Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour

The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour (usually the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, or just the Stephen Leacock Award) is an annual literary award presented for the best book of humour written in English by a Canadian writer.^[1] The silver medal, designed by sculptor Emanuel Hahn, is a tribute to well-known Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock (1869–1944) and is accompanied by a cash prize of $15,000 (CAD). It is presented each year during a banquet ceremony in Leacock’s hometown of Orillia, Ontario.^[1]

The medal is one of the oldest literary prizes in Canada, and is the only one awarded to a work of humour. It has been awarded every year since 1947 with the exception of 1959 when it was reported that no worthy entries had been submitted.^[2]

History

The Leacock Associates, the organising body behind the award, was founded in 1946 by a loose group of Leacock’s friends and supporters.^[1] Although administered and presented separately, in early years the award was announced as part of the Governor General's Awards announcements,^[3][4][5] later moving to a separate announcement.

Each year the Associates’ board of directors appoints a panel of suitable judges from around the country, who select from submitted works a short list of five books.

The cash prize began in 1970, as a $2,500 award co-sponsored by Manulife Insurance and the Hudson's Bay Company. The following decades saw gradual increases in the amount of the prize under a number of donors, reaching its current value of $15,000 in 2009, sponsored by the TD Bank Financial Group.^[1]

In 1969 the Associates established a quarterly newsletter called The Newspacket to commemorate the centenary of the author’s birth. The publication prints excerpts from nominated books, and is itself a showcase for Canadian humour writing. In 1977 the group established a Student Award for Humour, which honours young writers from secondary and post-secondary levels.

Winners and nominees

1940s

Year	Author	Title	Reference
1947	Harry L. Symons	Ojibway Melody	[3]
1948	Paul Hiebert	Sarah Binks	[6]
1949	Angeline Hango	Truthfully Yours	[4]

1950s

Year	Author	Title	Reference
1950	Earle Birney	Turvey	[6]
1951	Eric Nicol	The Roving I	[6]
1952	Jan Hilliard	The Salt Box	[6]
1953	Lawrence Earl	The Battle of Baltinglass	[5]
1954	Joan Walker	Pardon My Parka	[6]
1955	Robertson Davies	Leaven of Malice	[6]
1956	Eric Nicol	Shall We Join the Ladies?	[6]
1957	Robert Thomas Allen	The Grass Is Never Greener	[6]
1958	Eric Nicol	Girdle Me a Globe	[6]
1959	No award given		[6]

1960s

Year	Author	Title	Reference
1960	Pierre Berton	Just Add Water and Stir	[6]
1961	Norman Ward	Mice in the Beer	[6]
1962	W. O. Mitchell	Jake and the Kid	[6]
1963	Donald Jack	Three Cheers for Me	[7]
1964	Harry J. Boyle	Homebrew and Patches	[6]
1965	Gregory Clark	War Stories	[6]
1966	George Bain	Nursery Rhymes to be Read Aloud by Young Parents with Old Children	[6]
1967	Richard J. Needham	Needham's Inferno	[6]
1968	Max Ferguson	And Now...Here's Max	[6]
1969	Stuart Trueman	You're Only as Old as You Act	[6]

1970s

Year	Author	Title	Reference
1970	Farley Mowat	The Boat Who Wouldn't Float	[6]
1971	Robert Thomas Allen	Wives, Children and Other Wild Life	[6]
1972	Max Braithwaite	The Night We Stole the Mountie's Car	[6]
1973	Donald Bell	Saturday Night at the Bagel Factory	[6]
1974	Donald Jack	That's Me in the Middle	[7]
1975	Morley Torgov	A Good Place to Come From	[6]
1976	Harry J. Boyle	The Luck of the Irish	[6]
1977	Ray Guy	That Far Greater Bay	[6]
1978	Ernest Buckler	Whirligig	[8]
1979	Sondra Gotlieb	True Confections	[9]

