2006 Winner Announced

Rebecca Godfrey was named today as the winner of the second annual British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. The presentation ceremony which took place in Vancouver, BC saw British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell present the $25,000 prize to Godfrey for her book Under the Bridge.

"This award celebrates the important contribution Canada's best literary non-fiction makes to ideas and debate in this country, as well as to our imaginations and understanding of our place in the world," said Campbell. "Congratulations to Ms. Godfrey for her significant achievement and to all this year's nominees for the unique contribution to Canada's proud literary tradition."

The jury cited Godfrey's Under the Bridge (HarperCollins) for its mesmerizing evocation of the lives of several teenagers, whose suburban vanities and prejudices combine to produce the unthinkable: the murder of one among their midst. With measured prose, beautiful in its starkness, Godfrey reconstructs the circumstances of the murder of 14 year-old Reena Virk, the unravelling of the secret of it, and the trial and its aftermath. Godfrey's depiction of teenage sentiment, as disturbing as it is compassionate, lingers long in the mind and the heart.

The independent jury panel for the award was also introduced today: author Denise Chong, two-time finalist for the Governor General's literary award; Max Wyman, one of Canada's leading cultural commentators and Order of Canada recipient; and Hal Wake, former book producer for Peter Gzowski's Morningside and current artistic director of the Vancouver International Writer's Festival.