We are thrilled to extend our congratulations to Karen Bass, author of Uncertain Soldier. This suspenseful YA novel, set in northern Alberta during World War II, has won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People. This is Bass’ second Geoffrey Bilson Award win, and this is Pajama Press’ third year in a row to see a title win the award.
Karen Bass accepted this prestigious award Thursday night at the 12th annual TD Canadian Children’s Literature Awards celebration. Hosted at The Carlu in Toronto, this gala is a highlight of the publishing year in the Canadian children’s book industry. The Geoffrey Bilson Award, named for a Canadian author and history professor, is one of six major prizes awarded at the gala each year. This is the first award win for Uncertain Soldier, which was nominated for the 2016 Forest of Reading Red Maple Award, and the 2016 IODE Violet Downey Book Award.
Pajama Press is proud to mention that Bass’s most recent release, The Hill, is a 2016 White Ravens Selection. Other accolades for The Hill include a 2016 Junior Library Guild Selection, and a 2017 Forest of Reading Red Maple Award nomination. We are also excited to announce Two Times a Traitor, a new Middle Grade novel by Karen Bass to be published in the fall of 2017.
Pajama Press would also like to congratulate Michelle Barker and Renné Benoit for their nomination for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award for A Year of Borrowed Men, Alma Fullerton and Brian Deines for their nomination for the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award for In a Cloud of Dust, and all the other award nominees and winners of the evening. Our nominated titles were in such good company; it is truly an honour to be recognized alongside some of the best books in the country. Special congratulations to Melanie Florence and François Thisdale for winning the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award for Missing Nimâmâ.
Pajama Press thanks the Canadian Children’s Book Centre and TD Bank for their continued dedication to children’s literacy in Canada.
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- Karen Bass delivering her acceptance speech
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- Karen Bass delivering her acceptance speech
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- Karen Bass and Pajama Press Publisher Gail Winskill celebrate Karen’s win of the Geoffrey Bilson Award
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- Karen Bass, winner of the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People for Uncertain Soldier
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- From left to right: Rebecca Bender, Renné Benoit, Ruth Ohi, Alma Fullerton, and Suzanne Del Rizzo
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- From left to right: Laura Bowman, François Thisdale, and Sharon Woods
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- From left to right: Laura Bowman, Sharon Woods, Gail Winskill, Erin Alladin
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- From left to right: Brian Deines, Laura Bowman, Michael Martin
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- John Spray, author of Next Round and benefactor of the John Spray Mystery Award