CODE, the literary development agency, has revealed the winners of its third annual Burt Award for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Literature in celebration of indigenous authorship.

A jury of Canadian authors chosen by the Canada Council for the Arts selected the following recipients:

• Frank Christopher Busch, Grey Eyes (Fernwood Publishing)
• Aaron Paquette, Lightfinder (Kegedonce Press)
• Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, Skraelings: Arctic Moon Magick, Book 1 (Inhabit Media)

The order of the winners of a first ($12,000), second ($8,000), and third ($5,000) prize will be announced at an awards ceremony hosted by CBC’s Shelagh Rogers at the University of British Columbia Longhouse on Oct. 22. The event will also feature an authors’ tour of First Nations communities.

Along with the purses awarded the winners, 2,500 copies of each title will be purchased and distributed to hundreds of libraries and friendship centres in aboriginal communities across the country.