Ottawa Book Award and Prix du livre d'Ottawa is a Canadian literary award presented by the City of Ottawa to the best English and French language books written in the previous year by a living author residing in Ottawa.[1] There are four awards each year: English fiction and non-fiction (the Ottawa Book Awards); French fiction and non-fiction (Prix du livre d'Ottawa). As of 2011 the four prize winners receive $7,500 each and short-listed authors $1,000 each.[1] The award was founded in 1986. In its earlier years it was named the Ottawa-Carleton Book Awards.
From 1986 to 1990, only a single winner was named each year, with the prize alternating between non-fiction in even-numbered years and fiction in odd-numbered years. Beginning in 1991, separate awards were created for English and French literature,[2] although the alternation between non-fiction and fiction titles each year continued until 2004; ever since, four awards have been presented annually for both English and French fiction and non-fiction. Despite being named as "fiction", however, the fiction category is also open to poetry titles.
Each category is presented only if the committee has received five eligible submissions within the appropriate eligibility period. If this benchmark is not reached, then no award is presented in that category; instead, any submissions that were received are forwarded for consideration in the following year, while the prize money is rolled back into the city's annual arts granting program.[3] To date, only the French categories have ever been delayed in this manner, with the French non-fiction category impacted much more frequently than the French fiction category.
Although administered separately, the Archibald Lampman Award for poetry is also typically presented at the same time as the Ottawa Book Awards announcements.