Winner of the 38th annual business literary award to receive $30,000 prize
Toronto, ON October 18, 2023 – Deirdre McMurdy, Adjudicator and Chair of the Jury for the 38th annual National Business Book Award, today announced the three finalists for the annual literary award. Presented by Miles S. Nadal, the $30,000 prize will be awarded to the author demonstrating the most outstanding Canadian business-related writing, research, and originality. The winner will be announced at a live, in-person event on November 8, 2023.
National Business Book Award authors have a tradition of identifying and documenting current issues, themes, and trends in the business world, and continue to do so. Leadership, post pandemic advice, overcoming diversity, innovation, climate change, risk, and finance are some of the key topics addressed in this year’s book nominees.
The 2023 National Book Award finalists are:
Unprecedented – Canada’s Top CEOs on Leadership During COVID-19
Compiled and Edited by Steve Mayer and Andrew Willis
Signal, an imprint of McClelland & Stewart
A compilation of exclusive, first-person essays on leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic from 29 CEOs from Canada’s most iconic and largest companies, chronicles corporate survival in the face of Covid. With stories across diverse sectors – nursing homes, grocery stores, airlines, hotels, pharmacies, and shopping malls – each CEO shares his/her story about the initial response and how it was refined over the pandemic. These individual stories have enduring historic significance as a guide in crisis management.
Steve Mayer is an investment banker with Greenhill Canada and Andrew Willis is an award-winning columnist with The Globe and Mail.
No Bootstraps When You’re Barefoot: My Rise from a Jamaican Plantation Shack to the Boardrooms of Bay Street
Wes Hall
Random House Canada
An extraordinary and inspiring memoir, Wes Hall shares his personal story of growing up in abject poverty amid domestic violence in rural Jamaica and his journey to the boardrooms of Bay Street, where he became a powerful entrepreneur, philanthropist, and change-maker. This biography recounts Hall’s determination to achieve personal and financial success, as well as his work in philanthropy, advocacy, and social justice.
Wes Hall is the executive chairman and founder of Kingsdale Advisors, which provides shareholder advisory services, and is the recipient of six Honorary Doctorates. He is the founder of BlackNorth Initiative.
The Next Age of Uncertainty: How the World Can Adapt to a Riskier Future
Stephen Poloz
Allen Lane Canada/Penguin Random House Canada
Former Governor of the Bank of Canada, Stephen Poloz shares an explanation of how the central bank works and why it does what it does – especially in an age of chronic uncertainty. He skillfully argues that past crises from the Victorian Depression in the late 1800s to the more recent downturn in 2008, gave a hint of what is in store for us in the decades ahead. He looks at this uncertainty in the context of five distinct forces that impact the economy both individually and in concert with one another over the long term. Stephen Poloz is a leading economist with over 40 years of experience in economic and investment research, forecasting, banking, and policymaking. He was the Governor of the Bank of Canada for seven years.
The 2023 NBBA winner is selected by an independent jury which evaluates each submission based on originality, relevance, excellence of writing, thoroughness of research and depth of analysis. The jury is chaired by Deirdre McMurdy, Peerage Capital. The jury includes Anna Porter, author, and publisher; Bobby Siu, PhD, professor, management consultant and 2022 NBBA shortlisted author, and Senator Pamela Wallin.
Past winners include Adam Miron, Sébastien St-Louis & Julie Beun, Stephen R. Bown, Mark Carney, Jeff Rubin, Gordon Pitts, Naomi Klein, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Daniel Levitin, and Andrea Benoit. For a full list of past winners, visit: www.nbbaward.com
Canada’s National Business Book Award is generously sponsored by Presenting Sponsor Miles S. Nadal, Peerage Realty Partners, Stephen J.R. Smith, The Globe and Mail, and The Walrus.
Follow us on Twitter @NBBAward and visit www.nbbaward.com for more information.
For copies of the books, author photos and interviews please contact:
Mary Ann Freedman, Freedman & Associates Inc.
Tel: 416-523-8681
Email: maf@freedmanandassociates.com
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