It recognizes the best debut short fiction collection by a Canadian author in English language.
[1] The annual prize was founded by John Gleed in honour of his late wife, the Canadian writer Danuta Gleed, whose favourite literary genre was short fiction, and is presented by the Writers' Union of Canada.
The incomes of her One for the Chosen, a collection of short stories published posthumously in 1997 by BuschekBooks and released by Frances Itani and Susan Zettell, assist in funding the award.
[4] The varying jury is composed of Canadian writers, literary critics and publishers, such as Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Robin McGrath and Hal Niedzviecki in 2012 or Douglas Glover, J. Jill Robinson and Claire Holden Rothman in 2011.
However, the 2010 judges called the winning work Wax Boats by Sarah Roberts "truly remarkable," speaking of her versatility and her convincing writing in every conceivable voice, and likening her to Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town for the modern age.