Past CBC Literary Prize winners
1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s
2023
Short Story: Just a Howl by Will Richter
Nonfiction: Glossary for an Aswang by Louie Leyson
Poetry: lotus flower blooming into breasts by Kyo Lee
2022
Short Story: Beneath the Softness of Snow by Chanel M. Sutherland
Nonfiction: Advice to a New Beekeeper by Susan Cormier
Poetry: Spell World Backwards by Bren Simmers
2021
Short Story: Kids in Kindergarten by Corinna Chong
Nonfiction: Umbrella by Chanel M. Sutherland
Poetry: James by Lise Gaston
2020
Short Story: Gibson by Brenda Damen
Nonfiction: Value Village by Jonathan Poh
Poetry: Tickling the Scar by Matthew Hollett
2019
Short Story: Green Velvet by Krzysztof Pelc
Nonfiction: Slow Violence by Jenny Boychuck
Poetry: Love Poem with Elk and Punctuation, Prairie Storm and Tasbih by Alycia Pirmohamed
2018
Short Story: Lipstick Day by Leah Mol
Nonfiction: Easy Family Dinners by Sandra Murdock
Poetry: Arrhythmia by Natalie Lim
2017
Short Story: Witching by Alix Hawley
Poetry: Postcards for my Sister by Alessandra Naccarato
Creative Nonfiction: Trust Exercise by Becky Blake
2016
Short Story: Enigma by David Huebert
Poetry: African Canadian in Union Blue by Michael Fraser
Creative Nonfiction: Adaptation by Leslie A. Davidson
2015
Short Story: Mountain Under Sea by D.W. Wilson
Poetry: String Theory by Mark Wagenaar
Creative Nonfiction: If You Have a Good Seal, the Chest Will Rise by Carrie Mac
2014
Short Story: Smiley by Jane Eaton Hamilton
Poetry: Tar Swan by David Martin
Creative Nonfiction: The Hunter and the Swan by Patti-Kay Hamilton
2013
Short Story: The Three Times Rule by Becky Blake
Poetry: The Trailer by James Scoles
Creative Nonfiction: The Gods of Scrabble by Mohan Srivastava
2012
Short Story: Mine by Daniel Karasik
Poetry: Great Aunt Unmarried by Sadiqa de Meijer
Creative Nonfiction: Holy Bald-Headed by Hilary Dean
2010
Short Story: Snapshots from My Father's Euthanasia Road Trip, or, Esau by Meghan Adams
Poetry: To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Brian Brett
Creative Nonfiction: My Best Friend by Gina Leola Woolsey
2009
Short Story: Badger by Donald Ward
Poetry: Us unclean by Michael Langton
Creative Nonfiction: The Rise by Marian Botsford Fraser
2008
Short Story: Circus by Claire Battershill
Poetry: Outskirts by Sue Goyette
Creative Nonfiction: Columbus Burning by Sarah de Leeuw
2007
Short Story: White by Lee Kvern
Poetry: Sundress, Fortress by Jeramy Dodds
Creative Nonfiction: In a Garden by Shelagh Plunkett
2006
Short Story: The People Who Love Her by Amy Jones
Poetry: A Walker in the City by Méira Cook
Creative Nonfiction: The Occupations of Muriel Thompson by Leona Theis
2005
Short Story: The Chorus by Erin Soros
Poetry: The Mind's Eye by Alison Pick
Creative Nonfiction: I, Witness by Kim Echlin
2004
Short Story: The Point David Made Earlier by Michael Winter
Poetry: The Workshop by Asa Boxer
Travel Writing: The Bus to Loja by Montana Jones
2003
Short Story: The Lost Boy by Jane Eaton Hamilton
Poetry: Selections from Muybridge's Horse by Rob Winger
Travel Writing: Girl Afraid of Haystacks (A story of travel and exile) by Stephen Osborne
2002
Short Story: The Last Shot by Leon Rooke
Poetry: Once a Murderer: Poems for Three Voices by Zoë Landale
Travel Writing: Dents in the Laurentians by Roger Greenwald
2001
Short Story: Between Wars by Camilla Gibb
Poetry: Poems for Carl Hruska by Erin Noteboom
