Please note: The year of the award is based on the publishing year. For example, the most recent award was for books published in 2024, submissions were accepted in April, 2025 and the ceremony took place in January, 2026. Winners are in bold, followed by the finalists in each category. Click the + symbol to view the winner and finalists for that year.
Young Reader
A Planet Is a Poem
by Amanda West Lewis, illustrated by Oliver Averill
(Kids Can Press)
I Am Wind: An Autobiography
by Rachel Poliquin, illustrated by Rachel Wada
(Tundra Books)
Remember This: The Fascinating World of Memory
by Monique Polak, illustrated by Valéry Goulet
(Orca Book Publishers)
Adult
Medicine Wheel for the Planet: A Journey toward Personal and Ecological Healing
by Dr. Jennifer Grenz
(Knopf Canada)
I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine
by Daniel J. Levitin
(Allen Lane Canada)
Signs of Life: Field Notes from the Frontlines of Extinction
by Sarah Cox
(Goose Lane Editions)
Young Reader
Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth
by L. E. Carmichael, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler
(Kids Can Press)
Bompa’s Insect Expedition
by David Suzuki and Tanya Lloyd Kyi, illustrated by Qin Leng
(Greystone Books)
Operation Cupcake
by Bambi Edlund
(Kids Can Press)
Adult
Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast
by John Vaillant
(Knopf Canada)
The Autumn Ghost: How the Battle Against a Polio Epidemic Revolutionized Modern Medical Care
by Hannah Wunsch
(Greystone Books)
Message in a Bottle: Ocean Dispatches in the Age of Plastic
by Holly Hogan
(Knopf Canada)
Young Reader
It Takes Guts: How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel (and Poop)
by Dr. Jennifer Gardy, illustrated by Belle Wuthrich
(Greystone Books)
Adult
Ontario’s Old-growth Forests 2nd edition
by Michael Henry and Peter Quinby
(Fitzhenry and Whiteside)
Young Reader
Heads Up: Changing Minds on Mental Health
by Melanie Siebert, illustrated by Belle Wuthrich
(Orca Book Publishers)
Bird’s Eye View
by Ann Eriksson
(Orca Book Publishers)
Pretty Tricky: The Sneaky Ways Plants Survive
by Etta Kaner, illustrated by Ashley Barron
(Owlkids Books)
Adult
The Reality Bubble: How Science Reveals the Hidden Truths that Shape Our World
by Ziya Tong
(Penguin Canada)
Young Reader
The Space Adventurer’s Guide
by Peter McMahon, illustrated by Josh Holinaty
(Kids Can Press)
Trash Revolution: Breaking the Waste Cycle
by Ann Eriksson
(Kids Can Press)
Wild Buildings and Bridges: Architecture Inspired by Nature
by Etta Kaner, illustrated by Carl Wiens
(Kids Can Press)
Adult
18 Miles: The Epic Drama of Our Atmosphere and Its Weather
by Chris Dewdney
(ECW Press)
Conspiracy of Hope: The Truth about Breast Cancer Screening
by Renée Pellerin
(Goose Lane Editions)
The Spinning Magnet The Force that Created the Modern World and Could Destroy It
by Alanna Mitchell
(Viking Press)
Young Reader
Biometrics
by Maria Birmingham, illustrated by Ian Turner
(Owlkids Books)
Big Blue Forever: The Story of Canada’s Largest Blue Whale Skeleton
by Anita Miettunen
(Red Deer Press)
Rewilding: Giving Nature a Second Chance
by Ann Love and Jane Drake
(Annick Press)
Adult
Our Vanishing Glaciers: The Snows of Yesteryear and the Future Climate of the Mountain West
by Robert William Sandford
(Rocky Mountain Books)
Firestorm
by Edward Struzik
(Island Press)
Rise of the Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction
by Britt Wray
(Greystone Books)
Young Reader
5 Giraffes
by Anne Innis Dagg
(Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
Inside Your Insides: A Guide to the Microbes That Call You Home
by Claire Eamer, illustrated by Marie-Eve Tremblay
(Kids Can Press)
Monster Science: Could Monsters Survive (and Thrive!) in the Real World?
