Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize

Template:Infobox award The Drainie-Taylor Biography Prize was a Canadian literary award, presented by the Writers' Trust of Canada to a work judged as the year's best work of biography, autobiography or personal memoir by a Canadian writer.<ref name=launched>"$10,000 biography award launched". Ottawa Citizen, September 26, 1998.</ref>

Created in 1998, the award was named in honour of Nathan A. Taylor, one of the country's leading entertainment impresarios, and actor John Drainie.<ref name=launched /> Writer and actor Claire Drainie Taylor, the award's benefactor, was married to Drainie from 1942 until his death in 1966, and was subsequently married to Taylor until his death in 2004.<ref name=launched />

The first award was presented in November 1999.<ref name=ricard /> For the remainder of the award's existence, however, the award was presented in the spring of the year following the year in which the eligible works were published. The final award was presented in March 2006 to honor works published in 2005.<ref name=herald/>

The award was discontinued after 2006,<ref>"Don't close the door on Berton House". The Globe and Mail, August 18, 2007.</ref> in favour of an expanded prize package for the Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

Nominees and winners

Year	Winner	Nominated
1999	Template:Blue ribbon François Ricard (author) and Patricia Claxton (translator), Gabrielle Roy: A Life<ref name=ricard>"Ricard wins biography prize". National Post, November 10, 1999.</ref>	Wayson Choy, Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood<ref name=1999noms>"Biography Prize nominees". National Post, October 19, 1999.</ref> David Frank, J.B. McLachlan: A Biography<ref name=1999noms /> Wayne Johnston, Baltimore's Mansion<ref name=1999noms /> Stacy Schiff, Vera<ref name=1999noms />
2000	Template:Blue ribbon Trevor Herriot, River in a Dry Land: A Prairie Passage<ref>"Respect at last for non-fiction: winner". The Gazette, March 7, 2001.</ref>	Irena F. Karafilly, The Stranger in the Plumed Hat<ref name=2000noms>"Fiction, biography nominees announced". The Globe and Mail, February 2, 2001.</ref> A. B. McKillop, The Spinster & the Prophet: Florence Deeks, H.G. Wells and the Mystery of the Purloined Past<ref name=2000noms/>
2001	Template:Blue ribbon Ken McGoogan, Fatal Passage<ref>"Seven authors win big prizes ; Levine, Blaise, Hay among those honoured in T.O.". Toronto Star, March 6, 2002.</ref>	Clark Blaise, Time Lord<ref name=2001noms>"Fatal Passage makes list". Calgary Herald, February 13, 2002.</ref> Susan Crean, The Laughing One<ref name=2001noms/> Carol Shields, Jane Austen<ref name=2001noms/> Jack Todd, The Taste of Metal: A Deserter's Story<ref name=2001noms/>
2002	Template:Blue ribbon Warren Cariou, Lake of the Prairies: A Story of Belonging<ref name=doles>"Writers' Trust doles out prizes". The Globe and Mail, March 7, 2003.</ref>	Andrew Clark, A Keen Soldier: The Execution of Private Harold Joseph Pringle<ref name=doles/> Charlotte Gray, Flint & Feather: The Life and Times of E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake<ref name=doles/> Jerry Kobalenko, The Horizontal Everest: Extreme Journey on Ellesmere Island<ref name=doles/> Neil Peart, Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road<ref name=doles/>
2003	Template:Blue ribbon Geoffrey Stevens, The Player: The Life and Times of Dalton Camp<ref>"Writers' Trust announces winners". The Globe and Mail, March 4, 2004.</ref>	Paul Adams, Summer of the Heart: Saving Alexandre<ref name=2003noms>"Literary awards announce finalists". The Globe and Mail, February 4, 2004.</ref> Kevin Bazzana, Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould<ref name=2003noms/> Joel Yanofsky, Mordecai & Me: An Appreciation of a Kind<ref name=2003noms/>
2004	Template:Blue ribbon Peter C. Newman, Here Be Dragons: Telling Tales of People, Passion and Power<ref>"Munro, Engel, Newman honoured". The Telegram, March 10, 2005.</ref>	Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall, Down to This: Squalor and Splendour in a Big-City Shantytown<ref name=2004noms>"Newman, Munro earn nominations". Calgary Herald, February 2, 2005.</ref> Charles Montgomery, The Last Heathen: Encounters with Ghosts and Ancestors in Melanesia<ref name=2004noms/> Harry Thurston, A Place Between the Tides: A Naturalist's Reflections on the Salt Marsh<ref name=2004noms/>
2005	Template:Blue ribbon Nelofer Pazira, A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan<ref name=herald>"Boyden, Vaillant win Writer's Prize". Calgary Herald, March 2, 2006.</ref>	Michael Bliss, Harvey Cushing: A Life in Surgery<ref name=2005noms>"Bishop nominated for literary prize". Edmonton Journal, February 2, 2006.</ref> Michael Mitchell, The Molly Fire<ref name=2005noms/> William Sampson, Confessions of an Innocent Man: Torture and Survival in a Saudi Prison<ref name=2005noms/>