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We are delighted to share that our three time winner, Marcello Di Cintio has won the 2026 W.O. Mitchell Book Prize for his non-fiction book, Precarious: The Lives of Migrant Workers. Precarious examines the resilience and vulnerability of Canada's migrant labor force, offering an in-depth look at the workers who sustain the country's economy.
The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize is awarded in honour of acclaimed Calgary writer W.O. Mitchell and recognizes literary achievement by Calgary authors. This marks the third time Di Cintio has won the W.O. Mitchell Prize, following his previous victories for Walls and Pay No Heed to the Rockets.
Di Cintio's books and magazine stories have won three Dave Greber Freelance Writers Awards, five Alberta literary Awards, a National Magazine award, the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and three Alberta Magazine Awards. Driven: The Secret Lives of Taxi Drivers (2021), was a Globe and Mail Book of the Year.
Di Cintio’s writing has also appeared in publications such as The International New York Times, The Walrus, Maclean's, Canadian Geographic and Afar. Di Cintio has served as a writer-in-residence at the Calgary Public Library, the University of Calgary and the Palestine Writing workshop. DiCintio is a member of the Writer's Union of Canada, PEN Canada and the Writer's Guild of Alberta. He was the 2009-2010 Markin-Flanagan Canadian Writer-in-Residence at the University of Calgary.
“ Let’s take a moment and thank the talented authors who provide us with worlds to disappear into, problems we can solve between pages, wonderful characters we adore and villains we love to despise.
— Jamie Davis
Vince Beiser, 2023 Book Award Winner
Vince Beiser is an award-winning journalist and author of “The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization.” The book has been translated into five languages, was a finalist for a PEN America award and a California Book Award, and spawned a TED talk.
Carly Lewis, 2023 Magazine Winner
Carly Lewis has been a freelance journalist since 2012. Her work has appeared at The New York Times, Wired, the Globe and Mail, New York Magazine, Elle, The Walrus, Maisonneuve, The Atlantic, Hazlitt, The Guardian and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor.
Eva Holland, 2021 Magazine Award Winner
Eva has been a full time freelancer for the past fourteen years. Much of her work focuses on the environment, especially the intersection of wilderness and society.
Sally Armstrong, 2017 Magazine Award Winner
Human rights activist, journalist and award-winning author Sally Armstrong has covered stories about women and girls in zones of conflict all over the world.
Brian Brennan, 2004 Book Award Winner
Mr. Brennan's winning submission was for the chapter What's in a Name?-1896, Ha Ling Finally Gets his Due Recognition, from his book, Romancing the Rockies, published by Fifth House Ltd., a Fitzhenry and Whiteside Company.