2025 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
Jerome J. Bourgault— Day of Epiphany

Non-fiction
Carolyn Roberts — Re-Storying Education: Decolonizing Your Practice Using a Critical Lens

Children’s
Trevor Atkins — The Day the Pirates Went Mad

2025 FINALISTS

Fiction
Christopher Dainton — Malipolitan
Robin Anne Ettles — This Is All We Know

Non-fiction
Kim Hudson — The Bridge: Connecting the Powers of Linear and Circular Thinking
Diane Kirby — Grief and the Spirit World: A Search for Comfort

Childrens
Anna McCarthy (illustrations Nicola North) — Message in a Bottle
Lisa Macdonald — Me, My Selfie, and I 

2025 Shortlist

Fiction
R. Dawnraven for The Hidden Crystals
Shelby Knudsen — One Night Only
Chris Tomasini — Within This Darkness

Non-fiction
Joe Calendino and Gary Little — The Longest Road: To Hell and Back from Addiction to Advocacy
Linda Dayan Frimer — Luminous: An artist’s story as a guide to radical creativity
Corinne Wilkinson and Trish Eaton-Parder — It’s Just a Hiccup: Reclaiming Your Identity

Children’s
Sophie Armstrong  (illustrations Pearl Bates) — The Music Thief
Beth Kelly — The Little Octopus

2024 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
Karen Barrow — Palmyra

Non-fiction
Barbara Leimsner — Quitting the Master Race: A Daughter’s Journey to Break the Bonds of Hate

Children’s
Judith Silverthorne — The Treasure Box

2024 FINALISTS

Fiction
Hannah D. State – Journey to the Dark Galaxy
Daphne Leonie Wright – On Love and Death and Belonging

Non-fiction
Angie Counios – My List, My Rules: The Year a Checklist Saved My Life
Adam L. Harris – A Canadian Jew in Uncle Sam’s Army: Darkly Humorous Recollections of Disparity, Irony and Narrowly Surviving During the Cold War

Childrens
Douglas Cochran – Captain Festus & the Close Shave
Bruce A. Hanson – Double Cross

2024 Shortlist

Fiction
Tim Hanley – Occurrence at Five Finger
Isis Maria Henriquez – Mangos and Snowflakes
Elizabeth Oldham – Tail of Humanity

Non-fiction
Lynn Gale– L’Opacité: A Collection of Poetry
Bonnie McGhie – Hard Landings: Chasing a Dream in Canada’s Changing Arctic
Kelly McKenzie – Never, Never, Hardly Ever: A Mother-Daughter Story of Antiques and Antics

Children’s
L.G. Anderson (illustrations J.E. Corbett, contributions J.K. Kobylko) – The Lost Spirit
P.S. Whatever – Time: Secrets of the Under-Under World
D.F. Whibley – One Arctic Night
Ramona Wildeman (illustrations Lou Dahl) – Siege of Herons — Collective Nouns Alphabetically

2023 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
Tom Stewart — Immortal North

Non-fiction
Chief Robert Joseph — Namwayut: A Pathway to Reconciliation

Childrens
H. Pham-Fraser (illustrations Akemi)— The Little Girl

2023 FINALISTS

Fiction
Jill MacLean — The Arrows of Mercy
Bernice Santos — Ghosts of a Cure

Non-fiction
Marilyn Carr — Nowhere Like This Place: Tales from a Nuclear Childhood
Bob Henderson and Sean Blenkinsop (editors) — Paddling Pathways: Reflections from a Changing Landscape

Childrens
Helen Row Toews — The Legacy: Volume Three of the Runstaff Chronicles
Rud Verhagen — The Last Green Dragon

2023 Shortlist

Fiction
Renny DeGroot — Heritage House
Marion Ehrenberg — The Language of Dreams
Anne M. Smith-Nochasak — The Ice Widow

Non-fiction
Eleanor Boyle — Mobilize Food! Wartime Inspiration for Environmental Victory Today
Karin Konoval — On Constance
Brendyn Zachary — The Backpacker Lifecycle 

Children’s
Lana de Bastiani (illustrations Janet Lacey ) — The Fox and My Boot
Paul Shore and Deborah Katz Henriquez (illustrations Prashant Miranda) — Steve and Eve Save the Planet: I Can Hear Your Heart Beep
Troy Townsin (illustrations Trish Glab) — Cressie

2022 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
Michael Carin — Churchill at Munich

