BC Celebrates Canada's Best
Lunch presentation event
May 26, 2006Vancouver, BC
Patrick Lane
Photo: Vancouver Sun/Glenn Baglo
Ned and Burgin Jacobs, who represented their mother Jane Jacobs
Harry Thurston
Ronald Wright
The first British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction was presented to Patrick Lane at a May 30th lunch ceremony at Vancouver's Pan Pacific Hotel. The setting was extraordinary, with views of the ocean and the Coast Mountains. But it was the authors and invited guests who made the event truly special.
Premier Gordon Campbell and Foundation Chair Keith Mitchell set the tone in speeches impressing the importance of literary non-fiction as an expression of ideas and a source of inspiration and reflection. Both men noted how appropriate it is for the new award to originate in British Columbia, Canada's only Pacific province and one with a unique perspective to bring, and a unique contribution to make, to the national discourse.
The lunch presentation highlighted the four finalist authors: Jane Jacobs, Patrick Lane, Harry Thurston, and Ronald Wright. Before making their own remarks, each finalist was introduced by a distinguished speaker whose address can be downloaded by clicking on the links on the individual's name.
Following the finalist introductions, tribute was paid to the independent jury panel who deliberated over the 79 entries for this year's award: retired publisher Paddy Sherman from West Vancouver; author Denise Chong from Ottawa and University of Victoria Creative Writing professor Lynne Van Luven.
And then it was time for the winner of the first annual British Columbia Award to be announced. When the jurors called out Lane's name, loud applause broke out, there was a standing ovation from the audience and after hugging his family members, Lane made his way to the podium to receive his $25,000 prize from Premier Gordon Campbell and BC Achievement Foundation Chair Keith Mitchell.
BC Award for Non Fiction main page
2005 presentation ceremony introductionsDOWNLOAD