The RBC Taylor Prize (2000–2020), formerly known as the Charles Taylor Prize, was a Canadian literary award, presented by the Charles Taylor Foundation to the best Canadian work of literary non-fiction. It was named for Charles P. B. Taylor, a noted Canadian historian and writer. Instituted in 2000, the 2020 prize was the final year the prize was awarded. The prize was originally presented every two years until 2004, and became an annual award from 2004 onwards. The monetary value of the award increased over the years. The final award in 2020 had a monetary value of $30,000.
The award adopted its present name in December 2013, when RBC Wealth Management was announced as the new corporate sponsor. In addition, under RBC's sponsorship the award added a second $10,000 award for an emerging Canadian literary non-fiction writer between the ages of 18 and 35, to be chosen by the winner of the main award. This award was presented for the first time at the 2014 ceremony.
Winners and nominees
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+RBC Taylor Prize winners and finalists
!Year
!Author
!Title
!Result
!
|-style="background:#cddeff"
! rowspan="5" |2000
|
|Baltimore's Mansion
|Winner
|
|-
|
|A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and North America in the Nineteenth Century
| rowspan="4" |Finalist
|
|-
|
|Always Give a Penny to a Blind Man
|
|-
|
|Losing the Dead
|
|-
|
|Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood
|
|-style="background:#cddeff"
! rowspan="6" |2002
|
|Jane Austen
|Winner
|
|-
|
|Journey with No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page
| rowspan="4" |Finalist
|
|-
|
|Leonardo and The Last Supper
|
|-
|
|The Pursuit of Perfection: A Life of Celia Franca
|
|-
|
|Warlords: Borden, Mackenzie King, and Canada’s World Wars
|
|-style="background:#cddeff"
! rowspan="5" |2014
|
|The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America
|Winner
|
|-
|
|Arthur Erickson: An Architect’s Life
| rowspan="4" |Finalist
| rowspan="4" |
|-
|
|The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan
|-
|
|The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master, and the Trial That Shocked a Country
|-
|
|The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be
|-style="background:#cddeff"
! rowspan="5" |2015
|
|They Left Us Everything
|Winner
|
|-
|
|And Home Was Kariakoo: A Memoir of East Africa
| rowspan="4" |Finalist
|
|-
|
|Boundless: Tracing Land and Dream in a New Northwest Passage
|
|-
|
|One Day in August: The Untold Story Behind Canada’s Tragedy at Dieppe
|
|-
|
|The Last Asylum: A Memoir of Madness in Our Times
|
|-style="background:#cddeff"
! rowspan="5" |2016
|
|Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
|Winner
|
|-
|
|Dispatches from the Front: The Life of Matthew Halton, Canada’s Voice at War
| rowspan="4" |Finalist
|
|-
|
|Sixty: The Beginning of the End, or the End of the Beginning?
| rowspan="3" |
|-
|
|By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz
| rowspan="4" |Finalist
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|
|Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World
|-
|
|Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story
|
|-style="background:#cddeff"
! rowspan="5" |2018
|
|Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
|Winner
|
|-
|
|In the Name of Humanity
| rowspan="4" |Finalist
| rowspan="4" |
|-
|
|Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on Bering’s Great Voyage to Alaska
|-
|
|Life on the Ground Floor: Letters from the Edge of Emergency Medicine
|-
|
|Yardwork: A Biography of an Urban Place
|-style="background:#cddeff"
! rowspan="5" |2019
|
|Lands of Lost Borders: Out of Bounds on the Silk Roads
|Winner
|
|-
|
|All Things Consoled: A Daughter’s Memoir
| rowspan="4" |Finalist
| rowspan="4" |
- 2014 - Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
- 2015 - Iain Reid
- 2016 - Adnan Khan
- 2017 - Cassi Smith
- 2018 - Alicia Elliott
- 2019 - Jessica J. Lee
- 2020 - Simone Dalton
References
External links
- RBC Taylor Prize