Non-fiction
Shannon Terrell — The Guest House

Childrens
Rae Knightly — Ben Archer & The World Beyond

2022 FINALISTS

Fiction
William George Lindsay — Rez Dog Blues & The Haiku: A Savage Life in Bits and Pieces
Gordon Sombrowski — What Narcissus Saw

Non-fiction
Laurie Carter — Emily Carr’s BC (Book Two): Northern BC & Haida Gwaii 
H. Saint James — What Grows In The Space It Left Behind: A Memoir

Childrens
Georgia Hunter — Tabhi
Barbara Wade Rose — Marabel or, the Great Exception

2022 Shortlist

Fiction
Peter McPhie — Good Man Gone
A.-M. Mawhiney — Spindrifts
K. A. Wiggins — Blind the Eyes (Threads of Dreams, Book 1)

Non-fiction
Curtis Carmichael — Butterflies in the Trenches: The Hood, an Epic Bike Ride, and Finding Inspiration
Bruno Cocorocchio — Mea Culpa: A Plea of Innocence
Bernadette Rule — Dark Fire

Children’s
Dave Carroll (illustrations Floyd Yamyamin) — Tom The Tomato Plant
Kristen Cornell (illustrations Rebeca J. Pintos) — Noah, No!
David Stallard (illustrations Poppy Shandler) — When I Was Little…

2021 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
Valerie Dunsmore — Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

Non-fiction
Fran Hurcomb — Breaking Trail: Northern Stories from a Simpler Time

2021 FINALISTS

Fiction
Pamela McGarry — The Unsuitable Bride
Don McLellan — Ouch

Non-fiction
Elke Babicki  — Identity: From Holocaust to Home
Beth Kaplan  —  Loose Woman: My Odyssey from Lost to Found 

2021 Shortlist

Fiction

Andréa Fehsenfeld — A Rainbow Like You
Katrin Horowitz — Just This
Byron T.D. Smith — Windfall: A Henry Lysyk Mystery

Non-fiction

Roxi Harms — The Upside of Hunger
Angie Littlefield — Tom Thomson’s Fine Kettle of Friends
Tommy Schnurmacher — Makeup Tips from Auschwitz: How Vanity Saved My Mother’s Life

2020 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
C.V. Gauthier — Charlee LeBeau and the Gambler’s Promise

Non-fiction
Laesa Faith Kim — Can’t Breathe

2020 FINALISTS

Fiction
R.E. Donald — Yellowhead Blues
Jennifer Rouse Barbeau — Dying Hour

Non-fiction
Anna Byrne  — Seven Year Summer
Mary O’Sullivan  —  Lazarus Heart

2020 Shortlist

Fiction

Roy Blomstrom — Silences
Laurel Mae Hislop — F-Holes of Melancholia
Tanya Lee — The Wolf and the Rain

Non-fiction

Bruno Huber — Folly Bistro
Lindy Hughes — The Common Wife
Stephanie Hrehirchuk — An Accidental Awakening

2019 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
Ann Shortell — Celtic Knot: A Clara Swift Tale

Non-fiction
Tina Martel — Not in the Pink

2019 FINALISTS

Fiction
Edythe Anstey Hanen —  Nine Birds Singing
Diana Stevan — Sunflowers under Fire

Non-fiction
Bill Arnott  — Gone Viking: A Travel Saga
Manuel Matas, MD  —  The Borders of  Normal

2019 Shortlist

Fiction

Mark Cameron – 17 Weddings
Neil Chase – Iron Dogs
Maggie Dwyer – What the Living Do
Bretton Loney – The Last Hockey Player

Non-fiction

Jacqueline Carmichael– Tweets from the Trenches
Anna Dopico – To Make Riders Faster
Jarem Sawatsky – Healing Justice: Stories of Wisdom and Love
David Wilding-Davies – My Cattle Look Thin

2018 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
Laurel Deedrick-Mayne — A Wake for the Dreamland

Non-fiction
Mark Cote — That Lucky Old Son

2018 FINALISTS

Fiction
T.G. Brown  —  Harvest (A Josh Ingram Novel)
Emma L.R. Hogg — Winona Rising
Mike Sadava — The Project
Non-fiction
Louise Szabo, Barbara Brown, Jan Jacobson & Wendy Quarry  —
Travel Dreams and Nightmares – Four Women Explore the World
Toko-pa Turner  —  Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home

2018 Nominees

Fiction

T.G. Brown — Harvest 
Norm Cuddy — Return of the Jaguar
Jane Doucet — The Pregnant Pause 
Barry Grills — Roadkill
Andrew Lafleche — A Pardonable Offence

