Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction

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The Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best work of non-fiction by a Canadian writer.

Sponsorship history

First established in 1997, the award's original corporate sponsor was Viacom. Pearson Canada, the regional branch of an educational book publishing company, took over the award in 1999, and Nereus Financial, a stock brokerage, became the sponsor from 2006 to 2008. After Nereus dropped its sponsorship, the award had no corporate sponsor until 2011,<ref name=natpost>"Nominees for Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction announced" Template:Webarchive. National Post, September 20, 2011.</ref> when Hilary Weston (a philanthropist and former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario) was announced as the award's new sponsor.<ref name="weston">"Writers' Trust non-fiction prize bumped up to $60,000" Template:Webarchive. The Globe and Mail, May 11, 2011.</ref>

Canada's most lucrative non-fiction prize, the winner receives a cash sum of Template:Currency and all finalists receive Template:Currency.<ref name="weston" /><ref>M.A. Orthofer, "Writers' Trust of Canada Prize for Non-Fiction " Template:Webarchive, complete review, 26 October 2011.</ref> Prior to Weston's patronage of the award, the prize would consist Template:Currency for the winner and Template:Currency for the finalists.

Nominees and winners

Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction winners and finalists
Year Author Title Result Ref.
1997 Template:Sortname Small Mercies: A Boy After War Winner <ref>"Literary Prizes Awarded". Ottawa Citizen, January 20, 1998.</ref>
Template:Sortname Mrs. King: The Life and Times of Isabel Mackenzie King Finalist <ref>"Govier takes Engel prize". The Globe and Mail, November 20, 1997.</ref>
Template:Sortname Power in the Blood: Land, Memory, and a Southern Family
Template:Sortname Flowers on My Grave
Template:Sortname Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood
1998 Template:Sortname and Yvonne Johnson Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman Winner <ref>Val Ross, "Writers awarded $10,000 prizes". The Globe and Mail, January 19, 1999.</ref>
Template:Sortname Isaiah Berlin: A Life Finalist <ref>"Butala wins Engel prize". The Globe and Mail, November 20, 1998.</ref>
Template:Sortname Progeny of Ghosts: Travels in Russia and the Old Empire
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
1999 Template:Sortname Walking Since Daybreak: A Story of Eastern Europe, World War II and the Heart of our Century Winner <ref>Aida Edamariam, "Toronto historian, Calgary novelist honoured by their peers: Writers' trust awards". National Post, March 30, 2000.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sort Finalist <ref>"Nominations announced". The Globe and Mail, February 9, 2000.</ref>
Template:Sortname History of Medicine: A Scandalously Short Introduction
Template:Sortname After Daniel: A Suicide Survivor's Tale
Template:Sortname Baltimore's Mansion: A Memoir
2000 Template:Sortname Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History Winner <ref>"Writers' Trust awards named: Prizes mark Canadian achievements". Sudbury Star, March 6, 2001.</ref>
Template:Sortname Saint Saul: A Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus Finalist <ref>"Finalists named for Writer's Trust prizes". Niagara Falls Review, February 3, 2001.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
Template:Sortname Sacré Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec
Template:Sortname Out of Poverty: And into Something More Comfortable
2001 Template:Sortname Time Lord Winner <ref>Judy Stoffman, "Seven authors win big prizes; Levine, Blaise, Hay among those honoured in T.O.". Toronto Star, March 6, 2002.</ref>
Template:Sortname As Near to Heaven by Sea Finalist <ref>"Double nominations in Writers' Trust awards". The Telegram, February 17, 2002.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
Template:Sortname Jane Austen
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
2002 Template:Sortname Houseboat Chronicles: Notes from a Life in Shield Country Winner <ref>"Manitoulin author among award winners". Sault Star, March 8, 2003.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Finalist <ref>"Finalists named for Writers' Trust Awards". The Globe and Mail, February 12, 2003.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sort
Template:Sortname Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign
Template:Sortname Template:Sort
2003 Template:Sortname Virtual Clearcut, or The Way Things Are in My Hometown Winner <ref>Anne-Marie Tobin, "Writers from across Canada receive literary awards". The Western Star, March 6, 2004.</ref>
Template:Sortname Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages Finalist <ref>Judy Stoffman, "Overlooked books make shortlist". Toronto Star, February 4, 2004.</ref>
