Writers' Trust of Canada
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Awarding the top Canadian nonfiction of the year

Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction

Highlights

GuidelinesPrize History

Prize

A companion prize to the Weston International Award
Winner $75,000
Finalists $5,000

Winner Announcement

Thursday, November 13, 2025

Questions? Please contact:

Devon Jackson, Associate Program Director
djackson@writerstrust.com

About the Prize

The Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction is given annually for excellence in the category of literary nonfiction, which includes essays, history, biography, memoir, commentary, and criticism. The winning book demonstrates a distinctive voice as well as a persuasive and compelling command of tone, narrative, style, and technique. This award has been sponsored by The Hon. Hilary M. Weston since 2011 and is now supported by The Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation. Beginning in 2023, the prize purse has increased from $60,000 to $75,000.

Writers' Trust of Canada deeply mourns the passing of The Hon. Hilary M. Weston C.M., C.V.O., O.Ont. on August 2, 2025. Mrs. Weston and the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation have been staunch supporters of Writers’ Trust since 2011. We are honoured that her legacy will live on through the presentation of her namesake prizes, including the Weston International Award on September 15, and the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction on November 13.

2025 Winner

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead

Alchemy

Jury Citation

“Nibi, or water, maps our lives, encompasses all life. Nibi is elemental, medicinal, necessary, sacred, and ubiquitous. In her radical exploration of water, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson topples anthropocentrism and conventional ontologies to reveal water in all its forms as a powerful decolonizing force that connects us all. A snowflake bonds with a snowbank in a process called sintering, creating a physical bond that doesn’t destroy either; can humans learn to bond with one another and with the land to create resilient and interdependent possibilities? Simpson’s brilliant and sintering weave of story, research, and Nishnaabeg teachings offers a generous and transformative perspective on world-building. Theory of Water shows us how to reimagine life as we know it, embodying hope.”—2025 Hilary Weston Prize Jury (Matthew R. Morris, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, and Niigaan Sinclair) 

2025 Finalists

Jury

A jury composed of writers Matthew R. Morris, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, and Niigaan Sinclair selected this year’s award finalists from 101 titles representing 62 Canadian publishing imprints.

Winning the Weston Prize was like having a huge burst of fireworks go off in the middle of my life — an explosion of adrenaline and joy.

– Candace Savage

2012 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction winner

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Prize Guidelines