Each winner of the 1994 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $10 000 and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners were selected by a panel of judges set up by the Canada Council for the Arts.
English
{|class="wikitable" width="100%"
!width=15%|Category
!width=30%|Winner
!width=55%|Nominated
|-
| align="center"| Fiction
| Rudy Wiebe, A Discovery of Strangers
|
- Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride
- Donna McFarlane, Division of Surgery
- Alice Munro, Open Secrets
- Russell Smith, How Insensitive
|-
| align="center"| Non-fiction
| John A. Livingston, Rogue Primate: An Exploration of Human Domestication
|
- Sharon Butala, The Perfection of the Morning: An Apprenticeship in Nature
- Denise Chong, The Concubine's Children: Portrait of a Family
- Joan Haggerty, The Invitation: A Memoir of Family Love and Reconciliation
- Peter Larisey, Light for a Cold Land: Lawren Harris's Work and Life-An Interpretation
|-
| align="center"| Poetry
| Robert Hilles, Cantos from a Small Room
|
- Robin Blaser, The Holy Forest
- Polly Fleck, The Chinese Execution
- Monty Reid, Dog Sleeps
|-
| align="center"| Drama
| Morris Panych, The Ends of the Earth
|
- Joanna McClelland Glass, If We Are Women
- Wendy Lill, All Fall Down
- Bryden MacDonald, Whale Riding Weather
|-
| align="center"| Children's literature
| Julie Johnston, Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me
|
- Sarah Ellis, Out of the Blue
- Carol Matas, The Burning Time
- Jim McGugan, Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story
- Ken Roberts, Past Tense
|-
| align="center"| Children's illustration
| Murray Kimber, Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story
|
- Marie Lafrance, La Diablesse and the Baby
- Michèle Lemieux, There Was An Old Man...: A Collection of Limericks
- Laurie McGaw, Polar the Titanic Bear
|-
| align="center"| French to English translation
| Donald Winkler, The Lyric Generation: The Life and Times of the Baby Boomers
|
- Patricia Claxton, Tchipayuk or The Way of the Wolf
- Sheila Fischman, The Sound of Living Things
- David Homel, An Aroma of Coffee
- Shelley Tepperman, Playing Bare
|}
French
{|class="wikitable" width="100%"
!width=15%|Category
!width=30%|Winner
!width=55%|Nominated
|-
| align="center"| Fiction
| Robert Lalonde, Le petit aigle à tête blanche
|
- Réjean Ducharme, Va savoir
- Daniel Poliquin, L'Écureuil noir
- Hélène Rioux, Pense à mon rendez-vous
- Sylvain Trudel, Les Prophètes
|-
| align="center"| Non-fiction
| Chantal Saint-Jarre, Du SIDA
|
- Fernand Dumont, Genèse de la société québécoise
- Jean Lamarre, Le devenir de la nation québécoise
- Ginette Pelland, La peur des mots
- Georges E. Sioui, Les Wendats : une civilisation méconnue
|-
| align="center"| Poetry
| Fulvio Caccia, Aknos
|
- Marcel Labine, Machines imaginaires
- Rachel Leclerc, Rabatteurs d'étoiles
- Paul Chanel Malenfant, Hommes de profil
- Pierre Ouellet, Vita chiara, villa oscura
|-
| align="center"| Drama
| Michel Ouellette, French Town
|
- Michelle Allen, Morgane
- Yvan Bienvenue, Histoires à mourir d'amour
- Claude Poissant, Si tu meurs, je te tue
- Jean-Pierre Ronfard, Cinq études
|-
| align="center"| Children's literature
| Suzanne Martel, Une belle journée pour mourir
|
- Marie-Danielle Croteau, Un monde à la dérive
- François Gravel, Klonk
|-
| align="center"| Children's illustration
| Pierre Pratt, Mon chien est un éléphant
|
- Sylvie Deronzier, Tartarin et le lion
- Stéphane Poulin, Le parc aux sortilèges
- Rémy Simard, Monsieur noir et blanc
- Gilles Tibo, Simon et la plume perdue
|-
| align="center"| English to French translation
| Jude Des Chênes, Le mythe du sauvage
|
- Claire Dupond and Hervé Juste, Les spécialistes des sciences sociales et la politique au Canada
- Michèle Marineau, Au-delà des ténèbres
- Normand Paiement and Hervé Juste, Les Géants des ordures
- Daniel Poliquin, Le récit de voyage en Nouvelle – France de l'abbé peintre Hugues Pommier
|}