Dayne Ogilvie Prize

The Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to an emerging Canadian writer who is part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer community. It is one of two literary awards in Canada serving the LGBTQ community, alongside the Blue Metropolis Violet Prize for established writers.[1]

The award was originally established by artist Robin Pacific as the Dayne Ogilvie Grant in memory of Dayne Ogilvie, a book editor, writer, arts manager and former managing editor of Xtra![2] who died in October 2006.[3] The award was renamed from a grant to a prize in 2012.

Dayne Ogilvie Prize winners Farzana Doctor, Amber Dawn, Debra Anderson

Established in 2007, the C$5,000 prize is not presented for a specific work,[4] although writers must have published at least one book of fiction or poetry to be eligible.[4] The winner is selected by an independent jury of three members, and presented annually in June. Originally the award was presented in conjunction with Pride Toronto,[4] although in recent years it has expanded to different venues and cities.[5]

Beginning in the prize's second year, the award introduced a preliminary shortlist of two or three writers. The writer or writers not selected as the final winner of the prize are presented with an Honour of Distinction, worth C$500 if one writer is named or C$250 each if two writers are named. Authors who are awarded the Honour of Distinction remain eligible for the primary award in future years,[4] although to date no writer who has been awarded an Honour of Distinction has subsequently been named the primary winner. In 2019, Casey Plett became the first Honour of Distinction recipient in the award's history to be renominated.[5]