The Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic is an annual award given for a speculative fiction novel or a book-length collection.
The name of the award comes from the title of the first novel by Phyllis Gotlieb, Sunburst (1964).
The first award was given out in 2001. The award consists of a cash prize ($1,000 Canadian for novel length work, and $500 Canadian for short stories) and a medallion. The winner is selected by jury; a new jury is struck each year.
On June 2, 2020, the Sunburst award society announced the awards were going on a hiatus due to impacts related to COVID-19.[1]
Year | Winner | Work title |
---|---|---|
2001 | Sean Stewart | Galveston |
2002 | Margaret Sweatman | When Alice Lay Down with Peter |
2003 | Nalo Hopkinson | Skin Folk |
2004 | Cory Doctorow | A Place So Foreign and 8 More |
2005 | Geoff Ryman | Air |
2006 | Holly Phillips | In the Palace of Repose |
2007 | Mark Frutkin | Fabrizio's Return |
2008 | Adult: Nalo Hopkinson Young adult: Joanne Proulx |
The New Moon's Arms Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet[2] |
2009 | Adult: Andrew Davidson Young adult: Cory Doctorow |
The Gargoyle Little Brother[3] |
2010 | Adult: A. M. Dellamonica Young adult: Hiromi Goto |
Indigo Springs Half World |
2011 | Adult: Guy Gavriel Kay Young adult: Paul Glennon |
Under Heaven Bookweirder[4] |
2012 | Adult: Geoff Ryman Young adult: Catherine Austen |
Paradise Tales All Good Children |
2013 | Adult: Martine Desjardins Young adult: Rachel Hartman |
Maleficium Seraphina |
2014 | Adult: Ruth Ozeki Young adult: Charles de Lint |
A Tale for the Time Being The Cats of Tanglewood Forest[5] |
2015 | Adult: Thomas King Young adult: Cecil Castellucci |
The Back of the Turtle Tin Star[6] |
2016 | Adult: Gemma Files Young adult: Leah Bobet Short Story: Catherine A. MacLeod |
Experimental Film An Inheritance of Ashes Hide and Seek[7] |
2017 | Adult: Claire Humphrey Young adult: Jonathan Auxier Short Story: A. C. Wise |
Spells of Blood and Kin Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard The Sailing of the Henry Charles Morgan in Six Pieces of Scrimshaw (1841)[8] |
2018 | Adult: David Demchuk Young adult: Cherie Dimaline Short Story: Sandra Kasturi |
The Bone Mother The Marrow Thieves The Beautiful Gears of Dying[9] |
2019 | Adult: Andromeda Romano Lax Young adult: Rachel Hartman Short Story: Senaa Ahmad |
Plum Rains Tess of the Road The Glow-in-the-Dark Girls[10] |
2020 | Adult: Silvia Moreno-Garcia Young adult: Allison Mills Short Story: Rebecca Campbell |
Gods of Jade and Shadow The Ghost Collector The Fourth Trimester is the Strangest[11] |
For a complete and up to date listing of current and past long-listed and short-listed works, please see the Sunburst Award Website.
The Sunburst Award administration and juries use the broadest possible definition of speculative fiction for eligibility purposes: "science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, horror, surrealism, fantastique, fabulism, myth and legend, fantastical storytelling, and any other writing beyond the strictly realistic". To be eligible for the award, a work must be published between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year. Only Canadian citizens and landed immigrants are eligible.