Toronto, April 26, 2022 – Today, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) and the Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) released the shortlists for the 2022 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards. The Schwartz Awards are the only Canadian literary award where student juries work together to choose the winning books.
Student juries from Faywood Arts-Based Curriculum School in North York, Ontario will debate the shortlisted books and come to a consensus on the 2022 winners. The winning books will be announced in June 2022.
ABOUT THIS YEAR’S SHORTLIST
The 2022 shortlists feature Canadian authors and illustrators from diverse backgrounds working in a variety of literary and artistic styles. The Children’s Picture Book category has stories inspired by connections to the past, along with new ideas for the future. The characters in these books are inquisitive, imaginative and full of wonder. The Young Adult / Middle Reader category includes books featuring young people changing the way that they see the world, and how the world sees them. These transformations include both magical and real-life solutions.
CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK AWARD CATEGORY | |
| Hold That Thought! |
| A Kid is a Kid is a Kid |
| Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know |
| On the Trapline |
| Out into the Big Wide Lake |
YOUNG ADULT / MIDDLE READER | |
| Children of the Fox |
| Firefly |
| The School Between Winter and |
| Sunny Days Inside and Other Stories |
| Tremendous Things |
ABOUT THE RUTH AND SYLVIA SCHWARTZ CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARDS
The two awards, of $6,000 each are presented annually to recognize artistic excellence in writing and illustration in English-language Canadian children’s literature. The winners are selected by two juries of young readers, this year comprising students at Faywood Arts-Based Curriculum School. Five students in grades 4 and 6 will select the recipient(s) of the Children’s Picture Book Award. Five students in grades 8 will select the recipient of the Young Adult / Middle Reader Award.
LEARN MORE
The Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards were established in 1976 by Sylvia Schwartz in memory of her sister, Ruth Schwartz, a respected Toronto bookseller. In 2004, the family renamed the awards to honour both sisters. The Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) administers the awards with the support of the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), which manages the nomination and jury process. These awards are funded through the Ruth Schwartz Foundation.
The nomination committee that chose this year’s shortlist consisted of Katharine Tutko (Owner, Moonbeam Books, Toronto), Mary Searle (Coordinator of Library Collections, Sudbury Public Library), and Martha Martin (Teacher-Librarian, LaSalle Public School, Greater Essex County District School Board).
Click here to see the complete list of past laureates.
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MEDIA INQUIRIES
Shoshana Wasser, Senior Communications Coordinator, OAC
swasser@arts.on.ca
ONTARIO ARTS FOUNDATION INQUIRIES
Bruce Bennett, Executive Director, OAF
bbennett@oafdn.ca
The Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) is passionately committed to building long-term support for the arts in Ontario. In 2020-2021, the OAF paid over $5.2 million in endowment income and $220,000 in awards and scholarships.
For more than 55 years, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has played a vital role in promoting and assisting the development of the arts for the enjoyment and benefit of Ontarians. In 2020-2021, the OAC invested its grant program budget of $53.6 million in 195 communities across Ontario through 1,828 grants to individual artists and 1,172 grants to organizations. A further one-time $25 million Arts Recovery Support Fund that the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries announced in March 2021 was allocated to eligible organizations the same month.
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