Jones wins Winterset Award
Greg Malone and Russell Wangersky also finalists
They’ve been friends since they were children, and, thanks to CODCO, their names have been linked professionally since the 1970s.
On Thursday, Andy Jones and Greg Malone found themselves vying against each other for the $10,000 BMO Winterset Award.
Jones won the award for his book “Jack and Mary in the Land of Thieves,” and thanked Malone and fellow finalist Russell Wangersky in his acceptance speech, calling them both “master storytellers.”
“Of course, I have a very personal relationship with Greg Malone,” he said, through tears.
“He is also the person who — and I’ve never told him this — but certainly in the early days of us working together, he encouraged me constantly to write stories like that. I wouldn’t have done anything if he hadn’t done that, so I always want to thank Greg.”
The three shortlisted books couldn’t be further apart in genre, but closer together in their power of language and impact of the stories told, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council chairman Tom Gordon said at the award ceremony at Government House Thursday, newly appointed Lt.-Gov. Frank Fagan’s first official event.
“Jack and Mary in the Land of Thieves” is a children’s book, told in the cadence of a recitation, while Wangersky’s “Whirl Away,” which was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, is a collection of short stories about what happens when people’s coping skills go awry.
Wangersky, an editor and columnist with The Telegram, won the BMO Winterset Award in 2010 for his novel, “The Glass Harmonica.”
Malone’s book, “Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders,” is the result of years of research into the story behind Newfoundland and Labrador joining Canada.
Wangersky and Malone will each receive $2,500 as finalists.
Jones has become known for his written tales for children, including “The Queen of Paradise’s Garden,” which was shortlisted for the 2010 Bruneau Family Children’s/Young Adult Literature Award, as well as “Jack and the Manger,” which won the Bruneau award last year. Jones is an actor, comedian and director as well as a writer.
The BMO Winterset Award, Atlantic Canada’s most lucrative literary prize, honours the memory of Sandra Fraser Gwyn, a St.-John’sborn author and social historian. It was established in 2000 by her husband, journalist and author Richard Gwyn, and named after the home in which she grew up.
This year, 31 books by Newfoundland and Labrador writers (either native or resident) were submitted for the BMO Winterset Award, by publishers from across the country. Books in any genre, published in 2012, were eligible.