Lane Anderson Award winners 2024

John Vaillant and L. E. Carmichael and Byron Eggenschwiler were named winners of the 2024 Lane Anderson Awards for Canadian science writing on January 29 at the North York Public Library in Toronto.

Vaillant won for his much-awarded Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast, published by Knopf Canada, an examination of the devastating 2016 Fort MacMurray wildfire and the relationship of humans to fire, particularly during this time of climate change.

L. E. Carmichael and Byron Eggenschwiler won the young readers award for Polar: Wildlife at the Ends of the Earth, published by Kids Can Press. The book had previously won the SWCC Children’s Book Award.

The winning books receive $10,000 and a plaque. For the first time this year, shortlistees received a prize of $1,000, in addition to a ceremonial plaque.

The finalists in the adult category were Autumn Ghost: How the Battle Against a Polio Epidemic Revolutionized Modern Medical Care by Hannah Wunsch, published by Greystone Books, and Message in a Bottle: Ocean Dispatches in the Age of Plastic by Holly Hogan, published by Knopf Canada.

The young readers prize finalists were the picture books Bompa’s Insect Expedition by David Suzuki, with Tanya Lloyd Kyi and illustrated by Qin Leng, published by Greystone Books, and Operation Cupcake: How Simple Machines Work by Bambi Edlund, published by Kids Can Press.

The annual prize, created to bolster the writing of popular science, is administered by the Fitzhenry Family Foundation. The 2024 ceremony was the first one to be open to the public.