The 2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition finalists are announced!
Thank you to all entrants!
The Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival celebrates mountain literature, film, and photography, bringing together filmmakers, writers, publishers, editors, photographers, athletes, adventurers, and -of course- readers. Featuring film screenings, guest speakers, readings, seminars and book signings, the Festival offers a wide spectrum of experiences for the mountain film and book-loving audience.
As a key program of Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival, the Book Competition is an internationally recognized literary competition that celebrates mountain literature in all its forms. $29,000 in cash is awarded annually with 8 awards selected by an international jury of writers, adventurers and editors. The short list of category award winners eligible for the Grand Prize is announced in October every year.
In 2025, the book awards will be presented at the Festival Banff on Thursday, November 6 in the Jenny Belzberg Theatre.
2025 Rules and Regulations
Competition closed July 3, 2025.
Longlist of finalists announced | Sept.
Category winners announced | Oct.
Awards presented and Grand Prize Announced | Nov. 6
Questions? Call the Banff Mountain Book Competition at: 403.762.6347
or email: banffmountainbooks@banffcentre.ca
2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition - Category Finalists
We are pleased to announce the longlist of category finalists alphabetically by title in each award category.
Mountain Literature (non-fiction) – The Jon Whyte Award
$3000 - Sponsored by The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Across the Himalaya
Vineeta Muni, Neemtree Tech Labs Pvt Ltd (India, 2025)
Enough: Climbing Toward a True Self on Mount Everest
Melissa Arnot Reid, The Crown Publishing Group (USA, 2025)
Human Nature: A Walking History of the Himalayan Landscape
Thomas Bell, Penguin Random House India (India, 2024)
Moving the Needle
Dave MacLeod, Rare Breed Productions (UK, 2024)
Thirty Below: The Harrowing and Heroic Story of the First All-Women's Ascent of Denali
Cassidy Randall, Abrams (USA, 2025)
Mountain Fiction & Poetry
$3000 – Sponsored by the Town of Banff
5.7 | Haikus for the Climber
Mike Brown, Boreal Forest Books (Canada, 2024)
An Abundance of Wild Roses
Feryal Ali-Gauhar, Canongate (UK, 2024)
The Empty Rope
Dunstan Power, Black Pear Press Limited (UK, 2024)
Environmental Literature
$3000 – Sponsored by Rab
A Woman Among Wolves
Diane K. Boyd, Greystone Books (Canada, 2024)
Is a River Alive?
Robert Macfarlane, W. W. Norton & Company (USA, 2025)
Latitudes: Encounters with a Changing Planet
Jean McNeil, Barbican Press (UK, 2025)
The Wild Dark: Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light
Craig Childs, Torrey House Press (USA, 2025)
Travels Up the Creek: A Biologist's Search for a Paddle
Lorne Fitch, Rocky Mountain Books (Canada, 2024)
Adventure Travel
$3000 – Sponsored by Rocky Mountain Books - RMB
Eventually a Sequoia
Jeremy Collins, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2025)
Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis
Jon Waterman, Patagonia Books (USA, 2024)
Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue
Buddy Levy, St. Martin's Press (USA, 2025)
River Songs: Moments of Wild Wonder in Fly Fishing
Steve Duda, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2024)
Mountain Image
$3000 – Sponsored by Mountain Life Media
All Humans Outside: Stories of Belonging in Nature
Tommy Corey, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2025)
Eden: A Portrait of Mountain Biking in Aotearoa New Zealand
Nick Stevenson, Thames & Hudson Australia (Aotearoa New Zealand, 2025)
Patagonia National Park: Chile
Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, Michelle Bachelet & Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia Books (USA, 2024)
Guidebooks
$3000 – Sponsored by ACMG
Boulder Canyon Rock Climbs
Topher Donahue, Wolverine Publishing (USA, 2024)
Northern Horizons
Will Herman, Scottish Mountaineering Press (UK, 2025)
Soča from Source to Sea - Paddling Guidebook
Rok Rozman, Leeway Collective (Slovenia, 2024)
Southern Faces: An Introduction to Rock Climbing in Ōtepoti Dunedin
Riley Smith, WildLab (New Zealand, 2025)
Mountain Article
$3000 – Sponsored by The Lodge at Bow Lake
Behind the Curtain
Corey Buhay, Summit Journal (USA, 2025)
Fleet-Winged Ghosts of Greenland
Carolien Van Hemert, Hakai Magazine/BioGraphic (USA, 2024)
In the Shadow of the Mountain
Natalie Berry, The Fence (UK, 2024)
Something Lost Behind the Ranges
Michael Wejchert, Summit Journal (USA, 2025)
Writing Like a Mountain: Climbing Literature in the Anthropocene
Katie Ives, The Himalayan Club (India, 2025)
Climbing Literature
$3000 - Sponsored by NOLS
Books whose primary focus is on climbing from the categories above are eligible for this award. Winner will be announced October 16, 2025.
