2017 Wilson Award Winners

Maxime Dagenais

Yesterday, for the first time, the Wilson Institute for Canadian History revealed the winners of the Wilson Book and Viv Nelles Essay Prizes at the CHA Prize Ceremony. Once again, we would like to thank every publisher, student and/or supervisor for nominating their books and papers. If you want more information about this year’s nominees, check out the article I posted a few weeks ago.

Those of you in Regina (and on twitter) already know who the winners are (no spoilers!), but for those of you that were unable to attend yesterday’s ceremony, here are our winners:

The winner of the 2017 Viv Nelles Essay Prize is Magdalene Klassen, a student at McGill University, for a paper titled “Kanigitomekardlunga, or, wenn jemand eine Reise tut: ‘Authentic’ Inuit-German Encounters in Labrador and Germany.” As I noted a few weeks ago, Klassen’s paper places the experiences of a group of Labrador Inuit sent to Germany – and put on display in “anthropological exhibitions” – in the context of 19th century “authentic experiences.” And just like last year’s winner, Magdalene walks away with a $1,000 cheque and a plaque commemorating her achievement will also be displayed at the Wilson Institute. Well done and best of luck in the Johns Hopkins PhD program!

The winner of the Wilson Book Prize (voted for by our Wilson associates) is Kristine Alexander’s Guiding Modern Girls: Girlhood, Empire, and Internationalism in the 1920s and 1930s, published by UBC Press. Kristine’s book is a wonderful analysis of the Girl Guides in three different social, political, economic, and cultural contexts: Canada, Britain, and India. This is the second time that UBC Press wins one of our awards! In 2011, the publisher won the Wilson Prize for Publishing in Canadian History, a prize that we once awarded to the publisher whose catalogue excelled at promoting innovative writing in Canadian history. UBC walks away with a $10,000 cheque that will fund the publication of new creative and accessible Canadian history. Congratulations to Kristine and UBC
Press!

We look forward to next year’s nominations!

Graduate Students: if you want your paper to be nominated for the $1,000 Viv Nelles Essay Prize contact Maxime Dagenais at dagenam@mcmaster.ca

Publishers: if you want your book(s) to be nominated for the $10,000 Wilson Book Prize, send them to:

Dr. Maxime Dagenais
L.R. Wilson Hall, Room 2006 
McMaster University
1280 Main Street West
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L9