Wednesday, October 22, 2008

BC Achievement Award!

This morning Bill Richardson and I were given Time to Read: the BC Achievement Award for Early Literacy.  I was surprised to learn that it was selected from all this last year's  Canadian picture books, not just those from BC, even beating out the wonderful Scaredy Squirrel. 
Here we are with the fresh-faced Honorable Ian Black who presented us with our awards at an elementary School in his constituency of Port Coquitlam.  The award was for $15,000 shared between Bill and me.  It is my first cash prize.  I've won awards, mostly for my first book, Mister Got to Go, which I am proud of, but winning money seems like a more serious award to me.  I am 54 on Sunday and receiving this award at my present age feels like a milestone. This last year has been one of particular financial hardship and I usually feel that I will go on struggling and having to borrow from my overdraft or my Visa to pay my rent until the day I drop off the twig.  So this feels like a kindly hand offering respite and reassurance.