1980s

Year	Author	Title	Reference
1980	Donald Jack	Me Bandy, You Cissie	[7]
1981	Gary Lautens	Take My Family...Please!	[10]
1982	Mervyn J. Huston	Gophers Don't Pay Taxes	[11]
1983	Morley Torgov	The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick	[12]
	Aislin	Stretch Marks	[12]
	John Duffie	Duffie's Unimportance of Being Earnest	[12]
	Allan Fotheringham	Malice in Blunderland	[12]
	Stuart Trueman	Don't Let Them Smell the Lobsters Cooking	[12]
1984	Gary Lautens	No Sex Please...We're Married	[13]
	Donald Jack	Me Too	[14]
	Eric Nicol	Canadide	[14]
	Paul Quarrington	Home Game	[14]
	Leon Rooke	Shakespeare's Dog	[14]
	Paul St. Pierre	Smith and Other Events	[14]
1985	Ted Allan	Love Is a Long Shot	[15]
	Joan Finnigan	Laughing All the Way Home	[15]
	John MacLachlan Gray	Dazzled!	[15]
	Don Lemna	A Visit from Mr. Lucifer	[15]
	Ted Stone	Hailstorms and Hoop Snakes	[15]
	Armin Wiebe	The Salvation of Yasch Siemens	[15]
1986	Joey Slinger	No Axe Too Small to Grind	[16]
	Charles Gordon	The Governor General's Bunny Hop	[17]
	Sondra Gotlieb	Wife Of...	[17]
	Ray Guy	This Dear and Fine Country	[17]
	T. P. Millar	Who's Afraid of Sigmund Freud	[17]
	Paul Quarrington	The Life of Hope	[17]
1987	W. P. Kinsella	The Fencepost Chronicles	[18]
	Christie Blatchford	Spectator Sports	[18]
	Allan Edmonds	Living It Up and Down	[18]
	Allan Fotheringham	Capitol Offenses	[18]
	Murray Malcolm	Armchair Will: The Musings of a Man of Leisure	[18]
	Eric Nicol	The U.S. or US?	[18]
1988	Paul Quarrington	King Leary	[19]
	Arthur Black	Back to Black	[19]
	Lesley Choyce	An Avalanche of Ocean	[19]
	Jack Hodgins	The Honorary Patron	[19]
	Robin Skelton	The Parrot Who Could	[19]
1989	Joseph Kertes	Winter Tulips	[20]
	Christie Blatchford	Close Encounters	[20]
	Alison Gordon	The Dead Pull Hitter	[20]
	David McFadden	A Trip Around Lake Ontario	[20]
	Edward O. Phillips	Hope Springs Eternal	[20]
	Kent Thompson	Married Love	[20]

1990s

Year	Author	Title	Reference
1990	W. O. Mitchell	According to Jake and the Kid	[21]
	Arthur Black	That Old Black Magic	[22]
	Don Hunter	Spinner's Inlet	[22]
	W. P. Kinsella	The Miss Hobbema Pageant	[22]
	Susan Musgrave	Great Musgrave	[22]
	Dan Needles	Letters from Wingfield Farm	[22]
	Eric Nicol	Dickens of the Mounted	[22]
	Paul Quarrington	Whale Music	[22]
	Paul St. Pierre	Chilcotin and Beyond	[22]
	Larry Zolf	Scorpions for Sale	[22]
1991	Howard White	Writing in the Rain	[23]
	Maurice Henrie	The Mandarin Syndrome	[23]
	Roy MacGregor	Quantity Time	[23]
	W. O. Mitchell	Roses Are Difficult Here	[23]
	Morley Torgov	St. Fab's Day	[23]
1992	Roch Carrier	Prayers of a Very Wise Child	[24]
	Eliza Clark	Miss You Like Crazy	[24]
	W. P. Kinsella	Box Socials	[24]
1993	John Levesque	Waiting for Aquarius	[25]
	Margaret Atwood	Good Bones	[25]
	Marni Jackson	The Mother Zone	[25]
	Joey Slinger	If It's a Jungle Out There, Why Do I Have to Mow the Lawn?	[25]
1994	Bill Richardson	Bachelor Brothers Bed and Breakfast	[26]
	Arthur Black	Black by Popular Demand	[26]
	Charles Gordon	How Not to Be Too Bad	[26]
	Peter Gzowski	Canadian Living	[26]
	W. O. Mitchell	The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon	[26]
1995	Josh Freed	Fear of Frying and Other Fax of Life	[27]
	Aislin and Hubie Bauch	Put Up or Shut Up	[27]
	Gail Anderson-Dargatz	The Miss Hereford Stories	[27]
	Des Kennedy	Wild About Gardening	[27]
	Susan Musgrave	Musgrave Landing	[27]
1996	Marsha Boulton	Letters from the Country	[28]
	Allan Abel	Flatbush Odyssey	[28]
	W. P. Kinsella	The Winter Helen Dropped By	[28]
	Eve McBride	Dandelions Help	[28]
	Bill Richardson	Bachelor Brothers Bed and Breakfast Pillow Book	[28]
1997	Arthur Black	Black in the Saddle Again	[29]
	David Eddie	Chump Change	[29]
	Des Kennedy	The Garden Club	[29]
	Bill Richardson	Bachelor Brothers' Bedside Companion	[29]
	Miriam Toews	Summer of My Amazing Luck	[29]
1998	Mordecai Richler	Barney's Version	[30]
	Paul Quarrington	The Boy on the Back of the Turtle	[30]
	Sandra Shamas	A Trilogy of Performances	[30]
	Carol Shields	Larry's Party	[30]
	Antanas Sileika	Buying on Time	[30]
1999	Stuart McLean	Home from the Vinyl Cafe	[31]
	Wayne Johnston	The Colony of Unrequited Dreams	[31]
	Sean Kane	Virtual Freedom	[31]
	Robert Kroetsch	The Man from the Creeks	[31]
	Pete McCormack	Understanding Ken	[31]

