John Vaillant's first book, The Golden Spruce, about a former logger named Grant Hadwin who cut down K'iid K'iyaas, a "Golden"; Sitka Spruce on Haida Gwaii, in 1997, received several major book awards and was shortlisted for British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.

Five years later, at a lavish free luncheon for invited guests, Vaillant received Premier Campbell's B.C. National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for his second book, an investigation of events in Siberia regarding a rare tiger that was killing people in Russia's Primorye Territory.

Like Golden Spruce, Vaillant's The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival (Knopf $34.95) uses a newsworthy story as the basis for an expansive look at conservation and ecology, revealing atavistic links between technological man and the wilderness.

Vaillant's face did not register pleasure or surprise when his name was announced as the winner during the three-hour ceremony. With sincere humility, he told the audience he had decided in advance: "I am going to feel wholehearted for whoever wins.";

The event featured erudite and sophisticated dissertations on each of the four nominated titles, delivered by Daphne Bramham, Douglas Todd, Michael Levine and Wade Davis. Publisher Scott McIntyre, as one of the administrative board members, presented outgoing Premier Campbell with a set of leather bound copies of all the award winners since 2003. Campbell received a standing ovation from nearly everyone present.

This year all four nominated titles for the $40,000 prize were published by Random House / Knopf of Toronto, including Stevie Cameron's courageous, 768-page On The Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver's Missing Women.

Tiger 978-0-30739-714-0; Farm 978-0-676-97584-0

[BCBW 2011]