Tarr Award

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR ANNUAL LESLIE K. TARR AWARD

Named in honour of its first recipient, the late Leslie K. Tarr -- a journalist, editor, and teacher -- the Leslie K. Tarr Award celebrates a major career contribution to Christian writing and publishing in Canada. Specifically, the award recognizes a Canadian citizen who affirms the Apostles' Creed and who has:

demonstrated excellence in his or her own writing
contributed to the development of Christian writing and writers in Canada
helped position the church in Canadian society, leading to better understanding of Christianity.

Candidates must meet all three of these criteria.

Les Tarr, who died in 1995, was a pastor and journalist who taught and wrote for a wide variety of secular and Christian publications. He was one of the first editors of Faith Today magazine; was the Canadian correspondent for Christianity Today; was Canadian director of Decision magazine; taught at God Uses Ink conferences (now known as Write! Canada); was professor of homiletics and communications at Central Baptist Seminary. The Reverend Tarr was author of Shields of Canada (biography of Baptist preacher T.T. Shields); 250 articles in The Toronto Star; articles in United Church Observer, Moody, Fundamentalist Journal, Canadian Churchman, Quill & Quire, etc. Despite disability and many years of painful illness, Les Tarr was a much-published and respected writer who remains an inspiration to us all.

Previous Leslie K. Tarr Award winners include Canadian Christian writing pioneers whose careers and work influenced many, such as Grace Irwin of Toronto, whose novels and dramatized biographies include Andrew Covington, Least of All Saints, Servant of Slaves, The Seventh Earl; Margaret Epp of Waldheim, Sask., whose 39 books were written primarily for the children/young adult market; Margaret Clarkson of Toronto, writer of hymn lyrics, articles and books; novelist Janette Oke of Alberta, who invented the inspirational fiction genre in the 1970s and whose books have sold more than 11 million copies; poet Margaret Avison of Toronto, an Officer of the Order of Canada, two-time Governor General's Award winner and 2003 recipient of the $40,000 Griffin Poetry Prize for Concrete and Wild Carrot; mainstream religion journalist Bob Harvey of the Ottawa Citizen; and Christian community newspaper founder and journalist Lloyd Mackey of British Columbia.

The nineteenth annual Leslie K. Tarr Award winner was author Rudy Wiebe, an Officer of the Order of Canada, and winner of two Governor General’s Literary Awards for the novels The Temptations of Big Bear and A Discovery of Strangers. Wiebe won The Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize in 1998 for Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman, which he co-authored with Yvonne Johnson. His memoir, Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest (Knopf Canada), was a finalist for a Writers' Trust prize and won the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction in 2007.

^{(Photo taken June 13, 2007, shows Rudy Wiebe, right, and award presenter Earl Davey, Provost, Tyndale University College and Seminary; photo by Steve Bydeley/The Word Guild))}

The Tarr Award was created and administered from 1988 to 2001 by the God Uses Ink Christian Writers' Conference, which was sponsored by Faith Today magazine and its publisher, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Faith Today continued to sponsor the award until 2004.

The Word Guild assumed responsibility for administering the Tarr Award in 2002. The award was enhanced to augment the engraved plaque with a $500 cash prize beginning in 2004. The Tarr Award been sponsored since 2005 by Tyndale University College and Seminary, Toronto.

If you would like to nominate someone for this award, please send a letter indicating who you are nominating and giving details why/how you feel this person meets the requirements. Your letter should also include brief background information about yourself and your relationship, if any, to the person you are nominating. Feel free to enclose any supporting documentation, such as clippings, reviews, the nominee's CV, etc. Nominations are not restricted to members of The Word Guild.

Nominations may be submitted at any time for consideration for the 2008 award. Send your nominations to: Tarr Award, The Word Guild, Box 487, Markham ON L3P 3R1.

Tarr Award winner Margaret Avison passes away

Margaret Avison, to whom The Word Guild presented the Leslie K. Tarr Award in 2005 for outstanding contribution to Christian writing and publishing in Canada, passed away on July 31, 2007, in her 90th year. Avison twice won the Governor General's Award for poetry, and was an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2003, at the age of 85, Avison won the $40,000 Griffin Poetry Prize for her work Concrete and Wild Carrot; the judges called Margaret "a national treasure." ^{_{(Margaret Avison in June, 2005, with award presenter, Earl Davey, left, Provost of Tyndale University College and Seminary; photo Jane Twohey/The Word Guild)}}

Margaret gave a rare, two-hour interview to journalist/photographer Sue Careless shortly after winning the Griffin Prize, in which she talked about her conversion and her Christian faith. Sue, who is a professional member of The Word Guild, generously offered to share the article and photo, which originally were published in July 2003 in ChristianWeek. Margaret's poem "Leading Questions" is included.