John Spray Mystery Award

The John Spray Mystery Award, established in 2011, honours excellence in the mystery book format. The prize is awarded annually with a cash prize of $5,000. To be eligible, the book must be an original work in English, aimed at readers eight to 16 and written by a Canadian. A mystery book can be a thriller, a crime novel or a whodunit.

John Spray, President of the Mantis Investigation Agency, is delighted to give the prize, saying that reading mysteries made him a passionate reader at an early age and helped him find his chosen career. “For many years, through the publishing career of my wife, Gail Winskill, I became acquainted with both contemporary children’s literature as well as the unwavering support of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre for children’s writers and illustrators. While attending the 2010 Canadian Children's Literature Awards Celebration, I was struck by the absence of an award for mystery writing. My childhood was spent rapidly turning the pages of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, which morphed into the Spillanes and le Carres on my adult bookshelf. Offering a prize for children’s mystery books seemed to me to be a modest payback for a lifetime of joy spent reading great mysteries.”

Criteria and Submission Information

Eligibility:

• Books must be published between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year.
• Books must not have been previously published.*
• Author and illustrator must be a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant.
• Books must be in English.
• Translations are eligible, provided the translator is a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant.
• Picture books are not eligible
• Graphic novels are eligible.
• Novels involving fantasy/science-fiction plots (e.g., ghosts, time travel, etc.) are not eligible.
• Stories must be original (i.e., not a retelling of an already published mystery for adults.)
• Books written as part of a series or published in serial form will be judged as separate entries and must be able to ‘stand-alone’.
• Self-published books are eligible for submission provided they have a valid ISBN.

* New editions of previously published works are not eligible for submission. This includes titles that were previously published by foreign publishers. For example, if the title you intend to submit was published in 2011 by your publishing house, but it was previously published by a foreign publisher in 2010 or 2009, etc., it is not eligible for submission. This rule does not apply to translated works.

Criteria

• The award honours excellence in the mystery book format. A mystery book can be a thriller, a crime novel or a ‘whodunit’.
• The book must be of high literary quality with the story having a logical and predetermined endpoint.
• Storyline must be plausible, well-researched and filled with tension and suspense.
• The story must have well-developed characters whose actions are consistent with their personalities.
• The book should be aimed at young readers aged eight to 16 years old.

Juror Information:

• There will be a total of three jurors.
• No authors of children’s books in contention may serve as jurors.
• Jurors will be chosen among booksellers, reviewers, educators, teacher-librarians, librarians, consultants, authors and other experts in field of children’s literature.

Submission Information:

The deadline for submissions to the 2012 John Spray Mystery Award was December 9, 2011. The CCBC is no longer accepting submissions for 2012.

If you have any questions about submitting to the John Spray Mystery Award please contact Meghan Howe at 416.975.0010 ext. 222.

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