The award celebrates books that make significant contributions to the historical literature of British Columbia
(British Columbia, May 2015) The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce the winners for the Annual Historical Writing Competition. The prizes were awarded on Saturday, May 23, 2015 at British Columbia Historical Federation Conference Awards Banquet at Billy Barker Casino Hotel in Quesnel, BC. Congratulations to all the winners.
The Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing 2014
Winner: From the West Coast to the Western Front: British Columbians and the Great War by Mark Forsythe and Greg Dickson (Harbour Publishing)
Mark Forsythe and Greg Dickson won first prize for 2014, receiving $2,500 and the Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal for historical writing. It has often been observed that the First World War jolted Canada into nationhood, and as Mark Forsythe and Greg Dickson show in this compelling book, no province participated more eagerly in that transformation or felt the aftershock more harshly than British Columbia. In From the West Coast to the Western Front, Forsythe, host of CBC Radio’s mid-day show BC Almanac, marks the 100th anniversary of World War I by teaming with historian Greg Dickson and the ever resourceful BC Almanac audience to compile a sweeping portrayal of that crucial chapter of BC history.
2nd prize, $1500. Echoes of British Columbia: Voices from the Frontier by Robert Budd (Harbour Publishing).
3rd prize, $500. Blood and Sweat Over the Railway Tracks: Chinese Labourers Constructing the Canadian Pacific Railway (1880-1885), by Lily Siewsan Chow (UBC & Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC).
Honourable mentions (alphabetical)
Written as I Remember It: Teachings (??ms ta?aw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder by Elsie Paul (UBC Press)
Surveying Southern British Columbia: A Photojournal of Frank Swannell, 1901-07 by Jay Sherwood (Caitlin Press)
The History of Leechtown, Part I: The VIEE and the Discovery of Gold on the Sook and Leech Rivers, editor Bart van den Berk (VandeBerk-Books)
Community History Award
The British Columbia Historical Federation introduced a new award this year, the Community History Award. Local and community history often provides the most sought-after information by historians researching a particular area. This is where the trivia and the stories can be found, not to mention the skeletons! The Community History Award was instituted to ensure these histories are recognized.
Live at the Commodore: The Story of Vancouver’s Historic Commodore Ballroom by Aaron Chapman (Arsenal Pulp Press)
