The Prince George Public Library Board has announced the nominees for the 37th annual Jeanne Clarke Awards. The Jeanne Clarke Local History Award was established by the Library Board in 1985, in memory of former library board chair Jeanne Clarke.
The Award recognizes individuals or groups for outstanding contributions in the preservation and promotion of local history in the categories of publication and service.
The nominees for this year’s publication award are:
- A mountain of Change, 1960 – 2020: Hudson Bay Mountain, Smithers, BC by Lynn MacNeil, Jeannette Malkow, Connie Scott, and Debi Lyn Smith.
- A Mountains of Change, splashed with colourful photos, tells the stories of determination, hardships and passion intertwined with the enjoyment of good times and successes on Hudson Bay Mountain from 1960-2020.
- Wagon Road North: The Saga of the Cariboo Gold Rush by Art Downs
- A newly revised and updated edition of the classic pictorial account of the Cariboo Gold Rush trail. First published in 1960, Wagon Road North is the quintessential popular history book chronicling gold-rush-era BC.
- British Columbia in Flames: Stories from a Blazing Summer by Claudia Cornwall
- Auhtor Claudia Cornwall, a long-time write, chronicles the wildfires of 2017 gathering the stories from people in Sheridan Lake, Ashcroft, Cache creek, 16 Mile House, Lac La Hache, Quesnel, Williams Lake, Hanceville-Riske Creek and Clinton.
- Aggie and Mudgy: The Journey of Two Kaska Dena Children by Wendy Proverbs
- Based on the true story of the authors biological mother and aunt, this middle-grade novel traces the long and frightening journey of two Kaska Dena sisters as they are taken from their home to attend residential school.
- In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience by Helen Knott
- Helen Knott, a highly accomplished Indigenous woman, seems to have it all. But in her memoir, she offers a different perspective. In My Own Moccasins is an unflinching account of addiction, intergenerational trauma, and the wounds brought on by sexual violence. It is also the story of sisterhood, the power of ceremony, the love of family, and the possibility of redemption.
- Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884-1914 by Geoff Mynett
- Part history, part true crime, Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884-1914 contains the true accounts of murders, crimes, and scandals--some of which remain unsolved to this day--in small-town northern British Columbia.
The award is presented annually to individuals or groups for outstanding contributions in the preservation and promotion of local and regional history in the categories of publication and service.
The Jeanne Clarke Awards will be broadcast on CKPG on March 13 at 6 p.m. and March 14 at 7 p.m. and will also be streamed online.
Past winners of the publication award include Geoff Mynett, Briony Penn, the Prince George Retired Teachers’ Association, Jessica McDiarmid, and Aaron Williams.
Past winners of the service award include The Native Friendship Centre for the Skeh Baiyoh Childcare Centre, The Exploration Place and Mary Gouchie, the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, and Trelle Morrow.
Jeanne Clarke was a founding member of the Prince George Public Library's Local History Committee, and played a key role in establishing the Prince George Public Library's local history collection.
