Governor General's Award

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Since their creation in 1937, the Governor General's Literary Awards have become one of Canada's most prestigious prizes, awarded in both French and English in seven categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Children's Literature-Text, Children's Literature-Illustration, and Translation.

The awards were created by the Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir (John Buchan), himself the noted author of The Thirty-Nine Steps. The awards first honoured only two authors each year, and only those who wrote in English. In 1957 the awards were put under the administration of the Canada Council for the Arts and a cash prize began to be awarded to the winner.

In 1980 the Council began to announce the finalists for the awards a month before they were presented in order to attract more media attention.

During the tenure of Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, she made an effort to obtain copies of every book to win a GG award from book fairs and second hand shops for the Governor General's study. As of 2004 there were only two titles unaccounted for.

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