2000s

Year	Author	Title	Reference
2000	Arthur Black	Black Tie and Tales	[32]
	Herb Curtis	Luther Corhern's Salmon Camp Chronicles	[32]
	David Eddie	Housebroken: Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad	[32]
	Gordon Kirkland	Justice Is Blind - and Her Dog Just Peed in my Cornflakes	[32]
	Alan R. Wilson	Before the Flood	[32]
2001	Stuart McLean	Vinyl Cafe Unplugged	[33]
	Linwood Barclay	Last Resort	[33]
	Lynn Coady	Play the Monster Blind	[33]
	Bob Collins	Out Standing in their Field: The Rural Adventures of Hap & Edna	[33]
	Allan Stratton	The Phoenix Lottery	[33]
2002	Will Ferguson	Generica	[34]
	David Arnason	King Jerry	[35]
	Ian Ferguson and Will Ferguson	How to Be a Canadian (Even If You Already Are One)	[35]
	Charles Gordon	The Grim Pig	[35]
	Bill Richardson	Waiting for Gertrude	[35]
2003	Dan Needles	With Axe and Flask: A History of Persephone Township From Pre-Cambrian Times to the Present	[36]
	Sondra Gotlieb	Dogs, Houses, Gardens, Food and Other Addictions	[37]
	Ian McGillis	A Tourist's Guide to Glengarry	[37]
	Robert G. Nielsen	Athlete's Foot, or How I Failed at Sports	[37]
	Morley Torgov	Stickler and Me	[37]
2004	Ian Ferguson	Village of the Small Houses: A Memoir of Sorts	[38]
	Michel Basilières	Black Bird	[38]
	George Bowering	Stone Country	[38]
	Stuart McLean	Vinyl Cafe Diaries	[38]
	Patricia Pearson	Playing House	[38]
2005	Will Ferguson	Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw	[39]
	Arthur Black	Black and White and Read All Over	[40]
	Bob Collins	Summer of Wonder	[40]
	Susan Juby	Miss Smithers	[40]
	Gordon Kirkland	Never Stand Behind a Loaded Horse	[40]
2006	Arthur Black	Pitch Black	[41]
	Joe Campbell	Take Me Out to the Ball Game	[42]
	Gordon Kirkland	When My Mind Wanders It Brings Back Souvenirs	[42]
	Dan Needles	Wingfield's Hope: More Letters from Wingfield Farm	[42]
	William Weintraub	Crazy About Lili	[42]
2007	Stuart McLean	Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe	[43]
	Douglas Coupland	jPod	[44]
	Des Kennedy	The Passionate Gardener	[44]
	Ryan Knighton	Cockeyed	[44]
	Neil McKinnon	Tuckahoe Slidebottle	[44]
2008	Terry Fallis	The Best Laid Plans	[45]
	Douglas Coupland	The Gum Thief	[45]
	Will Ferguson	Spanish Fly	[45]
	Scott Gardiner	King John of Canada	[45]
	Ron Wood	And God Created Manyberries	[45]
2009	Mark Leiren-Young	Never Shoot a Stampede Queen: A Rookie Reporter in the Cariboo Country	[46]
	William Deverell	Kill All the Judges	[46]
	Sheree Fitch	Kiss the Joy as It Flies	[46]
	Jack MacLeod	Uproar	[46]
	Charles Wilkins	In the Land of Long Fingernails	[46]

