Today, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) and the Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) released the shortlists for the 2022 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards. The Schwartz Awards are the only Canadian literary award where student jurors work together to choose the winning books.
Student juries from Faywood Arts-Based Curriculum School in North York, Ont., will debate the shortlisted books and come to a consensus on the 2022 winners. The winning books will be announced in June 2022.
About this year's shortlists
- The 2022 shortlists feature Canadian authors and illustrators from diverse backgrounds, working in a variety of literary and artistic styles.
- The Children’s Picture Book category has stories inspired by connections to the past, along with new ideas for the future. The characters in these books are inquisitive, imaginative and full of wonder.
- The Young Adult / Middle Reader category includes books featuring young people changing the way that they see the world, and how the world sees them. These transformations include both magical and real-life solutions.
Children’s Picture Book Award Category
Hold That Thought!
by Bree Galbraith (Vancouver, B.C.)
illustrations by Lynn Scurfield (Toronto, Ont.)
Owlkids Books
A Kid is a Kid is a Kid
by Sara O'Leary (Hudson, Que.)
illustrations by Qin Leng (Toronto, Ont.)
Groundwood Books
Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know
by Brittany Luby (Guelph, Ont.)
illustrations by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley (Vancouver, B.C.)
Groundwood Press
On the Trapline
by David A. Robertson (Winnipeg, Man.)
illustrations by Julie Flett (Cochrane, Alta.)
Penguin Random House
Out into the Big Wide Lake
by Paul Harbridge (Toronto, Ont.)
illustrations by Josée Bisaillon (St-Hubert, Que.)
Tundra Books
Young Adult / Middle Reader Award Category
Children of the Fox
by Kevin Sands (London, Ont.)
Tundra Books
Firefly
by Philippa Dowding (Toronto, Ont.)
DCB
The School Between Winter and Fairyland
by Heather Fawcett (Vancouver Island, B.C.)
HarperCollins / Balzer + Bray
Sunny Days Inside and Other Stories
by Caroline Adderson (Vancouver, B.C.)
Groundwood Books
Tremendous Things
by Susin Nielsen (Vancouver, B.C.)
Penguin Random House
About the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards
- Two awards of $6,000 each are presented annually to recognize artistic excellence in writing and illustration in English-language Canadian children’s literature.
- The winners are selected by two juries of young readers, this year comprising students at Faywood Arts-Based Curriculum School:
- Five students in grades 4 and 6 will select the recipient of the Children’s Picture Book Award.
- Five students in grade 8 will select the recipient of the Young Adult / Middle Reader Award.
Learn more
- The Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards were established in 1976 by Sylvia Schwartz in memory of her sister, Ruth, a respected Toronto bookseller. In 2004, the family renamed the awards to honour both sisters.
- OAF administers the awards with the support of OAC, which manages the nomination and jury process. The awards are funded through the Ruth Schwartz Foundation.
- The nomination committee that chose this year’s shortlist consisted of Katharine Tutko (Owner, Moonbeam Books, Toronto), Mary Searle (Coordinator of Library Collections, Sudbury Public Library) and Martha Martin (Teacher-Librarian, LaSalle Public School, Greater Essex County District School Board).
- See the full details on the award and the complete list of past laureates.
Ontario Arts Foundation Inquiries
Ann Boyd
Director of Administration, OAF
aboyd@oafdn.ca