RELEASE: Longlist announced for 2024 BMO Winterset Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Longlist announced for 2024 BMO Winterset Award

March 13, 2025 (St. John’s, NL) – ArtsNL is pleased to announce the 2024 BMO Winterset Award longlist. This award celebrates excellence in Newfoundland and Labrador writing.

To celebrate the 25^th anniversary of this most prestigious award, a one-time prize of $12,500 for non-fiction was added this year to honour the literary legacies of the award’s late founder, Richard Gwyn, O.C., and his late wife, Sandra Fraser Gwyn, O.C., both of whom were acclaimed non-fiction writers. This year, there will be four prizes: a $12,500 award for fiction, a $12,500 award for non-fiction, and two finalist awards of $3,000 each.

The seven-title longlist (in no particular order) includes:

• Clayton B. Smith, A Seal of Salvage (Breakwater Books Ltd.), NL
• Sara Power, Art of Camouflage (Freehand Books), AB
• Scott Jones & Robert Chafe, I Forgive You (Playwrights Canada Press), ON
• Lisa Moore & Jack Whelan, Invisible Prisons (Knopf Canada), ON
• Ashleigh Matthews, Otherwise Grossly Unremarkable (Breakwater Books Ltd.), NL
• Elizabeth Murphy, The Weather Diviner (Breakwater Books Ltd.), NL
• Susie Taylor, Vigil (Breakwater Books Ltd.), NL

The BMO Winterset Award is supported through a partnership between BMO Financial Group, ArtsNL, and the Sandra Fraser Gwyn Foundation and celebrates Newfoundland and Labrador writers. The award was first established in 2000 to commemorate the life of St. John’s-born social historian, Sandra Fraser Gwyn O.C.—wife of Canadian journalist and author, Richard Gwyn O.C.—who spent a great deal of her life promoting national awareness of the province’s arts.

The BMO Winterset Award receives generous, ongoing support from the BMO Financial Group. The award, administered by ArtsNL, rewards excellence in writing across all genres and both emerging and established writers are eligible. This year, 30 entries were received.

To be considered for Newfoundland and Labrador’s most prominent literary award, entries must be written by Newfoundland and Labrador-born authors or residents of the province. Residency is defined as having lived in Newfoundland and Labrador for a minimum of twelve consecutive months immediately prior to the award’s submission date. Entries may span all genres, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s books.

Media enquiries:
Charlene Jackson
Communications Officer
(709) 726-2212 ext. 3
charlene@artsnl.ca 

The Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council (ArtsNL) is a non-profit Crown agency created in 1980 by The Arts Council Act. Its mission is to foster and promote the creation and enjoyment of the arts for the benefit of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. The Council is governed by a volunteer board of no fewer than 9 and no more than 11 members appointed by government. At least 7 members must be artists or arts administrators, and one member is appointed to represent the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation (non-voting). ArtsNL receives an annual allocation of $5.3 million from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to support a variety of granting programs, program delivery, office administration, and communications. It also seeks support from the public and private sectors. It supports the following artistic disciplines: dance, film and video, literary arts, multidisciplinary arts, music and sound, theatre and performing arts, and visual arts.

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