2010s

Year	Author	Title	Reference
2010	Will Ferguson	Beyond Belfast: A 560-Mile Walk Across Northern Ireland on Sore Feet	[47]
	Kathryn Borel	Corked	[48]
	Glen Chilton	The Curse of the Labrador Duck	[48]
	Bill Conall	The Rock in the Water	[48]
	William Deverell	Snow Job	[48]
2011	Trevor Cole	Practical Jean	[49]
	Todd Babiak	Toby: A Man	[49]
	Terry Fallis	The High Road	[49]
	David Rakoff	Half Empty	[49]
	Steve Smith	Red Green's How to Do Everything	[49]
2012	Patrick deWitt	The Sisters Brothers	[50]
	Rupinder Gill	On the Outside Looking Indian	[51]
	Susan Juby	The Woefield Poultry Collective	[51]
	Shari Lapeña	Happiness Economics	[51]
	Robin Michele Levy	Most of Me	[51]
2013	Cassie Stocks	Dance, Gladys, Dance	[52]
	Terry Fallis	Up and Down	[53]
	Jonathan Goldstein	I'll Seize the Day Tomorrow	[53]
	Andrew Kaufman	Born Weird	[53]
	William Whitehead	Words to Live By	[53]
2014	Bill Conall	The Promised Land	[54]
	Arthur Black	Fifty Shades of Black	[54]
	Jane Christmas	And Then There Were Nuns	[54]
	Wayne Johnston	The Son of a Certain Woman	[54]
	Steve Smith	Red Green's Beginner's Guide to Women	[54]
2015	Terry Fallis	No Relation	[55]
	Aaron Bushkowsky	Curtains for Roy	[55]
	Alan Doyle	Where I Belong: Small Town to Great Big Sea	[55]
	Zarqa Nawaz	Laughing All the Way to the Mosque	[55]
	Robert Wringham	A Loose Egg	[55]

