WATERLOO – Entries are being sought for the 19th annual Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. The $10,000 award recognizes and encourages a Canadian writer who has published a first or second book with a Canadian locale and/or significance, and is the only award of its kind for this genre offered in Canada.

The 2009 Edna Staebler Award is open to works of creative non-fiction published in the 2008 calendar year and distinguished by first-hand research, well-crafted interpretive writing and a creative use of language or approach to the subject matter. Self-published books are not eligible.

A short list will be selected by an independent judging panel and will be announced in September. The winner will be announced in November.

Entries must be received by June 15, 2009 to be considered. For further information, or to obtain an entry form and a complete list of submission guidelines, please visit: www.wlu.ca/staebleraward.

Editor and essayist Bruce Serafin was posthumously awarded last year’s Edna Staebler Award for Stardust, a collection of essays by the author published in June 2007. The eclectic collection ranges from the author’s personal experiences as a post office employee to commentary on literary and intellectual luminaries such as Roland Barthes and Northrop Frye.

Established and endowed by writer and literary journalist Edna Staebler, the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction is administered by Wilfrid Laurier University, the only university in Canada to bestow a nationally recognized literary award. Staebler, who died in 2006, was an award-winning journalist and a member of the Order of Canada.