Governor General’s Literary Awards | Canada Council for the Arts

The Canada Council may contact the publishing house for supplementary information to determine eligibility.

• Only eligible publishing houses can submit titles for consideration. Publishing houses may be based in Canada or abroad. Publishing houses must:
  • publish books based on an editorial selection process
  • be committed to a sustained trade book publishing program, consisting of titles by a variety of authors. New publishers with fewer than 4 trade titles in print must attest to their commitment to the book(s) in consideration over a sustained period.
  • pay royalties or financially compensate the author, illustrator or translator for all submitted titles
  • have established a marketplace presence through distribution in Canadian bookstores and through marketing and public awareness efforts
  • have no more than 25% of its yearly publications written, illustrated or translated by its owners, family or employees
  • meet basic professional standards of publishing.
• If this is the first time your publishing house is nominating a book, you must provide the following information when you submit a nomination form:
  • information that confirms your publishing house meets the criteria detailed above
  • historical background
  • a catalogue of your published titles
  • a list of Canadian distributors.
• The author must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada as defined by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. They do not need to be living in Canada. Authors must be living on the date of book publication.
  • For the Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books category and for all graphic novels, both the author and illustrator must meet these criteria.
  • For the Translation category, the translator must meet these criteria. The author of the original work must be a Canadian citizen or have permanent resident status but does not need to be living on the date of publication.
• Book eligibility
  • The main language of all books must be English or French.
  • Books must:
    • have an ISBN
    • have a print run of at least 250 copies
    • have at least 48 pages between the covers, except for children’s illustrated books which must have a minimum of 24 printed pages
    • be the first Canadian or first foreign trade edition.
  • Texts may have been previously published in magazines.
  • Adaptations may be eligible. An eligible adaptation is the new form of a literary work that is an interpretation of an existing text that has been significantly modified and transformed into an original new work.