Banff Mountain Book Competition announces 2016 Award Winners

BANFF, AB, October 14, 2016 – The award winners for the 2016 Banff Mountain Book Competition have been described as “irreverent”, “intoxicating”, and “magical”, and were picked from a longlist of finalists to compete for the Grand Prize, announced on November 3 at this year’s Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.

Chosen from the best in mountain and adventure literature, mountain fiction, mountain image, mountain articles and mountaineering history, and guidebooks, 147 book submissions from authors in nine countries were honed down to a longlist of 27 finalists and from that list our 2016 jury determined category award winners. 

“The book jury had a tough job whittling the long list down, given the high caliber of entries in every category this year,” said Joanna Croston, Programming Director for the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. “We are thrilled that the finalists for the 2016 Book Competition’s Grand Prize continue to represent the very best in mountain literature from around the world.”

The 2016 Book Competition jury members are Paul Pritchard (UK, climber and author), Hilaree O’Neill (USA, athlete), and Harry Vandervlist (CAN, Associate Professor, English, University of Calgary).

Category Award Winners:

Adventure Travel
$2000 - Sponsored by Banff Gondola
Ice Diaries: An Antarctic Memoir
Jean McNeil, ECW Press (CAN, 2016)

Mountain Fiction & Poetry
$2000 – Sponsored by Fjällräven
Martin Marten: A Novel
Brian Doyle, Thomas Dunne Books & St. Martin’s Press (USA, 2015)

Mountain & Wilderness Literature – Non-Fiction - The Jon Whyte Award
$2000 - Sponsored by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
The Bond
Simon McCartney, Vertebrate Publishing (UK, 2016)

Mountain Image
$2000 – Sponsored by Lake O’Hara Lodge
Yosemite in the Fifties
Dean Fidelman, Patagonia Books (USA, 2015)

Guidebook
$2000 – Sponsored by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides
1001 Climbing Tips
Andy Kirkpatrick, Vertebrate Publishing (UK, 2016)

Mountaineering Article
$2000 – Sponsored by Canadian Mountain Studies Initiative, University of Alberta and the Alpine Club of Canada
Searching for Superman
Jeff Long, Ascent (USA, May 2016)

Mountaineering History
$2000 – Sponsored by Sherpa Adventure Gear
Rock Queen
Catherine Destivelle, Hayloft Publishing Ltd. (UK, 2015)

Special Jury Mentions:

Across the Arctic Ocean: Original Photographs from the Last Great Polar Journey
Sir Wally Herbert & Huw Lewis-Jones, Thames & Hudson (USA, 2015)

The Bold and Cold: A History of 25 Classic Climbs in the Canadian Rockies
Brandon Pullan, Rocky Mountain Books Ltd. (CAN, 2016)

Grand Prize – The Phyllis and Don Munday Award
$4000 – Sponsored by the Alpine Club of Canada

About Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival: Created 41 years ago, the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival has become the premier event of its kind in the world. The nine-day Festival hosted by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Canada, showcases the world’s best films, books and photographs on mountain subjects – climbing, culture, environment and natural history, exploration and adventure, wildlife, and sport – and attracts the biggest names in mountaineering, adventure filmmaking, and extreme sports as presenters and speakers. An international jury will also award over $50,000 in prizes for films and books submitted to this year’s Festival competitions.

Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival Partners: The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival is presented by National Geographic and The North Face, and sponsored by Deuter, Clif Bar, Bergans of Norway, Treksta, and Mountain House, with support from PETZL, World Expeditions, Kicking Horse Coffee, Lake Louise Ski Resort and Summer Gondola, Mammut, Banff and Lake Louise Tourism, MEC, and the International Alliance for Mountain Film.

About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity:  Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, and thinkers – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to society through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, world-class performances, and public outreach. www.banffcentre.ca