Last night (November 10, 2025), Quebec’s English-language literary community gathered for the 27th QWF Literary Awards Gala.
Nine winners were revealed across seven categories: first book, spoken word, children’s and young adult literature, non-fiction, poetry, translation, and fiction. Each book award includes a cash prize of $3,000.
The winners of the QWF College Writers Award, the carte blanche Prize, and the Judy Mappin Community Award were also announced.
Cassandra Calin was honoured with the Janet Savage Blachford Prize for Children’s & Young Adult Literature for her graphic novel, The New Girl (Graphix/Scholastic). About The New Girl , the jurors said:
"The New Girl is funny and heartfelt, exploring Lia’s experiences through the lens of immigration. The narrative examines identity, adolescence, and language barriers through a blend of exposition, dialogue, and illustration. Calin’s illustration style is bright and engaging. The expressiveness of her characters’ faces and bodies bounce off the page and show the full range of middle-school emotion.“
"The narrative structure and the themes explored throughout the book are high quality and well-structured, ensuring that readers will stay engrossed in the story. The New Girl is a joy to read and captures the essence of a universal experience through the story of an individual.”
Jurors: Robert Bittner, Wayne Ng, Kennedy Rooke
To see a list of all the winners, visit qwf.org.