Giller Gets A Backer
by Nathalie Atkinson, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 9/22/2005
Apparently, bankers do read. In Toronto this morning, arts philanthropist Jack Rabinovitch, founder of The Giller Prize, and Rick Waugh, president and CEO of Scotiabank, the country's second-largest financial institution, announced that the bank will become the first-ever co-sponsor of the Canada's most prestigious literary award.
Rabinovitch created the Giller in 1994 in honor of his late wife, literary critic Doris Giller, and past winners have included Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood and Mordecai Richler. It is awarded annually to the best Canadian novel or collection of short stories written in English at a lavish black-tie soirée held at the Four Seasons and telecast live (in its first 10 years, 2.5 million Giller-nominated books were sold, with over C$60 million dollars generated in book sales).
While the corporate alliance's multi-year commitment will ensure the prize's longevity, it remains to be seen how it may affect eligibility for government funding, specifically from the Department of Canadian Heritage, which has provided limited funding in the past. In the meantime, Bay Street’s deep pockets are doubling the prize purse from C$25,000 C$50,000. But with corporatization also comes a name change, as Olympus Fashion Week and The Man Booker well know: the prize will now be known as The Scotiabank Giller.|
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