Illustrator Todd Stewart has won the 2023 Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award.

Each year, IBBY Canada awards $1,000 to a Canadian illustrator for “outstanding artistic talent” in a Canadian picture book. Stewart won for his work on Jean E. Pendziwol’s Skating Wild on an Inland Sea (Groundwood Books).

The jury comprised of Shannon Babcock, Lorisia MacLeod, and Joanne Schwartz said, “From the title font replicating the scraping of skates on ice, to the cross-section of water and ice and land, every visual detail is remarkable. High contrast screen-printed landforms juxtapose with the translucence of frozen Lake Superior. Astonishing aerial views emphasize the drama and majesty of the lake against the land. Skating Wild on an Inland Sea captures the extreme beauty of winter, and of one of Canada’s natural wonders, in an uncommon vision of a commonplace Canadian experience.”

The two honour books selected were Mnoomin maan’gowing / The Gift of Mnoomin, by Brittany Luby, Anishinaabemowin translation by Mary Ann Corbiere, and illustrations by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley (Groundwood Books), and A Tulip in Winter: A Story About Folk Artist Maud Lewis, by Kathy Stinson and illustrations by Lauren Soloy (Greystone Kids).