by Helaine Becker, illustrated by Phil McAndrew
(Kids Can Press)
Adult
At Sea With the Marine Birds of the Raincoast
by Caroline Fox
(Rocky Mountain Books)
100 Million Years of Food: What Our Ancestors Ate and Why It Matters Today
by Stephen Le
(Picador Books)
Bad Singer: The Surprising Science of Tone Deafness and How We Hear Music
by Tim Falconer
(House of Anansi Press)
North America in the Anthropocene
by Robert William Sandford
(Rocky Mountain Books)
Young Reader
The Queen’s Shadow: A Story About How Animals See
by Cybèle Young
(Kids Can Press)
Foodprints: The Story of What We Eat
by Paula Ayer
(Annick Press)
Head Lice (The Disgusting Critters series)
by Elise Gravel
(Tundra Books)
What’s the Buzz? Keeping Bees in Flight
by Merrie-Ellen Wilcox
(Orca Book Publishers)
Adult
Malignant Metaphor: Confronting Cancer Myths
by Alanna Mitchell
(ECW Press)
Dam Builders: The Natural History of Beavers and their Ponds
by Michael Runtz
(Fitzhenry & Whiteside)
Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver
by Frances Backhouse
(ECW Press)
Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry
by Andrew Nikiforuk
(Greystone Books)
Young Reader
Fuzzy Forensics: DNA Fingerprinting Gets Wild
by L. E. Carmichael
(Ashby-BP Publishing)
Plesiosaur Peril (Tales of Prehistoric Life series)
by Daniel Loxton, illustrated by Daniel Loxton with Jim W. W. Smith
(Kids Can Press)
Tastes Like Music: 17 Quirks of the Brain and Body
by Maria Birmingham, illustrated by Monika Melnychuk
(Owlkids Books)
Adult
Your Water Footprint: The Shocking Facts About How Much Water We Use to Make Everyday Products
by Stephen Leahy
(Firefly Books)
Canadian Spacewalkers: Hadfield, MacLean and Williams Remember the Ultimate High Adventure
by Bob McDonald
(Douglas & McIntyre)
Planet Heart: How an Unhealthy Environment Leads to Heart Disease
by François Reeves M.D.
(Greystone Books)
Young Reader
Before the World Was Ready: Stories of Daring Genius in Science
by Claire Eamer, illustrated by SA Boothroyd
(Annick Press)
Chitchat: Celebrating the World’s Language
by Jude Isabella, illustrated by Kathy Boake
(Kids Can Press)
Pterosaur Trouble (Tales of Prehistoric Life series)
by Daniel Loxton, illustrated by Daniel Loxton with Jim W. W. Smith
(Kids Can Press)
Adult
The Peace-Athabasca Delta: Portrait of a Dynamic Ecosystem
by Kevin P. Timoney
(University of Alberta Press)
Manitoba Butterflies: A Field Guide
by Simone Hébert Allard
(Turnstone Press)
The Oil Man and the Sea: Navigating the Northern Gateway
by Arno Kopecky
(Douglas & McIntyre)
Young Reader
Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea
by Helaine Becker, illustrated by Willow Dawson
(Kids Can Press)
Canada Recycles
by Peter Cook and Laura Suzuki
(Scholastic Canada)
How to Raise Monarch Butterflies: A Step-by-Step Guide for Kids
by Carol Pasternak
(Firefly Books)
Adult
The Universe Within: From Quantum to Cosmos
by Neil Turok
(House of Anansi Press)
Fatal Flaws: How a Misfolded Protein Baffled Scientists and Changed the Way We Look at the Brain
by Jay Ingram
(HarperCollins Canada)
Superbodies: Peak Performance Secrets From the World’s Best Athletes
by Greg Wells Ph.D.
(HarperCollins Canada)
Young Reader
Nowhere Else on Earth: Standing Tall for the Great Bear Rainforest
by Caitlyn Vernon
(Orca Book Publishers)
Totally Human: Why We Look and Act the Way We Do
by Cynthia Pratt Nicolson, illustrated by Dianne Eastman
(Kids Can Press)
What Does the Earth Sound Like?: 159 Astounding Science Quizzes
by Eva Everything
(ECW Press)
Adult
The Atlantic Coast: A Natural History
by Harry Thurston, photography by Wayne Barrett
(Greystone Books)
Cascadia’s Fault: The Deadly Earthquake That Will Devastate North America
by Jerry Thompson
(HarperCollins Canada)
Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life beyond Our Solar System
by Ray Jayawardhana
(HarperCollins Canada)
Young Reader
Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be
by Daniel Loxton
(Kids Can Press)
The Sea Wolves: Living Wild in the Great Bear Rainforest
by Nicholas Read, photography by Ian McAllister
(Orca Book Publishers)
Ultimate Trains (Machines of the Future series)
by Peter McMahon, illustrated by Andy Mora
(Kids Can Press)
Adult
The Ptarmigan’s Dilemma: An Exploration into How Life Organizes and Supports Itself
by John Theberge and Mary Theberge
(McClelland & Stewart)
Einstein Wrote Back: My Life in Physics
by John W. Moffat
(Thomas Allen Publishers)
Keeping the Bees: Why All Bees Are at Risk and What We Can Do to Save Them
by Laurence Packer
(HarperCollins Canada)
Young Reader
The Insecto-Files: Amazing Insect Science and Facts You’ll Never Believe
by Helaine Becker, illustrated by Claudia Dávila
(Owlkids Books)
Adult
Top 100 Food Plants: The World’s Most Important Culinary Crops
by Ernest Small
(NRC Research Press)
Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis
by Alanna Mitchell
(McClelland & Stewart)