TORONTO, Feb. 28 /CNW/ - The Winner of The 2005 Charles Taylor Prize for
Literary Non-Fiction is Charles Montgomery (Vancouver) for his book, "The Last
Heathen: Encounters with Ghosts and Ancestors in Melanesia", published by
Douglas & McIntyre. The prize of $25,000.00 was awarded at a luncheon at the
Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto. For the third consecutive year, the event was
broadcast live on CBC Radio One's "Ontario Today" with host Alan Neal.

The Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction was founded to
commemorate the life and work of the late Charles Taylor, one of Canada's
foremost essayists and a prominent member of the Canadian literary community.

In 1892, the Bishop of Tasmania set sail for Melanesia with the intent of
rescuing islanders from lives of fear, black magic, and cannibalism. Over 100
years later, Charles Montgomery, the bishop's great grandson, follows his
route through the South Pacific, seeking out the spirits and myths his
missionary forebear had sought to destroy.

Of the book, the jury said: "Charles Montgomery's The Last Heathen --
part travel book, part family history -- engages with the religious fervour of
missionaries, mystics, gods, and believers in Melanesia. What begins as a
retracing of his great grandfather's footsteps becomes an irresistible
adventure in discovery, a journey into rough terrain."

Charles Montgomery is a freelance journalist whose themes include travel,
the environment, globalization, and myth. His essays and feature stories have
appeared in Outside, Explore, Canadian Geographic, Western Living, enRoute,
The National Post, Seattle Magazine, The South China Morning Post, and other
magazines and newspapers in Canada, the United States, and Hong Kong. He has
won four Western Magazine Awards, a silver National Magazine Award (2003) and
the American Society of Travel Writer's Lowell Thomas Silver Award.

The jurors for The 2005 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction are
Robert Kroetsch (Winnipeg), Bill New (Vancouver), and Jan Walter (Kingston).
They selected "The Last Heathen: Encounters with Ghosts and Ancestors in
Melanesia" from among 96 books, submitted by 28 publishers, from all across
Canada. Books in the genre of literary non-fiction, published between
December 1, 2003 and November 30, 2004, were eligible if authored by a
Canadian citizen or landed immigrant, and widely available in Canada.

The trustees of the Charles Taylor Foundation are Michael Bradley
(Toronto), Robert Bringhurst (Vancouver), Judith Mappin (Montreal), David
Staines (Ottawa), and Noreen Taylor (Toronto).