FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 28, 2014 – In a ceremony at Government House yesterday, May 27, actor, writer, and director Andy Jones won the Bruneau Family Children’s/Young Adult Literature Award for Jack and Mary in the Land of Thieves, illustrated by Darka Erdelji, published by Running the Goat Books & Broadsides in 2012. Jones is a two-time winner of this award, having won in 2012 for Jack and the Manger. Author Lisa Moore was named winner of The Writers’ Alliance Fiction Award for Caught, published by House of Anansi in 2013. Each winner received a cash prize of $1,500. The four runners-up – Ed Kavanagh and Russell Wangersky for fiction, and Tom Dawe and William Pryse-Phillips for children’s literature – each received $500.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Book Awards are presented by the Writers’ Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador under the distinguished patronage of The Honourable Frank Fagan, CM, ONL, MBA, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Children’s Literature judges Tim Borlase, Joan Clark, and Sheree Fitch said of Jack and Mary in the Land of Thieves:

The bardic, original voice of Andy Jones in another of his word perfect Jack tales gives us a world away from now, a world that celebrates Newfoundland’s sailing history, song, and the art of storytelling itself. . . his use of humour, sensory detail, language, and adept narrative twists in the structure of his tale makes In the Land of Thieves a book that does what classics do–appeals to an audience of young and old alike. With this book, Jones defines the kind of excellence C.S. Lewis believed in when he wrote: “I am almost inclined to set it up as a canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story. The good ones last.”

This year’s awards were made possible by the generous sponsorships of the Bruneau Family as well as an anonymous donor, and the support of The Telegram and Perfect Day.

For more information, visit wanl.ca.