Local authors nominated for Jeanne Clark Award

Local authors have been nominated for this year’s Jeanne Clarke Awards.

The awards, which are in their 37th year, were established by the Prince George Library Board in 1985 in memory of former library board chair Jeanne Clarke. 

 A group of Smithers women are in the running for the Jeanne Clarke History Award for their book A Mountain of Change, 1960-2020.

Lynn MacNeil, Jeanette Malkow, Connie Scott and Debi Lyn Smith wrote the book about Hudson Bay Mountain and it highlights the 60 ski and 30 snowboard years on the mountain. 

Meanwhile, another local author has also been nominated. 

Geoff Mynett, received a nomination for the award for his book Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884-1914. 

Mynett is not new to the awards, he won the award in 2021.

The award is presented annually to individuals or groups for outstanding contributions in the preservation and promotion of local and regional history in the categories of publication and service. 

Here is a full list of nominees:

• A Mountain of Change, 1960-2020: Hudson Bay Mountain, Smithers, BC by Lynn MacNeil, Jeanette Malkow, Connie Scott, and Debi Lynn Smith.
• Wagon Road North: The Saga of the Cariboo Gold Rush by: Art Downs
• British Columbia in Flames: Stories from a Blazing Summer by Claudia Cornwall
• Aggie and Mudgy: The Journey of Tow Kaska Dena Children by Wendy Proverbs
• In My Own Moccasins:  A Memoir of Resilience by Helen Knott
• Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884-1914 by Geoff Mynett

The award will be handed out on March 13.

Jeanne Clarke was a founding member of the Prince George Public Library’s Local History Committee, and played a key role in establishing the library’s local history collection.