The 2016 Banff Mountain Book Festival Category Winners
The book finalists for the 2016 Banff Mountain Book Competition have been described as “irreverent,” “intoxicating” and “magical,” and were picked from a longlist of finalists to compete for the Grand Prize, announced on Nov. 3 at this year’s Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.
Chosen from the best in mountain and adventure literature, mountain fiction, mountain image, mountain articles and mountaineering history, and guidebooks, 147 book submissions from authors in nine countries were honed down to a longlist of 27 finalists and from that list our 2016 jury determined category award winners.
“The book jury had a tough job whittling the long list down, given the high caliber of entries in every category this year,” said Joanna Croston, Programming Director for the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. “We are thrilled that the finalists for the 2016 Book Competition’s Grand Prize continue to represent the very best in mountain literature from around the world.”
The 2016 Book Competition jury members are Paul Pritchard (UK, climber and author), Hilaree O’Neill (USA, athlete), and Harry Vandervlist (CAN, Associate Professor, English, University of Calgary).
Special Jury Mentions
The Bold and Cold: A History of 25 Classic Climbs in the Canadian Rockies by Gripped editor Brandon Pullan and published by Rocky Mountain Books Ltd. (CAN, 2016)
Across the Arctic Ocean: Original Photographs from the Last Great Polar Journey by Sir Wally Herbert and Huw Lewis-Jones and published by Thames & Hudson (USA, 2015)
Adventure Travel
Ice Diaries: An Antarctic Memoir by Jean McNeil and published by ECW Press (CAN, 2016)
Mountain Fiction & Poetry
Martin Marten: A Novel by Brian Doyle and published by Thomas Dunne Books & St. Martin’s Press (USA, 2015)
Mountain & Wilderness Literature – Non-Fiction
The Bond by Simon McCartney and published by Vertebrate Publishing (UK, 2016)
Mountain Image
Yosemite in the Fifties by Dean Fidelman and published by Patagonia Books (USA, 2015)
Guidebook
1001 Climbing Tips by Andy Kirkpatrick and published by Vertebrate Publishing (UK, 2016)
Mountaineering Article
‘Searching for Superman’ by Jeff Long and published in Ascent (USA, May 2016)
Mountaineering History
Rock Queen by Catherine Destivelle and published by Hayloft Publishing Ltd. (UK, 2015)
Grand Prize – The Phyllis and Don Munday Award
All category award winners are eligible for the Grand Prize (The Phyllis and Don Munday Award) which will be announced Thurs., Nov. 3, 2016 at The Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival. For more information on the 2016 Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, please visit
www.banffmountainfestival.ca.