City of Vancouver Book Award

The City of Vancouver Book Award is a Canadian literary award, that has been presented annually by the city of Vancouver, British Columbia to one or more works of literature judged as the year's best fiction, non-fiction, poetry or drama work about the city.

As with the City of Toronto Book Award, the award may go to one or more books.

The award has a monetary value of $3,000. The prize is funded by interest earned from the city's publishing reserve, which was established in 1977 as a permanent legacy for writers and publishers. The fund received royalties generated from Vancouver's First Century: A Photo History of Vancouver, edited by city staff. The third edition of the book, renamed Vancouver: A City Album, or many years generated royalty payments for the fund.

Honorees

{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"

|+City of Vancouver Book Award winners and finalists

!Year

!Author

!Title

!Result

!Ref.

|- style=background:#FAEB86

!1989

|Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver

|Winner

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |1990

|Disappearing Moon Cafe

|Winner

|Being Brown: A Very Public Life

|Finalist

|Buddy's: Meditations on Desire

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |1991

|Vanishing Vancouver

|Winner

|Leonard Frank: An Enterprising Life

|Finalist

|Robin Ward's Vancouver

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="5" |1992

|Trees of Vancouver: A Guide to the Common and Unusual Trees of the City

|Winner

|No Forwarding Address

|Finalist

|Hidden Cities

|Finalist

|Flesh Wound

|Finalist

| and Graeme Wynn

|Vancouver and Its Regions

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |1993

|Vancouver: A Visual History

|Winner

|Finalist

| and John Atkin

|Heritage Walks Around Vancouver

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |1994

|Winner

| and Karl Spreitz

|Vancouver: Visions of a City

|Finalist

|Robin Ward's Heritage West Coast

|Finalist

|Line Screw

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |1995

|Earle Birney: A Life

|Winner

| and Cynthia Nugent

|Mister Got to Go

|Finalist

| and Robert Davidson

|Eagle Transforming: The Art of Robert Davidson

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |1996

|Winner

|Monday Night Man

|Finalist

|Making Vancouver: Class, Status & Social Boundaries 1863-1913

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |1997

|Winner

|Vancouver at the Dawn: A Turn-of-the-Century Portrait

|Finalist

| and Bob Scullion

|Postcards from the Past: Edwardian Images of Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |1998

|Winner

| and Ian Macdonald

|Finalist

|And a Body to Remember With

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |1999

|Keys to Kingdoms

|Winner

| and the editors of Vancouver Magazine

|Vancouver: Secrets of the City

|Finalist

|White Lung

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2000

| and Donald Luxton

|Lions Gate

|Winner

| and Collin Varner

|Gardens of Vancouver

|Finalist

|Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2001

|Simple Recipes

|Winner

|City of Glass: Douglas Coupland's Vancouver

|Finalist

|Stanley Park

|Finalist

| (ed.)

|Susan Point: Coast Salish Artist

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2002

|Winner

|Burrard Inlet: A History

|Finalist

|Making a Stone of the Heart

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2003

|, Ken Dietrich-Campbell, Patricia Canning and Elaine Allan

|Heroines

|Winner

|- style=background:#FAEB86

| (ed.)

|Stan Douglas: Every Building on 100 Block West Hastings

|Winner

| and Bob Turner

|Vancouver, City on the Edge: Living with a Dynamic Geological Landscape

|Finalist

|Intimate Distances

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="6" |2004

|L.D.: Mayor Louis Taylor and the Rise of Vancouver

|Winner

|Finalist

|Sitting Practice

|Honourable mention

|Missing Sarah: A Vancouver Woman Remembers Her Vanished Sister

|Honourable mention

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2005

|Dream City: Vancouver and the Global Imagination

|Winner

|All That Matters

|Finalist

| and Dara Culhane (eds.)

|In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver

|Finalist

|Various

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2006

|Stanley Park's Secret: The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi, Kanaka Ranch, and Brockton Point

|Winner

|- style=background:#FAEB86

|Waterfront: The Illustrated Maritime History of Greater Vancouver

|Winner

|Historical Atlas of Vancouver and the Lower Fraser Valley

|Finalist

|, Ian M. Thom, and Adele Weder

|B.C. Binning

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2007

|Vancouver Remembered

|Winner

| and Michael Turner

|Fred Herzog: Vancouver Photographs

|Finalist

|Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2008

| and Gillian Jerome

|Hope in Shadows: Stories and Photographs of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

|Winner

|Falsework

|Finalist

|At Home With History: The Untold Secrets of Greater Vancouver's Heritage Homes

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |2009

|Winner

|In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts

|Finalist

|Nightmarker

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2010

| and Scott Steedman

|Visions of British Columbia

|Winner

|Finalist

|Common Ground in a Liquid City

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2011

|Winner

|Whoever Gives Us Bread: The Story of Italians in British Columbia

|Finalist

|After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing, and Region

|Finalist

|At the World's Edge: Curt Lang's Vancouver

|Finalist

|Ink on Paper

|Finalist

| and Robin Ward

|Exploring Vancouver: The Architectural Guide

|Finalist

|Inventing Stanley Park: An Environmental History

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="5" |2014

|Arthur Erickson: An Architect's Life

|Winner

|What Makes Olga Run?

|Finalist

|How Does a Single Blade of Grass Thank the Sun?

|Finalist

|Live at the Commodore: The Story of Vancouver's Historic Commodore Ballroom

|Finalist

|Hastings-Sunrise: Poems

|Finalist

| and Cynthia Nugent

|Mister Got To Go, Where Are You?

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |2016

|, Karen Duffek, and Tania Willard

|Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Unceded Territories

|Winner

| and Renée Sarojini Saklikar (eds.)

|Finalist

|That Lonely Section of Hell: The Botched Investigation of a Serial Killer Who Almost Got Away

|Finalist

|, Ian M. Thom, Susan Point, Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, Thomas Cannell, Myrtle McKay, and William McLennan

|Susan Point: Spindle Whorl

|Finalist

|Pandas on the Eastside

|Finalist

|Invisible Dead

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="4" |2018

|Dear Current Occupant

|Winner

|Fighting for Space: How a Group of Drug Users Transformed One City's Struggle with Addiction

|Finalist

|Sitting Shiva on Minto Avenue, by Toots

|Finalist

|Sustenance: Writers from BC and Beyond on the Subject of Food

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="5" |2019

| and Susan Point

|People among the People: The public art of Susan Point

|Winner

|Finalist

|Murder by Milkshake: An Astonishing True Story of Adultery, Arsenic, and a Charismatic Killer

|Finalist

|No Fixed Address

|Finalist

|Port of Being

|Finalist

|- style=background:#FAEB86

! rowspan="3" |2020

|Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow

|Winner

|on/me

|Finalist

|Vancouver for Beginners

|Finalist

|No Shelter

|Finalist