Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award

The CCBC is honoured take over the administration of the Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award. This award, named in memory of the late Richard Chase, a former teacher-librarian from Lethbridge, Alberta, is awarded annually with a cash prize of $2,500 to a Canadian children’s title written for an elementary school-aged audience in Grades 4-6 (Ages 9-12) exemplifying Richard’s guiding principles of compassion, kindness, humanity, environmentalism, inclusivity, and connection to the land. 

The award was first established in 2022 by the board of the Rocky Mountain Book Award (RMBA) in recognition of Richard’s contributions to Canadian children’s literature and his compassion, patience, and love for all who crossed his path. Richard, along with his wife Alice, spent their teaching careers at Lakeview Elementary School, in Lethbridge, Alberta, whose library now bears Richard’s name. As a founding member of the Lethbridge Children’s Literature Roundtable and the RMBA, and through his work with the CCBC’s Canadian Children’s Book Week, Richard’s name became synonymous with the promotion of exemplary Canadian children’s literature.  

Wishing to keep his flame burning, committed to creating, fostering and celebrating his life through the creation of the Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award, the board of the RMBA and Richard’s wife Alice pledge to make this a national award.

Eligibility, Guidelines & Fees

Criteria

The Richard Allen Chase Memorial Award recognizes and honours excellence in Canadian children’s literature written for an elementary school-aged audience (Grades4-6/Ages 9-12) having at its heart themes such as compassion, kindness, humanity, environmentalism, inclusivity and/or connection to the land. The celebration of diversity is an equally significant element to achieving excellence. A work of excellence in Canadian children’s literature should also be successful in making people feel a sense of belonging in their communities.

The criteria for selecting the winning and shortlisted titles are viewed through each juror’s lens. In identifying excellence, the judges shall consider the following criteria:

• Quality of the text and illustrations (if present).
• Conveys evident themes of compassion, kindness, humanity, environmentalism, inclusivity and/or connection to the land.
• Appropriateness of style and presentation. Books should have notable qualities in all of the elements pertinent to it, such as interpretation of theme and concept.
• Books need to be self-contained and not dependent on other media for its enjoyment.
• Presentation of information including accuracy, clarity and organization.
• Treatment of the material (in the case of non-fiction) or elements of the story that draw upon or are inspired by real cultures, folklore and history should be done respectfully and authentically.
• Books should have been written for a youth audience (Grades 4-6/Ages 9-12) and should achieve excellence of presentation.
• Book is to be considered as a contribution to literature.
• The popularity of a book and didactic intent are not to be considered.
• If the winning title is a picture book or if 40% or more of the text area is composed of original illustrations, the prize will be split equally between and author and illustrator.
• If the winning title is a translated work, the prize will be split 70% to the author and illustrator (if applicable) and 30% to the translator.
• If the winning title is a translated work, the prize will be split 70% to the author and illustrator (if applicable) and 30% to the translator. In the case of illustrated works, the prize would be equally split between the author and illustrator, with the author will retain 70% of their portion with 30% being awarded to the translator.

Eligibility Requirements

• Books must be published between January 1 and December 31, 2024. 
• Both the author and illustrator (if applicable) must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada  (minimum two-year residency), or First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of the land that is now called Canada..
• Books may be published in Canada or abroad.
• No posthumous submissions.
• Books must be first foreign or first Canadian editions. New editions or re-issues of previously published titles are not eligible for submission.
• Books must be in English.
• Translations are eligible, provided the translator is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada  (minimum two-year residency), or First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of the land that is now called Canada.
• Eligible genres include advanced picture books and non-fiction (narrative or informational) suitable for young readers aged 9-11 years old (Grades 4-6).
• Early chapter books and middle-grade novels are not eligible.
• Graphic novels are not eligible.
• Stories must be original (i.e., not a retelling of a story already published such as a fairy tale or folk tale.)
• Books being submitted for consideration must be original works.
• Books based on traditional stories (e.g., folk literature) will be considered if the book is the result of original research and the retelling and interpretation are the writer’s own.
• Books based on recorded songs are not eligible.
• Books written as part of a series or published in serial form will be judged as separate entries and must be able to ‘stand-alone’.
• The award is only for books in the printed format, as distinct from digital (i.e., ebooks) and audio-visual formats.
• Books in manuscript form are not eligible.
• All books must have an ISBN and be distributed in Canada.
• Self-published books are eligible for submission provided they have a valid ISBN.

How to Submit

You are required to complete an online title submission form for each title being submitted. Upon completion of the form(s), please email PDFs of your title(s) to meghan@bookcentre.ca. The Chase Award requires five (5) physical copies of each title. Please send these to:

CCBC Book Awards 2025
c/o Tinlids Inc.
130 Martin Ross Avenue 
Toronto, ON M3J 2L4

Note to US publishers, foreign publishers and self-published authors using printers in the US
When you are sending your submissions, please make sure that all mailing/courier charges, including duty, are billed to the sender. The CCBC nor Tinlids cannot incur these costs. Packages flagged as COD will be refused.

Submission fees can be paid online at bookcentre.ca/submissionfees. If you are paying the submission fee(s) by cheque, please complete a submission fee form and either enclose it with your shipment of books or mail it to the address at the bottom of the form.

Accessible Formats

The title submission form includes a question about accessible formats. While these formats are not a requirement for submitting to the awards program, we would very much appreciate it if you could let us know if the title(s) is available in an accessible format and if so, which format(s).