Grand Prize
$5000 – Sponsored by The Alpine Club of Canada
2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition Jury
David Chambre
David Chambre, born 1963, has always been passionate about climbing. While studying geography at the Sorbonne University in Paris, he first discovered the boulders of Fontainebleau and later the great alpine peaks of the Mont Blanc massif, including the Central Pillar of Frêney and the First Free Ascent of the Bonatti route on the Grand Capucin. During the 1980s, he was one of the first French professional rock climbers specializing in free climbing, free solos, and numerous French grade 8 routes.
He eventually settled in Provence, where he shares his passion by writing historical reviews for mountaineering and climbing publications worldwide. In recent years he has published and translated a number of books with Éditions du Mont-Blanc, run by Catherine Destivelle, including:
- Il était une fois l'escalade - A graphic novel (2nd edition, 2025)
- Piolets d'or - Les plus beaux exploits de l'alpinisme moderne (2nd edition, 2025)
- Le 9e Degré, Toute l’histoire de l’escalade (4th edition, 2024)
- Alain Robert - Libre et sans attache (2024)
- Escalade - Débuter et progresser en toute sécurité (2023)
- Paul Preuss, Lord of the Abyss by David Smart (translation in French and foreword)
- Paul Preuss, Lord of the Abyss by David Smart (translation in French and foreword, 2020)
- Crack Climbing by Pete Whittaker (translation in French, 2020)
- Haute-montagne - Les plus grands noms de l’alpinisme (2019)
- The 9th Grade, 150 years of free climbing (2015)
- Le 8e Degré (Denoël, 1987)
Paul Scully
Paul Scully is the Director of the Kendal Mountain Book Festival, an interwoven part of the internationally renowned Kendal Mountain Festival held annually in Kendal, England. Since it’s inception in 2016, Paul has been at the helm and seen the Book Festival flourish, attracting a diverse array of authors and readers passionate about mountain literature, nature, the environment and outdoor adventures. Paul works with wonderful writers, publishers, artists, cultural organisations and the book festival patron and renowned writer Robert Macfarlane to create a space where people can connect with each other; experiencing events that entertain, surprise and move them. When not in the office you will find Paul running in the Lake District Fells.
Kate Neville
Kate Neville is an associate professor in Political Science and the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto. She is the author of Going to Seed: Essays on Idleness, Nature, and Sustainable Work (University of Regina Press and Texas Tech University Press, 2024), which won the inaugural Sowell Emerging Writers Prize. Her previous book, Fueling Resistance: The Contentious Political Economy of Biofuels and Fracking (Oxford University Press, 2021), won the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award for the best book in international environmental politics. When not in Toronto, Kate can be found in a cabin at the BC-Yukon border.
Book Competition Categories
Prizes will be awarded in each of the following categories:
(Please note: books written primarily for children and young adults are not suitable for this competition.)
Adventure Travel
Non-fiction books with a theme of travel to, and non-motorized exploration of, remote and/or rugged landscapes and their cultures.
Mountain Fiction & Poetry
Fiction and poetry books with a focus on mountain topics. Creative narratives about climbing and mountaineering, exploration and the experiences and cultures of mountain people are accepted.
Guidebook
Non-fiction books dealing with physical activities in mountain environments; including hiking, climbing, mountaineering and "how-to" books.
Mountain Image
Books with a primary focus on mountain images and with text in a complementary role. Images may include photographs or reproductions of artwork.
Mountain Article
Articles or short form essays under 7,000 words with mountain themes including, but not limited to: climbing, adventure, conservation and mountain literature. Articles may be fiction, historical or non-fiction narratives, and can be submitted by either an editor or author of the article. This category accepts articles that have been published in print or digitally.
Environmental Literature
Books that pertain to the environment, specifically related to flora, wildlife, conservation and climate change. Scholastic research and academic papers/texts will not be accepted.
Mountain Literature
Non-fiction books such as memoirs, biographies, and narratives on mountaineering, climbing history, mountain exploration, mountain people and culture, and human experiences of any kind in the mountains and in wilderness areas.
Climbing Literature
All titles that are longlisted and have a theme of climbing are eligible for this award.
Grand Prize
Awarded to a book chosen from the winners in the above categories.
Book Competition Sponsors:
