History of the Governor General’s Literary Awards

The Governor General's Literary Awards were established by Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir of Elsfield (also known as John Buchan, author of The Thirty-Nine Steps). The first awards honoured books published in 1936. The GGLAs have since evolved into Canada’s pre-eminent national literary awards.

Launched by the Canadian Authors Association, the awards initially included only works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama written in English or translated from French into English. When the Canada Council assumed responsibility for funding and administering the awards in 1959, it added prizes for works written in French. In 1987, the Council’s Prizes for Children’s Literature (text and illustration) and Translation were made Governor General’s Literary Awards.

The award was originally a non-monetary prize. Then in 1951 a prize of $250 was introduced, rising over the years to $15,000 in the year 2000. In 2007, the value of the prize rose to $25,000 in honour of the Canada Council’s 50th anniversary. The winners are also presented with a handcrafted leather bound copy of their winning book. Publishers of winning books receive $3,000 for promotion. Non winning finalists receive $1,000 to mark their achievement. Today, the total value of the awards is about $450,000.