Joel Thomas Hynes is the winner of the 2017 BMO Winterset Award for his book We’ll All Be Burnt In Our Beds Some Night. The award, which celebrates excellence in Newfoundland and Labrador writing, was presented today at a ceremony at Government House in St. John’s.

The two other finalists were Bridget Canning for The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jayne (Breakwater Books, St. John’s, NL) and Wayne Johnston for First Snow, Last Light (Alfred A. Knopf Canada; imprint of Penguin Random House Ltd., Toronto, ON).

The BMO Winterset Award is composed of a partnership between the BMO Financial Group and those involved from the start – ArtsNL and the project’s founder, writer Richard Gwyn, OC. The prize awarded to the annual winner is $12,500, while the finalists each receive $3,000. It is one of Atlantic Canada’s richest literary prizes.

We’ll All Be Burnt In Our Beds Some Night (Harper Perennial; imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., Toronto, ON) was one of 31 works by Newfoundland and Labrador authors (either native-born or resident) that were submitted by publishers from across the country. Books in any genre, published in 2016 were eligible. The jury consisted of Donna Morrissey, Chad Pelley, and Paul Rowe.

The BMO Winterset Award honours the memory of Sandra Fraser Gwyn, St. John’s-born social historian, prize-winning author, who did so much to promote a national awareness of the arts of this province. Her husband, journalist and author Richard Gwyn, OC, established the award in 2000. It is named after the historic house on Winter Avenue in St. John’s where Sandra grew up.

*Press Release per Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council