About the Dartmouth Book Awards
The Dartmouth Book Awards honour Nova Scotia literature and recognize the valuable contribution writers make to our cultural heritage. Two prizes valued at $1,500.00 each are awarded in the categories of: fiction and non-fiction. A third $1,500. prize is awarded to the author from Atlantic Canada whose first book of fiction or non-fiction has been published.
The Dartmouth Book and Writing Awards for fiction and non-fiction were established in 1988 with the financial support of corporations and citizens interested in the province's artistic life. The intent was to honour authors of Nova Scotia fiction and non-fiction and to encourage writers embarking on their careers. In 2003 the third award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award was launched. The awards are administered by a steering committee composed of representatives from the Halifax Regional Libraries, the Halifax Regional Municipality and members of the community. The Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award for fiction is sponsored by Boyne Clarke Barristers and Solicitors. The Dartmouth Book Award for non-fiction in memory of Robbie Robertson is presented by the Kiwanis Club of Dartmouth. The Margaret and John Savage First Book Award is supported by Collins Barrow Chartered Accountants, family members and private citizens.
Click here for Eligibility Criteria
Honouring Contributors to Dartmouth’s Cultural Heritage
Each of the three Dartmouth awards honours the memories of significant contributors to the community’s artistic life. Jim Connors was a volunteer judge of the fiction entries from the outset of the annual competitions. Robbie Robertson was a life-long contributor and supporter of Dartmouth’s cultural activities. John Savage was the Dartmouth mayor at the time of the awards’ inception in 1988 and was instrumental in securing the initial financial assistance. Margaret Savage was a long-time volunteer in the outreach programs of the Alderney Gate Library.
Click here for Eligibility Criteria
Dartmouth Book Award Winners:
2011
Fiction - Anne Emery for Children in the Morning
Non-fiction - Jerry Lockett for Captain James Cook in Atlantic Canada
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award- Alexander MacLeod for Light Lifting |
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2010
Fiction - Linden MacIntyre for The Bishop's Man
Non-Fiction - Greg Cochkanoff and Bob Chaulk for SS Atlantic: The White Star Line's First Disaster at Sea
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Shandi Mitchell for Under This Unbroken Sky |
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2009:
Fiction - Anne Simpson for Falling
Non-Fiction - William D. Naftel for Halifax at War
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Ian Colford for Evidence |
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2008 :
Fiction - Beatrice MacNeil for Where White Horses Gallop
Non-Fiction - Marq de Villiers for Witch in the Wind: The True Story of the Legendary Bluenose
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Stephanie Domet for Homing: the whole story ( from the inside out) |
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2007:
Fiction - Linda Little, for "Scotch River"
Non-Fiction - Keith McLaren, for "A Race for Real Sailors"
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award -
John G. Langley for "Steam Lion - A Biography of Samuel Cunard" |
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2006:
Fiction -
George Elliott Clarke, for "George and Rue"
Non-Fiction -
Laura M. MacDonald, for "Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award -
Tom Gallant, for "A Hard Chance: Sailing Into the Heart of Love"
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2005:
Fiction - Jonathan Campbell for Tarcadia
Non-fiction - Paul Erickson for Historic North End Halifax
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Jonathan Campbell for Tarcadia |
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2004:
Fiction - Leo McKay Jr. for Twenty-Six
Non-fiction - Elizabeth Pacey for Miracle on Brunswick Street
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Beth Ryan for What is Invisible |
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2003:
Fiction - Beatrice MacNeil for Butterflies Dance in the Dark
Non-fiction - Stephen Kimber for Sailors, Slacker and Blind Pigs, Halifax at War
Margaret and John Savage First Book Award - Dan Falk for Universe on a T-Shirt
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2002:
Fiction - David Doucette for Strong at the Broken Places
Non-fiction - Kate Langan for The Art of Worship
Cunard First Book Award - Linda Little for Strong Hollow
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2001:
Fiction - Carol Bruneau for Purple for Sky
Non-fiction - Harry Chapman for In the Wake of the Alderney
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2000:
Fiction - Alistair MacLeod for No Great Mischief
Non-fiction - David Frank for J.B. MacLachlan: a Biography
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1999:
Fiction - Lynn Coady for Strange Heaven
Non-fiction - James Mahar, Rowena Mahar for Too Many to Mourn: One Family's Tragedy in the Halifax Explosion
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1998:
Fiction - Betty Boudreau for I'll Buy You an Ox
Non-fiction - Merritt Gibson for The Old Place
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1997:
Fiction - Ann-Marie MacDonald for Fall on Your Knees
Non-fiction - Lance Woolaver, Bob Brooks for The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis
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1996:
Fiction - Leo McKay Jr for Like This: Stories
Non-fiction - J.R.C. Perkin for Ordinary Magic
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1995:
Fiction - Lesley Choyce for Republic of Nothing
Non-fiction - Dean Jobb for Calculated Risk
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1994:
Fiction - Beatrice MacNeil for Moonlight Skater
Non-fiction - (tie) Daniel Paul for We Were Not the Savages and Leslie Smith Dow for Adele Hugo: La Miserable
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1993:
Fiction - Robert MacNeil for Burden of Desire
Non-fiction - Sally Ross/Alphonse Deveau for Acadians of Nova Scotia
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1992:
Fiction - (tie) Donna Smyth for Loyalist Runaway and Kim Atwood for Two of Me
Non-fiction - Silver Donald Cameron for Wind, Whales and Whiskey
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1991:
Fiction - Budge Wilson for The Leaving
Non-fiction - Harry Thurston for Tidal Life
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1990:
Fiction - Lesley Choyce for The Second Season of Jonas MacPherson
Non-fiction - Claude Bissell for Ernest Buckler, Remembered
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1989:
Harry Bruce for Down Home
(in the award's first year, there were no fiction and non-fiction categories)
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