The ReLit Awards (short for "Regarding Literature, Reinventing Literature, Relighting Literature"; ) were founded in 2000 as an alternative to the big-money prizes. These awards are open to books published by independent Canadian literary publishers across Canada. On June 21, 2003, at a solstice bonfire in Patricia Bay--just outside of Victoria on Vancouver Island--in the company of writers and readers, Sean Johnston was announced as the winner of a ReLit Award for his debut collection of short stories, A Day Does Not Go By (Nightwood Editions, $16.95). Johnston, who was born and raised in Saskatchewan but has lived in Vancouver for the past two years, beat out other short fiction nominees Emily Schultz, Black Coffee Night (Insomniac Press), Richard Cumyn, The Obstacle Course (Oberon), and Corey Frost, My Own Devices (Conundrum Press). Peter Darbyshire won the ReLit Award in the novel category for Please (Raincoast Books), and Margaret Christako took home the poetry prize for her volume Excessive Love Prostheses (Coach House).

[BCBW 2003]