ABOUT THE AWARDS

The CBC Literary Awards were conceived by Robert Weaver, who was described in a MacLean's magazine article as "CBC Radio's top literary scout, buyer, editor, critic, anthologist as well as the best friend Canadian writers ever had."

Mr. Weaver was the Producer of CBC Radio’s Anthology and CBC Wednesday Night, two CBC programs that worked hard at discovering and broadcasting new writing talent. Weaver, along with William Toy and several others, also edited and published the literary quarterly the Tamarack Review for the 25 years in which it was published. (It used to be said in certain circles, that Bob Weaver was the only magazine publisher who knew all his subscribers by name.)

From his experience in radio as well as his extensive travels from coast to coast talking to writers, producers, and university instructors, Bob Weaver became convinced that there was more talent out there than anyone was aware of and more than he could support with purchases for programs like Canadian Short Stories. And so, in 1979 he set afloat an initiative that would encourage the hopeful, celebrate talent, and even launch literary careers.

During its twenty-eight years, awards have been won by Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields, Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Gwendolyn MacEwan, Barry Callaghan, Janice Kulyk Keefer, Susan Musgrave, Bonnie Burnard, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Judith Kalman, David Helwig and dozens of others. Categories have included poetry, short story, and essay as well as radio drama and children’s stories. From 1994 to 2000, Saturday Night magazine joined CBC as a sponsor of the competition and published the winning texts. Tilden rental car also joined as a sponsor for two years in 1995.

In 1997, the Canada Council for the Arts joined the competition which was struggling due to CBC's financial constraints. Recognizing the value of the Awards to the Canadian writing community, the Canada Council undertook to provide all the cash awards. The Canada Council remains one of the competition's staunchest allies.

In 2001, CBC’s French and English-language literary competitions merged to become the CBC Literary Awards/Prix littéraires Radio-Canada under the direction of Executive Producer Carolyn Warren. The Awards have been further supported by Air Canada’s enRoute magazine, which joined the Canada Council as a partner of the bilingual competition. enRoute publishes the winning texts in French and English to an international audience, alongside original artwork by young Canadian illustrators.