Template:Sortname If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground
Template:Sortname and Sheila Hirtle Sahara: A Natural History
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
2004 Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Winner <ref>Judy Stoffman, "Engel 'knocked out' by honour; Sleuth writer cops Matt Cohen prize Seven, in all, feted by Writers Trust". Toronto Star, March 10, 2005.</ref>
Template:Sortname Down to This: Squalor and Splendour in a Big-City Shantytown Finalist <ref>"Munro, Newman among finals for literary awards". Peterborough Examiner, February 5, 2005.</ref>
Template:Sortname Jacob's Wound: A Search for the Spirit of Wildness
Template:Sortname There is a Season: A Memoir in a Garden
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
2005 Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Winner <ref>"Joseph Boyden, John Vaillant glean Writers' Trust Awards". Sault Star, March 2, 2006.</ref>
Template:Sortname Under the Bridge: The True Story of the Murder of Reena Virk Finalist <ref>"Crummey in running for national prize". The Telegram, February 3, 2006.</ref>
Template:Sortname Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa
Template:Sortname Dead Man in Paradise
2006 Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Winner <ref>"N.L. writer's 'Inside' wins fiction prize". Telegraph-Journal, March 8, 2007.</ref>
Template:Sortname Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell Finalist <ref>Pat Donnelly, "Hage, Behrens face off again". Montreal Gazette, February 8, 2007.</ref>
Template:Sortname Ride the Rising Wind: One Woman's Journey Across Canada
Template:Sortname This is My Country, What's Yours? A Literary Atlas of Canada
Template:Sortname Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest
2007 Template:Sortname Kasztner's Train: The True Story of Rezso Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust Winner <ref>James Adams, "Lawrence Hill, Anna Porter win Writers' Trust Awards". The Globe and Mail, April 2, 2008.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Finalist <ref>"Writer's Trust contenders named". Harbour City Star, March 1, 2008.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
Template:Sortname Fortune's a River: The Collision of Empires in Northwest America
Template:Sortname God's Mercies: Rivalry, Betrayal and the Dream of Discovery
2008 Template:Sortname Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood Winner <ref>Mark Medley, "Winnipeg novelist wins Writers' Trust Fiction Prize; Miriam Toews takes $25,000 award for her road-trip story The Flying Troutmans". Winnipeg Free Press, November 18, 2008.</ref>
Template:Sortname Under Pressure: Rescuing Childhood from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting Finalist <ref>"Who's in the running for some of this year's big awards". Montreal Gazette, October 25, 2008.</ref>
Template:Sortname Concrete Reveries: Consciousness and the City
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
Template:Sortname Burning Down the House: Fighting Fires and Losing Myself
2009 Template:Sortname Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life Winner <ref>Mark Medley, "Ontario-born B.C. writer Annabel Lyon wins fiction prize for The Golden Mean". CanWest News Service, November 24, 2009.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Finalist <ref>"Munro, Coupland on fiction shortlist for Writer's Trust prizes". Edmonton Journal, October 1, 2009.</ref>
Template:Sortname Grass, Sky, Song: Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
2010 Template:Sortname What Disturbs Our Blood: A Son's Quest to Redeem the Past Winner <ref>Mark Medley, "Emma Donoghue wins Writers' Trust Fiction Prize". Vancouver Sun, November 3, 2010.</ref>
Template:Sortname Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven Finalist <ref>John Barber, "Emma Donoghue, Kathleen and Michael Winter among finalists for Writers' Trust". The Globe and Mail, September 29, 2010.</ref>
Template:Sortname Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer's, My Mother and Me
Template:Sortname and Mary Theberge Template:Sortname
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
2011 Template:Sortname Mordecai: The Life & Times Winner <ref>Mark Medley, "Patrick deWitt wins Writers' Trust Fiction Prize". Postmedia News, November 2, 2011.</ref>
Template:Sortname Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe Finalist <ref>Mark Medley, "Non-fiction award has words from a new sponsor; Finalists revealed; $80,000 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize". National Post, September 21, 2011.</ref>
Template:Sortname Nation Maker: Sir John A. Macdonald: His Life, Our Times; Volume Two: 1867-1891
Template:Sortname Adventures in Solitude: What Not to Wear to a Nudist Potluck and Other Stories from Desolation Sound
Template:Sortname Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live
2012 Template:Sortname Template:Sort Winner citation CitationClass=web