Travel Writing: A Desert Romance by David Tycho
1999
Short Story: How can men share a bottle of vodka by David Bergen
Poetry: Drowning Water & Other Poems by Don Domanski
Essay: Tunnels by Roberta Rees
1998
Short Story: Where It Comes From, Where It Goes by Bill Gaston
Poetry: One Version by Suzanne Buffam
Essay: Boo by Timothy Wilson
1997
Short Story: Satya by Shauna Singh Baldwin
Poetry: Hoar Frost by Roberta Rees
Essay: Hair by Elaine Kalman Naves
1996
Short Story: Poached Egg on Toast by Frances Itani
Poetry: The Gold Luck of Carp by Susan Musgrave
Essay: Jungle Fever by Jamie Zeppa
1995
Short Story: Bolero by Frances Itani
Poetry: Kicheraboo, We Are Dying by John B. Lee
Essay: Flight by Judith Kalman
1994
Short Story: In the Water, Like This by Gayla Reid
Poetry: Poems by Roger Greenwald
Essay: The Suit by Norman Doidge
1992/93
Short Story: The Girl with the Bell Necklace by Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Poetry: Eleven Paintings by Mary Pratt by Diana Brebner
Essay: A Careful Man by Carolyn Smart
1991
Short Story: Elizabeth by John Givner
Poetry: Captain Kintail and The Church Not Made with Hands by John Terpstra
Essay: Shame and Pleasure by Amy Friedman
1990
Short Story: Hoodlums by Irena Friedman Karafilly
Poetry: Human Acts by Heather Spears
Essay: Leaving the Farm by Ross Klatte
1989
Short Story: Peggy Lee in Africa by Patrick Roscoe
Poetry (second place): A Glossary of the Intertext by Stephen Scobie
Radio Drama: Hungry Ghosts by Louise Young
1988
Short Story: A Van for Violet by Ernst Havemann
Poetry: Spring Descending by Michael Harris
Radio Drama: The Demon by Matthew Decter
1987
Short Story: Dream Land by Carol Windley
Poetry: Angels of Silence by Lorna Crozier
Radio Drama: Seiche by W.D. Valgardson
1986
Short Story: The Wind by Janice Kulyk Keefer
Poetry: A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario by Christopher Dewdney
Radio Drama: Mortal by Cordelia Strube
1985
Short Story: Mrs. Putnam at the Planetarium by Janice Kulyk Keefer
Poetry (tie for first place):
Southeasterly by Andrew Wreggitt
The Blue Roofs of Japan by Robert Bringhurst
Radio Drama: Ratzlaff vs. the Creator by Eric Nicol
1984
Short Story: An Interview by Ernst Havemann
Poetry: Technologies/Installations by Kim Maltman
Drama: Stations by John Gregory
Children's Story: To the Mountains by Morning by Diana Wieler
1983
Short Story: The Other Country by Gwendolyn MacEwen
Poetry: Catchpenny Poems by David Helwig
Radio Drama: Women Waiting by Carol Shields
Children's Story (second place): Once Upon A Village by Christel Kleitsch
1982
Short Story: The Passions of Lalla by Michael Ondaatje
Poetry: Summer's Drug by Roo Borson
Radio Drama (Adventure): Jupiter's Feet: A Love Story by Rachel Wyatt
Radio Drama (Comedy) (second place): A Taste of the Sweet Apple by Larry Snyder
Children's Story: The Hen's Castle by Alice Tomlinson
1981
Short Story: The Leaving by Budge Wilson
Poetry: The Cave of Trophonius by Francis Sparshott
Memoirs: The Fifth Man by Ronald R. Jeffels
1980
Short Story: A Matter of Balance by W.D. Valgardson
Poetry (tie for second place):
Mimosa by Mary Di Michele
Birds by Bill Bissett
Memoirs: Aga Dawn by Bill Schermbrucker
1979
Short Story: Les Rites by Seán Virgo
Poetry (tie for second place):
A New Romance by David McFadden
The Pat Lowther Poem by Gail McKay
Memoirs: My Cousin Gerald by Charles Ritchie
