Saskatchewan Book Awards

News & Events

The 2011 Shortlist Press Conference introduces the best and brightest of our province’s writing and publishing community in 2011! This year the press conference is held simultaneously in Saskatoon and Regina on February 16 at 1:30 p.m.

Regina’s event will be held in the student commons on the main floor, Campion College, on the University of Regina’s main campus on Wascana Parkway.
Saskatoon’s event will be held at the Frances Morrison Library located 311- 23rd St. E on the second floor in the gallery.

At the press conference, February 16, 2012, we announce the shortlist of authors and publishers in line for 2011 awards, to be presented at our 2012 Awards Gala in April.

Please check back for the shortlisted books announcement.

2012 Saskatchewan Book Awards Gala

The nineteenth annual Saskatchewan Book Awards Gala will take place on April 28, 2012 at 6:30 pm at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina. During the Gala, thirteen writing and publishing awards will be presented, recognizing excellence in the Saskatchewan literary community. This year’s guest speaker is Mark Abley, a writer and editor who currently resides in Montreal. Mark is a poet, a newspaper columnist and an award-winning author. His newest books are Camp Fossil Eyes: Digging for the Origins of Words and The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches From the Future of English. Mark is the literary executor for Saskatoon poet Anne Szumigalski, and has edited three posthumous books by Anne. For more information on Mark Abley, please visit his website at www.markabley.com/. For more information on the Gala, go to www.bookawards.sk.ca/events/awards-gala.html. Tickets are $90 each or $700 for a table of 8 and can be purchased on-line through PayPal or by contacting our office at (306) 569-1585 or via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Human Touch: Portraits of Strength, Courage and Dignity

The StarPhoenixDecember 15, 2011

Human Touch: Portraits of Strength, Courage and Dignity, documents my entire career as a photographer, over a 25-five year period. The book draws upon four of my major exhibitions, beginning in the early 1980s when I was a member of the Photographers Gallery of Saskatoon.

After my four children had grown up and left home, my interest in photography was rekindled. During these years I was a volunteer at a long-term care home near where I lived, reading to the elderly. They loved being read to, and were soon telling me their stories.

I was so captivated by the animation in the residents' faces as they talked to me that I decided to take photographs of them. By the time I actually shot the photograph, I knew each person very well. I think the trust they had in me, and the intimacy that resulted from my relationship with each one of them, is apparent in the images.

One of the women I photographed for my first exhibition, Nellie Schnell, says there is a "divine spark in everybody" and I think that is very true.

Many - though not all - of the portraits in the book are of people who are older, or elderly. Some of the photographs have been taken outside, against the backdrop of places in the Saskatchewan landscape - in a field, by an old blacksmith shop - that are significant to the people in the photographs.

The lives of the elderly and the handicapped are shown in photographs of the residents of Sherbrooke Community Centre. You see residents preparing dinner, eating ice cream, and dancing - living active, meaningful lives. These images, like all my photographs, grew out of conversations, out of listening to what people had to say about their lives, and through observing them at work and play.

Human Touch: Portraits of Strength, Courage and Dignity includes an introduction by writer Elizabeth Philips, a long poem by poet Lorna Crozier, and an essay by curator Grant Arnold. There are also quotations from the subjects of the photographs throughout the book as well as introductory paragraphs before each section.

What I hope readers get from these photographs, and the accompanying text, is a sense of the lively and deep spirit in each of the people I have photographed, and the great value their stories have for us all.

Executive Director

Stacy Riggs is the Executive Director effective June 1, 2011. Stacy has a strong management background in not-for-profit organizations, as well as working in the corporate/private and government sectors. Stacy brings to SBA over 20 years of extensive experience in marketing, revenue development, event management, board governance, project management and communications. Stacy also has her own consulting business.

Stacy took over from Jackie Lay.

New Address

100 - 2400 College Avenue
Regina, SK
S4P 1C8

Next Awards Gala

Saskatchewan Book Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in Saskatchewan writers and publishers at the Annual Gala Awards Event. The next Awards Gala will be held April28, 2012.

2010 Gala photos click here.

Photos by unBOUND IMAGES.

2010 Award Winners Announced

Saskatchewan Book Award winners announced. For the media release and 2010 winners click here.

2010 Saskatchewan Book Awards Shortlist

For the entire shortlist media kit, which includes the 2010 shortlist, click here.

New SBA Web Site Launched!

We are pleased to have launched our revised Saskatchewan Book Awards web site. We hope you find it easy to navigate and full of information about our organization and all of our events.

To view our site map, please click here. If you have any comments or concerns about the web site, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

2011 Call for Entries

The 2011 Call for Entries is now closed. Thank you to all who submitted books. Please stay tuned for the shortlisted books announcement.

2012 Awards Gala and Guest Speaker

The 2012 Saskatchewan Book Awards will be announced and presented at the Awards Gala, which will take place on Saturday April 28, 2012 at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina.

This year's guest speaker is Mark Abley, for more information click here.

For more information on the gala and purchasing tickets, please click here.