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Template:Sortname Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes Finalist <ref name=savage/>
Template:Sortname Solar Dance: Genius, Forgery, and the Crisis of Truth in the Modern Age
Template:Sortname Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
2013 Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Winner <ref>Mark Medley, "Afghan war memoir honoured; Smith wins Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Non-Fiction". Vancouver Sun, October 22, 2013.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Finalist <ref>Paul Irish, "Writers' Trust releases nonfiction short list: Thomas King's The Inconvenient Indian makes list of five". Toronto Star, September 19, 2013.</ref>
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
Template:Sortname This Great Escape: The Case of Michael Paryla
Template:Sortname Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother
2014 Template:Sortname This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate Winner <ref name=klein>Deborah Dundas, "Naomi Klein wins Hilary Weston prize". Toronto Star, October 15, 2014.</ref>
Template:Sortname Shopping for Votes: How Politicians Choose Us and We Choose Them Finalist <ref name=klein/>
Template:Sortname Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design
Template:Sortname Extreme Mean: Trolls, Bullies, and Predators Online
Template:Sortname Boundless: Tracing Land and Dream in a New Northwest Passage
2015 Template:Sortname Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva Winner <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Sortname Tell it to the World: International Justice and the Secret Campaign to Hide Mass Murder in Kosovo Finalist <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Sortname Kitten Clone: Inside Alcatel-Lucent
Template:Sortname Empire of Deception: From Chicago to Nova Scotia – The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation
Template:Sortname Cease: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Desire
2016 Template:Sortname Template:Sort Winner citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Sortname Sixty: A Diary of My Sixty-First Year: The Beginning of the End or the End of the Beginning? Finalist <ref>"Ian Brown, Ross King among finalists for Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction". Canadian Press, September 28, 2016.</ref>
Template:Sortname Pumpkinflowers: An Israeli Soldier's Story
Template:Sortname Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies
Template:Sortname Red Star Tattoo: My Life as a Girl Revolutionary
2017 Template:Sortname Life on the Ground Floor: Letters from the Edge of Emergency Medicine Winner citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Sortname Tomboy Survival Guide Finalist <ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Template:Sortname Birds Art Life: A Field Guide to the Small and Significant
Template:Sortname All We Leave Behind: A Reporter's Journey into the Lives of Others
Template:Sortname Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
2018 Template:Sortname All Things Consoled: A Daughter's Memoir Winner <ref>"Kathy Page, Elizabeth Hay among Writers' Trust winners". Toronto Sun, November 8, 2018.</ref>
Template:Sortname Antigone Undone: Juliette Binoche, Anne Carson, Ivo Van Hove, and the Art of Resistance Finalist <ref>"Writers' Trust to hand out total $260,000 in prizes for literary excellence". National Post, November 7, 2018.</ref>
Template:Sortname Heart Berries
Template:Sortname In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
2019 Template:Sortname Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related Winner citation CitationClass=web

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Template:Sortname Template:Sort Finalist <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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Template:Sortname Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person
Template:Sortname All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
2020 Template:Sortname Two Trees Make a Forest: Travels Among Taiwan's Mountains and Coasts in Search of My Family's Past Winner citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Sortname Through the Garden: A Love Story (with Cats) Finalist <ref name=takeuchi/>
Template:Sortname Reaching Mithymna: Among the Volunteers and Refugees on Lesvos
Template:Sortname Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
2021 Template:Sortname Permanent Astonishment Winner citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Sortname Nishga Finalist <ref name=":11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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Template:Sortname On Foot to Canterbury
Template:Sortname Peyakow
Template:Sortname Disorientation
2022 Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Winner citation CitationClass=web

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Template:Sortname Template:Sortname Finalist <ref name="whitehead">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

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Template:Sortname Nothing Will Be Different: A Memoir
Template:Sortname Template:Sortname
Template:Sortname Making Love with the Land
2023 Template:Sortname Ordinary Notes Winner <ref>Nicole Thompson, "Kai Thomas wins Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for debut novel". Toronto Star, November 21, 2023.</ref>
Template:Sortname My Road from Damascus Finalist <ref>Brad Wheeler, "Shortlist for $75,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction includes past winner John Vaillant, scholar Christina Sharpe". The Globe and Mail, September 20, 2023.</ref>
Template:Sortname Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls
Template:Sortname Ordinary Wonder Tales
Template:Sortname Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World
2024 Template:Sortname There Is No Blue Winner <ref>"Sheung-King, Martha Baillie among Writers' Trust literary prize winners". CBC Books, November 19, 2017.</ref>
Template:Sortname Vantage Points: On Media as Trans Memoir Finalist <ref>"5 Canadian titles make shortlist for $75K Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction". CBC Books, September 18, 2024.</ref>
Template:Sortname Here After
Template:Sortname, Jack Whalen Invisible Prisons: Jack Whalen’s Tireless Fight for Justice
Template:Sortname Everything and Nothing At All
2025 Template:Sortname Theory of Water Winner <ref>Cassandra Drudi, "Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Maria Reva, Roza Nozari among Writers’ Trust award winners". Quill & Quire, November 13, 2025.</ref>
Template:Sortname One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This Shortlist <ref>"5 Canadian titles make shortlist for $75K Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction". CBC Books, September 12, 2025.</ref>
Template:Sortname The Snag
Template:Sortname The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse
Template:Sortname A Truce That is Not Peace

Weston International Award

In 2023, the Writers' Trust introduced the Weston International Award, a prize which honours international non-fiction writers. Unlike the Canadian award, the international award does not release a list of finalists in advance of the winner announcement, and honours the writer for their overall body of work rather than an individual book.

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Writers' Trust of Canada awards

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