See the smart new sticker in the top left corner of the cover of my book, Legacy of Trees: Purposeful Wandering in Vancouver’s Stanley Park? Last night, my story of the trees of Stanley Park received an Honourable Mention in the 2020 British Columbia Lieutenant Governor’s Historical Writing Awards. What a delight.

This Honourable Mention award was announced at the BC Historical Federation’s Gala last evening, June 5, an online event. People wore party hats, sported images of fireworks behind them, and had their favourite beverage on hand.

My takeaway is that the writing of history comprises observing, noticing, questioning, researching, listening, and being still long enough to process the anecdotes, photographs, heartaches, maps, successes, memorials, and the stories behind the stories. An absorbing book can be the result of many years of processing before its shape becomes clear.

Congratulations to

• 1^st prize winner, Catherine Clement with Chinatown through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow, self-published
• 2^nd prize winner, Deborah Griffiths, Christine Dickinson, Judy Hagen, and Catherine Siba with Step into Wilderness: A Pictorial History of Outdoor Exploration in and around the Comox Valley, Harbour Publishing
• 3^rd prize winner, Lara Campbell, A Great Revolutionary Wave: Women and the Vote in British Columbia, UBC Press

Join with me in applauding BC’s historical writers and the businesses that support them, from book publishers to bookstores. Some of the questions we historical writers are asking ourselves are these: Who are we? Why we are here? and Can we use the understanding of our past to decide where we are going?