Heritage House is pleased to announce that A Matter of Confidence: The Inside Story of the Political Battle for BC, by Rob Shaw and Richard Zussman, has been shortlisted for the 2019 Hubert Evans Prize for Non-Fiction.
Written over a five-month period in the summer and fall of 2017, A Matter of Confidence tracks key moments and personalities from the tightly fought 2017 BC election. The heated race set new precedents in BC politics, including a seven-week government impasse while the parties contested the results of the vote, and the rise of an historic power-sharing agreement between the NDP and BC Green Party.
In commenting on the book, co-author Rob Shaw said A Matter of Confidence gives readers “an insider’s look at the over-confidence that fuelled the rise and fall of Christy Clark’s premiership and the historic non-confidence vote that toppled the BC Liberal government after a sixteen-year reign.”
Shaw said the authors were inspired to write the book by the experience of having a front-row seat to many of the hidden stories behind the news that “could be built upon to provide a rare glimpse of what actually happened.”
Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer praised A Matter of Confidence as a “vivid, definitive account of an unprecedented year in BC politics, written by two of the best reporters on the beat,” while the Globe and Mail called it “a Canadian politics must-read.”
Rob Shaw has covered the BC legislature since 2009, first as the legislative reporter for the Victoria Times Colonist and currently as the legislative columnist for the Vancouver Sun. His stories have appeared in local and national newspapers through the Postmedia News chain.
Richard Zussman is a legislative reporter with Global BC. Before joining Global he held positions with City TV in Edmonton and the Sun News Network and was a provincial affairs reporter for CBC British Columbia. He is currently president of the Legislative Press Gallery in Victoria.
Established in 1985, the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize is awarded each year to the best non-fiction book by a BC resident. The prize is one of seven categories awarded by the BC and Yukon Book Prizes.
The full list of categories and finalists for the 2019 BC Book Prizes can be viewed here.
Information about A Matter of Confidence can be viewed here.
The winners will be announced at the BC Book Prize Gala on Saturday, May 11, at the Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront in Vancouver.