| Marie-Louise Gay | Rumpelstiltskin | |
| Robin Muller | The Angel Tree | |
| Ludmila Zeman | The First Red Maple Leaf | |
| 1998 | Kady MacDonald Denton | A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes |
| Victor Bosson | The Fox's Kettle | |
| Harvey Chan | Music for the Tsar of the Sea | |
| Zhong-Yang Huang | The Great Race | |
| Stéphane Jorisch | The Village of a Hundred Smiles and Other Stories | |
| 1999 | Gary Clement | The Great Poochini |
| Rose Cowles | I Know an Old Laddie | |
| Zhong-Yang Huang | Dragon New Year | |
| Ludmila Zeman | Sindbad: from the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights | |
| Werner Zimmermann | Brave Highland Heart |
Winners from the 2000s
| Year | Illustrator | Book Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Marie-Louise Gay | Yuck, A Love Story |
| Nelly Hofer, Ernst Hofer | The Snow Queen | |
| Marthe Jocelyn | Hannah's Collections | |
| Regolo Ricci | The Market Wedding | |
| Cybèle Young | Pa's Harvest | |
| 2001 | Mireille Levert | An Island in the Soup |
| Harvey Chan | Wild Bog Tea | |
| Murray Kimber | The Wolf of Gubbio | |
| Kim LaFave | We'll All Go Sailing | |
| Cindy Revell | Mallory and the Power Boy | |
| 2002 | Wallace Edwards | Alphabeasts |
| Brian Deines | Dragonfly Kites/pimihákanisa | |
| Marie-Louise Gay | Stella, Fairy of the Forest | |
| Rogé | When Pigs Fly | |
| Janie Jaehyun Park | The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon | |
| 2003 | Allen Sapp | The Song Within My Heart |
| Nicolas Debon | Four Pictures by Emily Carr | |
| Rob Gonsalves | Imagine a Night | |
| Barbara Reid | The Subway Mouse | |
| Ludmila Zeman | Sindbad’s Secret: From the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights | |
| 2004 | Stéphane Jorisch | Jabberwocky |
| Nicolas Debon | Dawn Watch | |
| Marie-Louise Gay | Stella, Princess of the Sky | |
| Kim LaFave | A Very Unusual Dog | |
| Barbara Reid | Peg and the Yeti | |
| 2005 | Rob Gonsalves | Imagine a Day |
| Kyrsten Brooker | City Angel | |
| Wallace Edwards | Mixed Beasts | |
| Murray Kimber | The Highwayman | |
| Rajka Kupesic | Maria Chapdelaine | |
| 2006 | Leo Yerxa | Ancient Thunder |
| Eugenie Fernandes | Earth Magic | |
| Annouchka Gravel Galouchko, Stéphan Daigle | The Birdman | |
| Jon Morse | Casey at the Bat | |
| Maxwell Newhouse | Let's Go for a Ride | |
| 2007 | Duncan Weller | The Boy from the Sun |
| Wallace Edwards | The Painted Circus | |
| Joanne Fitzgerald | The Blue Hippopotamus | |
| Jirina Marton | Marja's Skis | |
| Dusan Petricic | My New Shirt | |
| 2008 | Stéphane Jorisch | The Owl and the Pussycat |
| Isabelle Arseneault | My Letter to the World and Other Poems | |
| Josée Bisaillon | The Emperor’s Second Hand Clothes | |
| Matt James | Yellow Moon, Apple Moon | |
| Kim LaFave | Shin-chi's Canoe | |
| 2009 | Jirina Marton | Bella's Tree |
| Rachel Berman | Bradley McGogg, the Very Fine Frog | |
| Irene Luxbacher, | The Imaginary Garden | |
| Luc Melanson | My Great Big Mamma | |
| Ningeokuluk Teevee | Alego |
Winners from the 2010s
| Year | Illustrator | Book Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Jon Klassen | Cats' Night Out |
| Kristin Bridgeman | Uirapuru | |
| Julie Flett | Owls See Clearly at Night | |
| Matt James | I Know Here | |
| Renata Liwska | The Quiet Book | |
| 2011 | Cybèle Young | Ten Birds |
| Isabelle Arsenault | Migrant | |
| Kim LaFave | Fishing with Gubby | |
| Renata Liwska | Red Wagon | |
| Frank Viva | Along a Long Road | |
