Al and Eurithe Purdy
The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts is pleased to announce the Al and Eurithe Purdy BC Award for Excellence, an annual prize recognizing an outstanding book of fiction or non-fiction written by a BC author and published by a BC-based publisher.
The prize is made possible through the generous support of Eurithe Purdy in memory of her late husband, the great Canadian writer Al Purdy, and was created to recognize his literary legacy and his close ties to British Columbia. “It is an honour to be able to endow this new prize for BC writers,” said Eurithe Purdy. “I know from long experience how much effort writers put into sustaining our literary culture and how little recognition they normally receive. I hope this new prize will go some way to showing our appreciation.”
The $5,000 prize will be awarded to an author whose work shows literary merit, dedication to craft and originality, and is rooted in BC’s cultural, historical or literary landscape. Starting in 2026, the award will be presented each year at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts.
“We are thrilled to be able to support BC-published and BC-authored books through this award,” says Marisa Alps, the Artistic and Executive Director of the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts. “The Festival was formed in 1983 with the vision of amplifying Canadian writers, and we think Al and Eurithe Purdy’s award fits beautifully within this mandate.”
For this inaugural year, Alps compiled a list of eligible fiction and literary non-fiction titles published in British Columbia in 2025. (Beginning next year, the award will incorporate a formal submission process for publishers.) Excluded from consideration are reference works, children’s books, poetry, plays and self-published titles. Books will be evaluated by a dedicated reading committee, and a longlist will then be forwarded to an independent jury.
The shortlist will be announced in June 2026, and the three finalists will be invited to participate in the BC Books Showcase, a celebratory reading event hosted at the Festival of the Written Arts on Friday, August 14. The winner will be announced during the Festival’s opening reception.