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Canadians Among Winners for Banff Festival Book Awards

The 2015 Banff Mountain Book Festival awards have been announced and the grand prize will be awarded on Nov. 5.

There were 139 entries into this year’s competition. Of the eight awards, two Canadians won for their category. Richard Wagamese’s Medicine Walk, published by Emblem/McClelland & Stewart, received top honours for Mountain Fiction and Poetry.

Alpine Warriors by Bernadette McDonald
Alpine Warriors by Bernadette McDonald

For Mountaineering History, Canadian Bernadette McDonald’s new book Alpine Warriors took top spot.  “Redemptive moments amid the tragic recent history of a proud people,” said Harry Vandervlist of the 2015 book jury. “The inspiration provided by a classic work of literature, hardly known to the outside world; a charismatic cast of much better-known and highly accomplished mountaineers – what’s not to like in this impeccably-researched story of Slovenian climbing in the early years of independence?”

Other winners include Kelly Cordes book on Patagonia for Mountain and Wilderness Literature The Tower. For Adventure Travel, American Jeremy Collins much-loved 2015 book Drawn: The Art of Ascent. For Mountain Image, UK climber Jon Griffith’s visually stimulating book Alpine Exposures.

For guidebooks, Lake District Rock, which was produced the the FRCC Guidebook Committee. For the new category of Mountaineering Article, Ed Douglas’ piece Crazy Wisdom. And the for the Jury’s Special Mention, Keith Partridge’s The Adventure Game: A Cameraman’s Tales from Films at the Edge.

Bernadette McDonald’s book Freedom Climbers won Grand Prize at the 2012 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. Congratulations to all of the winners and for more, visit here.

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