| 2012 | Isabelle Arsenault | Virginia Wolf |
| Renné Benoit | Big City Bees | |
| Jon Klassen | House Held Up by Trees | |
| David Parkins | In the Bag! Margaret Knight Wraps It Up | |
| Barbara Reid | Picture a Tree | |
| 2013 | Matt James | Northwest Passage |
| Rachel Berman | Miss Mousie's Blind Date | |
| Gary Clement | Oy, Feh, So? | |
| Jon Klassen | The Dark | |
| Julie Morstad | How To | |
| 2014 | Jillian Tamaki | This One Summer |
| Marie-Louise Gay | Any Questions? | |
| Qin Leng | Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin | |
| Renata Liwska | Once Upon a Memory | |
| Julie Morstad | Julia, Child | |
| 2015 | JonArno Lawson, Sydney Smith | Sidewalk Flowers |
| Andy Jones, Darka Erdelji | Jack, the King of Ashes | |
| Kyo Maclear, Marion Arbona | The Good Little Book | |
| John Martz | A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories | |
| Melanie Watt | Bug in a Vacuum | |
| 2016 | Jon-Erik Lappano, Kellen Hatanaka | Tokyo Digs a Garden |
| Jo Ellen Bogart, Sydney Smith | The White Cat and the Monk | |
| Lucy Ruth Cummins | A Hungry Lion or a Dwindling Assortment of Animals | |
| Mireille Messier, Pierre Pratt | The Branch | |
| Esmé Shapiro | Ooko | |
| 2017 | David Robertson, Julie Flett | When We Were Alone |
| Marie-Louise Gay | Short Stories for Little Monsters | |
| Paul Harbridge, Matt James | When the Moon Comes | |
| Joanne Schwartz, Sydney Smith | Town Is By the Sea | |
| Jan Thornhill | The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk | |
| 2018 | Jillian Tamaki | They Say Blue |
| The Fan Brothers | Ocean Meets Sky | |
| Shauntay Grant, Eva Campbell | Africville | |
| Wab Kinew, Joe Morse | Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigenous Heroes | |
| Werner Zimmermann | At the Pond | |
| 2019 | Sydney Smith | Small in the City |
| Isabelle Arsenault | Albert's Quiet Quest | |
| Cary Fagan, Dena Seiferling | King Mouse | |
| Julie Flett | Birdsong | |
| Nicola Winstanley, John Martz | How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps |
Winners from the 2020s
| Year | Illustrator | Book Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The Fan Brothers | The Barnabus Project |
| Naseem Hrab, Frank Viva | Weekend Dad | |
| Jordan Scott, Sydney Smith | I Talk Like a River | |
| Jillian Tamaki | Our Little Kitchen | |
| Rebecca Thomas, Maya McKibbin | Swift Fox All Along | |
| 2021 | David A. Robertson, Julie Flett | On the Trapline |
| Paul Harbridge, Josée Bisaillon | Out Into the Big Wide Lake | |
| Brittany Luby, Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley | Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know | |
| Bahram Rahman, Gabrielle Grimard | The Library Bus | |
| Todd Stewart | The Wind and the Trees | |
| 2022 | Naseem Hrab, Nahid Kazemi | The Sour Cherry Tree |
| Matthew Forsythe | Mina | |
| Doris George, Don K. Philpot, Alyssa Koski | kā-āciwīkicik / The Move | |
| Kyo Maclear, Gracey Zhang | The Big Bath House | |
| Julie Morstad | Time Is a Flower | |
| 2023 | Jack Wong | When You Can Swim |
| Monica Arnaldo | Mr. S | |
| Jon Klassen | The Skull | |
| Buffy Sainte-Marie, Julie Flett | Still This Love Goes On | |
| Nancy Vo | Boobies | |
| 2024 | Jean E. Pendziwol, Todd Stewart | Skating Wild on an Inland Sea |
| Danielle Daniel, Matt James | I'm Afraid, Said the Leaf | |
| Adam de Souza | The Gulf | |
| Thao Lam | One Giant Leap | |
| Sydney Smith | Do You Remember? |
See also
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