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour" at The Canadian Encyclopedia.
2. ↑ Bourgeois-Doyle, Dick, What’s So Funny?: Lessons from Canada’s Leacock Medal for Humour Writing. General Store Publishing House, 2015. ISBN 978-1-77123-342-2. p.57
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Prof. Lower's History Gets Vice-Regal Award". Winnipeg Tribune, April 19, 1947.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Win Governor General's Awards in Annual Literary Contest". Ottawa Journal, June 11, 1949.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Governor General's Awards Announced for Two Authors". Ottawa Journal, May 23, 1953.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 6.25 "Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour". Memorial University of Newfoundland Literary Awards in Canada 1923-2000.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Backstage". The Globe and Mail, May 10, 1980.
8. ↑ "Buckler win Leacock Award". The Globe and Mail, May 12, 1978.
9. ↑ "Gotlieb wins humor award". The Globe and Mail, May 11, 1979.
10. ↑ "Physicians hold annual council". The Globe and Mail, May 8, 1981.
11. ↑ "Leacock winner plays a shopworn theme". The Globe and Mail, May 13, 1982.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 "Torgov wins 1983 Leacock Medal". The Globe and Mail, April 29, 1983.
13. ↑ "Lautens wins award". The Globe and Mail, May 11, 1984.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 "Six finalists for Leacock Medal". The Globe and Mail, April 13, 1984.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 "Montrealer Ted Allan wins Leacock award for 'Long Shot' novel". The Gazette, April 18, 1985.
16. ↑ "The Star's Slinger wins humor award". Toronto Star, April 18, 1986.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 "Star's Slinger up for humor prize". Toronto Star, April 11, 1986.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 "B.C.'s Kinsella wins Leacock humor award". Toronto Star, April 24, 1987.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 "Third time lucky for Leacock winner". Ottawa Citizen, April 29, 1988.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 "Leacock award 'stuns' winner". Toronto Star, May 30, 1989.
21. ↑ "Mitchell wins Leacock Award". Toronto Star, April 19, 1990.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.8 "Long short-list for Leacock award". Toronto Star, April 3, 1990.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 "Howard White wins Leacock". The Gazette, May 7, 1991.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 "Carrier's Prayers are answered with Leacock prize"]. The Gazette, April 29, 1992.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 "Hamilton writer wins Leacock humor award". Toronto Star, May 4, 1993.
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 "Richardson wins Leacock prize". Ottawa Citizen, April 26, 1994.
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 "Montreal writer wins humor award". Toronto Star, May 4, 1995.
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 "Broadcaster Boulton wins Leacock prize". Toronto Star, April 25, 1996.
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 "Arthur Black wins award for humour: Radio host, author honoured for book". Ottawa Citizen, May 1, 1997.
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 "Mordecai Richler wins Leacock humour award". The Globe and Mail, April 16, 1998.
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 "McLean wins Leacock award". Calgary Herald, April 22, 1999.
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 32.3 32.4 "Arthur Black nabs last laugh - again". Kingston Whig-Standard, April 20, 2000.
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 "Literature: Stuart McLean wins Leacock award, again". Kingston Whig-Standard, April 20, 2001.
34. ↑ "Calgary writer wins Leacock award". The Globe and Mail, April 18, 2002.
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 "Charles Gordon nominated for Leacock". Ottawa Citizen, March 20, 2002.
36. ↑ "Wingfield creator wins Leacock medal". The Globe and Mail, April 24, 2003.
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 "And the nominees are ...". Ottawa Citizen, March 30, 2003.
38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 38.3 38.4 "Ian Ferguson wins Leacock humour award". The Globe and Mail, April 22, 2004.
39. ↑ "Will Ferguson wins second Leacock humour medal". The Telegram, April 24, 2005.
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 "Black shortlisted for Leacock award". Victoria Times-Colonist, April 6, 2005.
41. ↑ "Arthur Black wins third Leacock humour prize". The Globe and Mail, April 20, 2006.
42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 "Five Canadian finalists named for Leacock Medal of Humour". Sudbury Star, March 31, 2006.
43. ↑ "He's funny. Seriously." The Telegram, April 20, 2007.
44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 "Five finalists named for Stephen Leacock medal". Winnipeg Free Press, March 31, 2007.
45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 45.4 "Self-published novel by Terry Fallis wins Leacock award". CBC News, April 30, 2008.
46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 46.4 "Mark Leiren-Young wins Leacock Medal for humour". The Globe and Mail, April 30, 2009.
47. ↑ "Will Ferguson wins Leacock". Ottawa Citizen, May 2, 2010.
48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 "Five in running for Leacock". Vancouver Sun, April 2, 2010.
49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 49.2 49.3 49.4 "Leacock award goes to Ontario writer". Victoria Times-Colonist, April 29, 2011.
50. ↑ "Patrick deWitt wins Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour". The Globe and Mail, April 27, 2012.
51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 51.3 "Stephen Leacock Award 2012 Shortlist". CBC Books.
52. ↑ "Cassie Stocks wins Stephen Leacock Award". CBC Arts, April 25, 2013.
53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 53.2 53.3 "The authors on the shortlist for the Stephen Leacock Medal are no April Fools". CBC Books, April 2, 2013.
54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 54.3 54.4 "Bill Conall wins 2014 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour". CBC News, April 24, 2014.
55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 55.2 55.3 55.4 "Terry Fallis wins second Leacock Medal for No Relation". Quill & Quire, April 30, 2015.

External links

• Leacock Medal for Humour Website