Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour

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The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour (usually the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, or just: The Stephen Leacock Award) is an annual award presented to the best work of humorous literature written in English by a Canadian. The award is a tribute to well-known Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock (1869–1944), and is accompanied by a cash prize of $10 000 (CAD). It is presented each year during a banquet ceremony in Leacock’s hometown of Orillia, Ontario.

The Leacock Associates is the organising body behind the award, and was founded in 1946 by a loose group of Leacock’s friends and supporters. Each year the Associates’ board of directors appoints a panel of suitable judges from around the country, who select from submitted works a short list of five books. It is one of the oldest literary prizes in Canada, and is the only one awarded to a work of humour.

The cash prize began in 1970, as a $2500 award co-sponsored by Manulife Insurance and the Hudson's Bay Company. The following decades saw gradual increases in the amount of the prize under a number of donors, reaching its current value of $10 000 in 2002, sponsored by the TD Bank Financial Group.

In 1969 the Associates established a quarterly newsletter called The Newspacket to commemorate the centenary of the Author’s birth. The publication prints excerpts from nominated books, and is itself a showcase for Canadian humour writing. In 1977 the group established a Student Award for Humour, which honours young writers from secondary and post-secondary levels.

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