Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People

The Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, colloquially called the Vicky, is given annually at the Writers' Trust Awards to a writer or illustrator whose body of work has been "inspirational to Canadian youth". It is a top honour for Canadian children's writers and Canadian children's book illustrators.

Vicky Metcalf, a Canadian librarian,^[1] established the award "in 1963 to stimulate the writing of literature for Canadian children."^[2][3] Before 2013, the prize was known as the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature. The award is sponsored by the Metcalf Foundation,^[3] whose objective "is to enhance the effectiveness of people and organizations working together to help Canadians imagine and build a just, healthy and creative society."^[2] In 2002, the award was taken over by the Writers' Trust of Canada from the Canadian Authors Association.^[2][3]

To be eligible for the award, recipients must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents, have published a minimum of four English-language children's book, and have published at least one first-edition book in the previous three years.^[2][3] Winners are selected by a three-person jury^[3] and receive $25,000 CAD.^[2]

Winners

20th Century

Award winners, 1963–1999^[4]

Year	Winner	Ref.
1963	Kerry Wood
1964	John F. Hayes
1965	Roderick Haig-Brown
1966	Fred Swayze
1967	John Patrick Gillese
1968	Lorrie McLaughlin
1969	Audrey McKim
1970	Farley Mowat	[3]
1971	Kay Hill
1972	William Toye
1973	Christie Harris
1974	Jean Little	[3][5]
1975	Lyn Harrington
1976	Suzanne Martel
1977	James Archibald Houston
1978	Lyn Cook
1979	Cliff Faulknor
1980	John Craig
1981	Monica Hughes
1982	Janet Lunn	[3][6]
1983	Claire Mackay
1984	Bill Freeman
1985	Edith Fowke
1986	Dennis Lee	[3]
1987	Robert Munsch	[3]
1988	Barbara Smucker
1989	Stéphane Poulin
1990	Bernice Thurman Hunter
1991	Brian Doyle
1992	Kevin Major
1993	Phoebe Gilman
1994	Welwyn Wilton Katz
1995	Sarah Ellis
1996	Margaret Buffie
1997	Tim Wynne-Jones	[3]
1998	Kit Pearson
1999	Joan Clark	[7]
2000	Sheree Fitch	[4]

21st Century

Award winners, 2000–present^[8]

Year	Winner	Selected works	Ref.
2001	Linda Granfield		[4]
2002	Julie Johnston		[4]
2003	Roslyn Schwartz		[4]
2004	Deborah Ellis		[4]
2005	Marie-Louise Gay		[3][4]
2006	Kenneth Oppel		[3][4]
2007	Martha Brooks		[4]
2008	Michael Kusugak		[3][4]
2009	Marthe Jocelyn		[3][4]
2010	Polly Horvath		[4]
2011	Iain Lawrence	The Winter Pony Gemini Summer The Convicts The Smugglers The Wreckers	[4]
2012	Paul Yee	Money Boy Dead Man’s Gold and Other Stories Ghost Train Tales from Gold Mountain Teach Me to Fly, Skyfighter!	[4]
2013	Barbara Reid	The Night Before Christmas Picture a Tree Perfect Snow The Party Sing a Song of Mother Goose	[4][9]
2014	Cary Fagan	The Show to End All Shows Mr. Zinger’s Hat Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas Thing-Thing The Market Wedding	[4][10]
2015	Jan Thornhill	Kyle Goes Alone This is My Planet I Found a Dead Bird The Rumor The Wildlife 123	[11][12]
2016	Alan Cumyn	Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend Tilt Dear Sylvia After Sylvia The Secret Life of Owen Skye	[13]
2017	Ruby Slipperjack	Dear Canada: These Are My Words Dog Tracks Little Voice Silent Words Honour the Sun	[1][14][15]
2018	Christopher Paul Curtis	The Journey of Little Charlie The Madman of Piney Woods Elijah of Buxton Bud, Not Buddy The Watsons Go to Birmingham	[16][17]
2019	Susin Nielsen	No Fixed Address Optimists Die First We Are All Made of Molecules Word Nerd	[18]
2020	Marianne Dubuc	The Lion and the Bird The Bus Ride Up the Mountain Path Otto and Pio Little Cheetah's Shadow	[19]
2021	Linda Bailey	Stanley's Party Toads on Toasy The Tiny Hero of Ferny Creek Library Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein Princesses Versus Dinosaurs	[20]
2022	Elise Gravel	Le Grand Antonio (2014) / The Great Antonio (2017)	[21][22]
2023	Kyo Maclear	Bloom: A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli Operatic It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way	[23]
2024	Sara O'Leary		[24]