Non-fiction

Rod Baker — Constant Traveller R801168
Patricia Hetherington — Under the Covers
Andrew Lafleche — No Diplomacy

2017 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
Farida Somjee — The Beggar’s Dance

Non-fiction
Paul Shore — Uncorked: My Year in Provence

FINALISTS

Fiction
Annie Daylon — Of Sea and Seed: The Kerrigan Chronicles, Book 1
R.L. Prendergast —The Confessions of Socrates

Non-fiction
Monique Layton — Notes from Elsewhere: Travel and Other Matters
Patricia Sandberg — Sun Dogs and Yellowcake: Gunnar Mines—A Canadian Story

Fiction Nominees

Elen Ghulam — Spoonful Chronicles
Emma L.R. Hogg — The Fourth Wall
Prairie, Katherine – Thirst
John Pringle — Spirals: Stories of Northwest Ontario

Non-fiction Nominees

Marilyn Laura Bowman — James Legge and the Chinese Classics
John Early — Tales of the Modern Nomad: Monk s,Mushrooms & Other Misadventures
Larissa Fleurette — Becoming Silver Girl

2016 WIBAs

WINNERS

Fiction
Byrna Barclay – House of the White Elephant

Non-fiction
Miji Campbell – Separation Anxiety: A Coming of Middle Age Story

Crime Fiction
Gerry Fostaty – Stage Business

Poetry
Gail Sidonie Sobat – How the Light Is Spent

2016 FINALISTS

Fiction
Curran, Kath – Before It Was Easy
Gale, Shawn – The Stories That Make Us

Non-fiction
Veldhuis, Oriole A. Vane – For Elise: Unveiling the Forgotten Woman on the Criddle Homestead
Ziegler, Maggie – The Road to Keringet

Crime Fiction
Bailey, D.F. – Bone Maker
Donald, R.E. – Sundown on Top of the World

Poetry
Barkley, Gloria – Water Window Mirror
Woodland, Alan – Out of the Mist

2016 NOMINEES

Fiction Nominees
Alexander, Mark – Danny, What Are You Doing?
Barker, Donna – Mother Theresa’s Advice for Jilted Lovers
Bishop, Ev – Bigger Things
​Cameron, Mark – Goodnight Sunshine
Duffy, Ron – Crossed Lives
Hislop, Laurel – Chitchat
Shepard, Caroline – Unlit Spaces

Non-fiction
Bendall, Pamela Roy – What Was I Thinking? Adventures of a Woman Sailing Solo
Clews, Graham – The Sound of Silence
Hill, Leslie – Dressed for Dancing: My Sojourn in the Findhorn Foundation
Layton, Monique – The New Arcadia: Tahiti’s Cursed Myth
Loney, Bretton – Rebel with a Cause: the Doc Nikaido Story
Service, Dawn – The Cabin: A Misanthropic Journal
Williams, Megan – Our Interrupted Fairytale

Crime Fiction
Brown, T.G. – O’Henry
Wong, S.G. – In for a Pound

Poetry
Braun, Connie – Unspoken: an Inheritance of Words
Knight, Rosalind – Songs of Zambia
Swede, George – Micro Haiku: Three to Nine Syllables

2016 Honourable Mentions

Amodeo, Merle – After Love
Ashe, Carol – Out of the Storm
Blomfield, Sharon – The Sifnos Chronicles: Tales from a Greek Isle
Burnell, David E. – In Moonlight’s Shadow
Cascioli, Lucia – Letters to the Grave
C., Joe – Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for a 12-Step Life
Druehl, Louis – Cedar, Salmon and Weed
Duffy, Ron – O’Hanlon
Engleson, Bill – Like a Child to Home
Ghulam, Elen – Graffiti Hack
Glover, William A. – Tales of a Mad Miner
Hancock, Lyn – The Ring: Memories of a Metis Grandmother
Kenyon, Anthony – The Recorded History of the Liard Basin 1790-1910
Marshall, Claire – The Violet Fox
McLean, J.P. – The Gift: Awakening
McWilliams, James L. – A Secret of the Sphinx
Pool, Annalies – Free Love
Stange, Ken – Going Home: Cycling through the Heart of America
Suelo, Del – I Am Free
Swede, George – Embryo: Eye Poems
Tasi, Mary & Wade Baker – The Hidden Journals: Captain Vancouver & His Mapmaker
Tracz, Orysia – First Star I See Tonight