CODE, the literacy-promoting non-profit agency, has named Nunavut-based authors Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley winners of this year’s $12,000 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Literature.

The husband-and-wife duo was recognized for their novel Skraelings: Arctic Moon Magick, Book 1 (Inhabit Media), the story of a young Inuit man prejudiced against an elusive Arctic tribe for which he gains respect in the process of helping save.

The Qitsualik-Tinsleys were honoured alongside Frank Christopher Busch, who won the $8,000 second prize for Grey Eyes (Roseway Publishing), and Aaron Paquette, who won the $5,000 third prize for Lightfinder (Kegedonce Press) at a ceremony hosted by CBC’s Shelagh Rogers at the University of British Columbia on Oct. 22.

Twenty-five hundred copies of each title will be purchased and used to stock libraries and friendship centres in aboriginal communities all over Canada.