The Prince George Public Library Board announced the winners for the 38th annual Jeanne Clarke Awards at a presentation on Sunday, February 26th, 2023 at the Prince George Public Library’s Bob Harkin branch.
We are delighted to announce that Liz Bryan won the 2023 Jeanne Clarke Publication Award for Local History for her latest book, Adventure Roads of BC’s Northwest Heartland.
At the awards ceremony, Liz Bryan sent in a recording as she could not be there in person. She said: “I have been exploring BC for many years — mostly along the backroads— and finding, not only delight in the amazing scenery but also a way back into time. The history of BC unfolds along every First Nations trail and in their villages; then there are fur trading posts, gold rush roads and camps, old churches, pioneer ranchers and settlements, mines, and railways, and forgotten graveyards. There is history and wonder everywhere. I hope that my books and photographs encourage people stuck in the big cities and wired into the technology of our times, to seek adventures for themselves. To put their footprints where others have long trod. Again, my thanks, and keep travelling.” (video posted on “Jeanne Clarke awards handed out“, Prince George Daily News, February 27, 2023.)
The Jeanne Clarke Award was established by the Prince George Public Library board in 1985, in memory of Jeanne Clarke, a former board chair who served on the library board from 1978 to 1984. Jeanne Clarke was a founding member of the Prince George Public Library’s Local History Committee, and played a key role in establishing the Prince George Public Library’s local history collection. In 1993, the library board added a Publication category to the award to recognize authors for producing a work of local history in addition to those recognized for Service in support of local history.