Paging All Readers: 2003 Governor General's Literary Awards

For English-language books, the winner in the text category is Glen Huser of Edmonton for Stitches, and the illustration winner is Cree visual artist Allen Sapp of North Battleford, Saskatchewan for The Song Within My Heart.

For French-language books, the winner in the text category is Danielle Simard of Mercier, Quebec, for J'ai vendu ma s?ur and the illustration winner is Montreal's Virginie Egger, for Recette d'éléphant à la sauce vieux pneu.

The four children's literature winners were presented with their awards today by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, at a special ceremony at Rideau Hall attended by children from across the National Capital Region.

The Canada Council for the Arts funds, administers and promotes the Governor General's Literary Awards. Each laureate receives a cheque for $15,000 and a specially-crafted copy of the winning book bound by master bookbinder Pierre Ouvrard. The Governor General will also present certificates to the publishers of the winning books, and the Canada Council will provide each publisher with a $3,000 grant to support promotional activities for the winning book.

The finalists in the Children's Literature (English-language) category for 2003 were:

For text
• The Several Lives of Orphan Jack by Sarah Ellis
• Theories of Relativity by Barbara Haworth-Attard
• Stitches by Glen Huser
• Ann and Seamus by Kevin Major
• The Maestro by Judd Palmer

For illustration
• Four Pictures by Emily Carr, text and illustration by Nicolas Debon
• Imagine a Night, illustration by Rob Gonsalves. Text by Sarah L. Thomson (this is my favourite - exquisite illustrations with provocative text appealing to the dreamer in all of us at any age)
• The Subway Mouse, text and illustration by Barbara Reid
• The Song Within My Heart, illustration by Allen Sapp. Text by David Bouchard.
• Sinbad's Secret: From the Tales of the Thousand and One Nights, text and illustration by Ludmila Zeman

To read descriptions of the nominated texts, please visit www.canadacouncil.ca

The juries considered all eligible Canadian English-language texts published between Sept.1, 2002, and Sept. 30, 2003 and all Canadian French-language texts published between July 1, 2002 and June 30, 2003.