HAMILTON LITERARY AWARDS

The Hamilton Literary Awards are an annual literary event with the goal of recognizing and celebrating the best of Hamilton’s published authors. The Awards are presented to books of outstanding merit and quality in the categories of Fiction, Poetry and Non-fiction by authors residing in Hamilton, Hamilton Region and on the Six Nations. The Hamilton Literary Awards also include the Kerry Schooley Book Award to be given to the book that is most evocative of the City of Hamilton and/or surrounding area. The Kerry Schooley Book Award has been named in honour of the late Kerry Schooley who was a tireless advocate for literary arts in Hamilton.

To be eligible in the Fiction, Non-fiction and Poetry Book categories an entry must be:

a published book of literary merit with an ISBN number

a minimum of 48 bound pages (children’s books may be shorter)

published in the previous calendar year (2019)

written by an author residing in the City of Hamilton, Hamilton Region or on the Six Nations

single-authored or co-authored (maximum two authors, provided that both authors meet the residency requirements)

Residency Requirements: authors must live in the City of Hamilton, Hamilton Region or on the Six Nations at the time of the award submission deadline and/or book publication, and a minimum of 12 consecutive months up to and including either or both dates.

To be eligible in The Kerry Schooley Book Award category an entry must be:

a published book of literary merit with an ISBN number

a minimum of 48 bound pages (children’s books may be shorter)

published in the previous calendar year (2019)

written by an author who has resided in Hamilton for a significant portion of their life, who may or may not be a current resident

single-authored or co-authored (maximum two authors, provided that both authors meet the residency requirements)

Ineligible entries include, but are not limited to:

translations

books written by authors who are deceased at the time the title was submitted to the competition

anthologies and books with works by more than two authors

ghostwritten books

manuscripts

works in electronic format (epub, pdf, etc)

textbooks, catalogues, cookbooks, reference books, academic publications, technical manuals, self-help books

reprints or republications of titles originally published at an earlier date

books submitted by City of Hamilton, and area, elected representatives



Entries may be submitted to multiple categories where applicable. (i.e. Non-Fiction & Kerry Schooley)

Please submit five (5) copies PER category entered.

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A minimum of 3 eligible entries must be received each year in a given category.

If this minimum is not reached, submissions will be forwarded to the following year’s competition.



DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ENTRIES:

*EXTENSION* JULY 31, 2020 AT 4 PM

All submissions must be received by the deadline date or postmarked on that date or earlier. Late submissions will not be accepted.

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Please contact David Hudson (community@hamiltonartscouncil.ca) to find out where to mail submissions, as our office is closed.

*Please note that books will not be returned

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SELECTION PROCESS

The Hamilton Arts Council uses a peer review process to select the Literary Award laureates. In each category, a three-person jury composed of writers and literary arts professionals reviews the books and selects a short list of finalists and an award recipient. The criterion for selection is literary excellence.

The Kerry Schooley Book Award is a review process which will consist of three members of the Hamilton community with a literary interest and will include at least one literary arts professional, with the criteria for selection being both literary excellence and the affinity of the book for the city of Hamilton.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF FINALISTS AND WINNERS

A short-list of finalists will be announced in October/November 2020.

The names of award winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony in December 2020.

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Additional information:

David Hudson, Community Engagement Officer