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Hackmatack 2025-26 Winners!

2026 Hackmatack winner photos with book covers.

Here are the winners of the 2026 Hackmatack Awards  

ENGLISH FICTION (a tie)
Songs in the Sea, written and illustrated by Pheilm Martin (Breakwater Books)
AND
Teddy vs. the Fuzzy Doom, written and illustrated by Braden Hallett (Annick Press)

FRENCH FICTION (a tie)
Fou du hockey – le camp d’entraînement by Alain M. Bergeron, illustrated by Caroline Soucy (Auzou Quebec)
AND
L’horrible cabane dans l’arbre by Mika, illustrated by Sabrina Gendron (Boomerang Éditeur Jeunesse)

ENGLISH NONFICTION
She is Hope for Wildlife: The Story of Wildlife Rescuer Hope Swinimer by Wanda Baxter, illustrated by Leah Boudreau (Nimbus Publishing)

FRENCH NONFICTION
Le fan club des microbes written and illustrated by Elise Gravel (Éditions les 400 coups)

We want to say thank you to the following organizations who support our program year-round: New Brunswick Public Library Service, Halifax Public Libraries, Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, Atlantic Provinces Library Association, Prince Edward Island Public Library Service, Nova Scotia Public Libraries, and the Centre for Equitable Library Access.

And many thanks to Halifax Central Library for all their help with the 2026 ceremony!

Read the full news release

Watch the 2026 award ceremony video

2026-27 Shortlisted Books

We are excited to present another excellent list of great Canadian books. Registration will open for our 2026-27 program in September. Congratulations to all the finalists!

40 French and English book covers.

ENGLISH FICTION

  • Black Boy Black Boy
  • Butter Tart
  • The City of Lost Cats
  • Death by Whoopee Cushion
  • No Purchase Necessary
  • One Beaded Earring
  • Queenie Jean is in Trouble Again
  • Ra! Ta! Ma! Cue!
  • A Storm Unleashed
  • Touching Grass

FRENCH FICTION

  • 100% soccer : du rêve au terrain
  • L’agente 00 Discrète
  • Chloé et le secret de la sorcière
  • Les élèves de madame Chapeau : Oksana
  • Maximichien et les facteurs techno : Drôle de colis
  • Mille morts
  • Odeur de muffin
  • Les passeurs du zodiaque : Les voyageurs
  • Tête pleine de feuilles
  • Les voyageurs de par-en-bas

ENGLISH NONFICTION

  • Burst Your Bubble!
  • The Buzz on Wild Bees
  • Cracking the Code
  • Feeling Your Feelings
  • I Am Wind
  • Meet Fredrick Banting
  • Octopus Ocean
  • Plant Attack!
  • Star Sailor: The Story of Words
  • The True Story of Vanilla

FRENCH NONFICTION

  • Chante l’oiseau, chante
  • Civilisations : Histoires d’aliments voyageurs
  • La dépoussiéreuse de crimes : Les chemins de fer hantés
  • DGenerate : La lutte expliquée aux enfants
  • Ensemble : un livre sur la communauté
  • Jardine avec Daphnée
  • Laisse-moi t’expliquer… ma vie en famille d’accueil
  • Les oiseaux du Québec
  • Raconte-moi Juraj Slafkovský
  • La revanche du moisi

Read all about the books on our Shortlist page.

CELACentre for Equitable Library Access

You don’t have to be in a Hackmatack reading group to enjoy the books. And you don’t have to be a conventional reader. 

The Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) is an accessible library service, providing books and other materials to Canadians of all ages with print disabilities.

We’re happy to tell you that many of the Hackmatack titles are available for free in accessible formats for kids with print disabilities. 

You can get these titles from your public library, or through the CELA website.

We’d like to thank CELA for the wonderful work they do. Their collection has more than 700,000 professionally produced titles, with an emphasis on Canadian authors and stories, and favourites for kids and teens.

See all the Hackmatack accessible titles on our CELA page.

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