Thirty-one years after it was first awarded, the future of the Giller Prize is uncertain.

Without stable funding, the Giller Foundation says the prize will be forced to end operations at the end of 2025, according to a report Wednesday in the Globe and Mail.

The annual $100,000 prize for fiction ended its 20-year partnership with lead sponsor Scotiabank earlier this year. At that time, Giller Foundation executive director Elana Rabinovitch did not comment on the financial effect the loss of the lead sponsor would have on the prize’s future.

The foundation has drafted a letter to the federal government asking for $5 million in funding over three years to help it continue operations, the Globe reports. The letter has reportedly not yet been sent to Ottawa.

“We are incredibly bullish about the future of the prize and all of its various programs and activities, and are actively engaging with potential sponsors,” Rabinovitch said in an email to Q&Q on Thursday. “Our aim is to host an amazing event this fall that not only champions Canadian authors but also upholds our long-standing tradition of honouring exceptional Canadian fiction. Our focus remains steadfastly on celebrating Canadian authors and their books.”

Rabinovitch told the Globe that the foundation is considering scrapping the televised gala event and national author tour in the future as a way to keep the prize alive, but did not provide Q&Q with any further comment.

The Giller’s partnership with Scotiabank had been dogged by controversy since its 2023 gala, when protesters took to the stage to protest Scotiabank 1832 Asset Management’s stake in Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems Inc. Three people were arrested and charged, and a group of Canadian authors called for charges to be dropped.

Protests over the prize’s involvement with Scotiabank – and Scotiabank’s investment in Elbit Systems Inc. – continued. More than 30 authors withdrew their books from consideration for last year’s prize, and CanLit Responds staged a protest outside the 2024 Giller gala.

The Giller was started in 1994 by Rabinovitch’s father, the late Jack Rabinovitch, as a way to honour his late wife, arts journalist Doris Giller. The prize money has grown in value over the years, from a $25,000 purse to its current $100,000 award. It is given annually at a gala event in Toronto each fall.

Anne Michaels won the 2024 prize for her novel Held.