The 2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition is now open!
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. Over $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 in Banff on Thursday, November 6.
PLEASE NOTE - STRIKE: Canada Post is going on strike for an indeterminate period of time, starting May 23. We encourage you to send hard copy books via a private courier, or wait until the strike is over. Thank you for your understanding.
2025 Rules and Regulations
Competition closes July 3, 2025.
Questions? Call the Banff Mountain Book Competition at: 403.762.6347
or email: banffmountainbooks@banffcentre.ca
2024 Banff Mountain Book Competition - Category Finalists
https://www.banffcentre.ca/sites/default/files/2024%20Banff%20Mountain%20Book%20Competition%20Finalists_2.pdfWe are pleased to announce the longlist of category finalists alphabetically by title in each award category.
2024 Banff Mountain Book Competition Category Finalists
Mountain Literature (non-fiction) – The Jon Whyte Award
$3000 - Sponsored by The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies
Alpine Rising: Sherpas, Baltis, and the Triumph of Local Climbers in the Greater Ranges
Bernadette McDonald, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2024)
The Darkest White
Eric Blehm, HarperCollins USA (USA, 2024)
A Fine Line: Searching for Balance Among Mountains
Graham Zimmerman, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2023)
Headstrap: Legends and Lore from the Climbing Sherpas of Darjeeling
Nandini Purandare and Deepa Balsavar, Mountaineers Books (USA, 2024)
A Light through the Cracks: A Climber’s Story
Beth Rodden, Little A (USA, 2024)
Tobin, the Stonemasters, and Me 1970-1980; Remembering Tobin Sorenson, the Best Climber in the World
Rick Accomazzo, Stonemaster Books (USA, 2024)
Mountain Fiction & Poetry
$3000 – Sponsored by the Town of Banff
Dreams of Lost Buttresses and Other Stories
Heather Dawe, Little Peak Press (UK, 2023)
Empty Spaces
Jordan Abel, McClelland & Stewart (Canada, 2023)
Kink Bands
David Martin, NeWest Press (Canada, 2023)
Environmental Literature
$3000 – Sponsored by Lolë
Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet
Ben Goldfarb, W.W. Norton & Company (USA, 2023)
Echo Loba, Loba Echo: Of Wisdom, Wolves and Women
Sonja Swift, Rocky Mountain Books (Canada, 2023)
Pitfall: The Race to Mine the World's Most Vulnerable Places
Christopher Pollon, Greystone Books (Canada, 2023)
Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future
Daniel Lewis, Avid Reader Press (USA, 2024)
The Wild Horses of the Chilcotin: Their History and Future
Wayne McCrory, Harbour Publishing (Canada, 2023)
Adventure Travel
$3000 – Sponsored by Rocky Mountain Books
Blood Sweat Tears
Christine Reed, Rugged Outdoorswoman Publishing (USA, 2024)
Move Like Water: My Story of the Sea
Hannah Stowe, Tin House (USA, 2023)
The Two-Headed Whale: Life, Loss, and the Tangled Legacy of Whaling in the Antarctic
Sandy Winterbottom, Greystone Books (Canada, 2023)
Where the Falcon Flies: A 3,400 Kilometre Odyssey From My Doorstep to the Arctic
Adam Shoalts, Allen Lane Canada (Canada, 2023)
Mountain Image
$3000 – Sponsored by Mountain Life
The Art of Climbing
Simon Carter, Thames & Hudson (UK & USA, 2024)
El Arte En El Croquis De Escalada/Art in Climbing Topos
Eli Azurmendi, Rafa Elorza and Juancar Sanz, Expocroquis (Spain, 2023)
Monica Dalmasso: Sauvage!
Monica Dalmasso and Cédric Sapin-Defour, Glénat (France, 2023)
Speaking Stones: Rock Art of Ladakh
Ahtushi Deshpande, Ahtushi Deshpande (India, 2024)
Guidebooks
$3000 – Sponsored by the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides
The 4000m Peaks of the Alps – Selected Alpine Climbs & Ski Mountaineering Routes – Volume 1: West
Ben Tibbetts, Alpenglow Editions (UK, 2024)
Backpacking on Vancouver Island: The Essential Guide to the Best Multi-Day Trips and Day Hikes
Taryn Eyton, Greystone Books (Canada, 2024)
The Cairngorms & North-East Scotland
Iain Young, Anne Butler & Heather Morning, Scottish Mountaineering Club (UK, 2024)
High Sierra Climbing: Technical Rock and Ice Volume 3
Roger Putnam and Vitaliy Musiyenko, Kevin Daniels & Associates (USA, 2024)
Mountain Article
$3000 – Sponsored by The Lodge at Bow Lake
Cayesh '83
Jeff Jackson, Summit Journal (USA, 2024)
Columns and Contradictions
Christopher Kalman, Summit Journal (USA, 2024)
Inseparably Roped: Early Club Culture, Climbing and Books
Zac Robinson, Canadian Alpine Journal (Canada, 2024)
The Terror of Turning a Corner
Astra Lincoln, Climbing Magazine (USA, 2024)
Via Sedna: A Team of Women Sail Stormy Seas to Climb A Big Wall in Greenland
Caro North, Alpinist Magazine (USA, 2024)
Climbing Literature
$3000 - World Expeditions
Books whose primary focus is on climbing from the categories above are eligible for this award. Winner will be announced October 17, 2024.
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:
