Every February, Taste Canada / Saveurs du Canada sends out a call for submissions for Canadian-authored culinary books and cookbooks in French and English, published the previous year. All books must be written by Canadian citizens and fit into one of five different categories: Culinary Narratives, General, Single Subject, Regional Cultural and Health, Lifestyle or Special Diet.

Detailed submission guidelines are posted once the call for submissions has begun and will remain on the website for the duration of the submissions process, which is one month. The submission process is all completed online.

Self-published authors and publishers can submit more than one title, but each must have its own unique ISBN number. The cost for each book submission is $150 and authors/publishers must submit seven print copies of each English book and five print copies of each French book.

For more information, contact Jo-Anne Lauzer:, Chair of the Awards Committee. (awardschair@tastecanada.org)

Judging Process

The Taste Canada / Saveurs du Canada Culinary and Cookbook Awards jury is comprised of volunteers from Canada’s culinary profession appointed by an independent selection committee; each judge abides by our Conflict of Interest Policy. Taste Canada staff, contractors, Advisory Board members, Category Coordinators, Selection Committee, sponsors, donors and spokespersons have no influence on the judging results, and in no way determine the Award winners.

Every qualifying book submitted will undergo at least one round of the judging process, with a maximum of five books per category making the shortlist after the first round of judging is complete. All books that make the shortlist will have recipes tested and scored by the judges. Following the second round, Taste Canada will honour up to twenty jury-selected books, five Gold and five Silver in English and five Gold and five Silver in French.

There are three judges for each award category; there are five categories in English and five in French. Depending on number of books entered, some panels of judges may judge more than one category.

Judges, who are all appointed by an independent Selection Committee, are food professionals, such as journalists, food writers, authors, chefs, culinary instructors, home economists, registered dietitians and other culinary experts, from across Canada. Judges are volunteers and are not compensated monetarily or in-kind.

The judges follow detailed judging criteria outlined and customized for each category. Scores are verified by the Awards Committee after each round. A Category Coordinator is appointed by the Selection Committee to facilitate the judging process; coordinators are volunteers and are not compensated monetarily or in-kind.

Conflict of Interest Policy

No Category Coordinator or judge should have any connection whatsoever to any book submitted in his or her category for the current judging process.

In order to protect the integrity of the judging process, no one can serve on an Awards Jury who is:

• A representative of a publishing company
• A representative of a public relations firm that promotes culinary books and/or their authors
• An author nominated in the current year for an award
• A writer who has published any reviews of any of the books being considered for an award in the category he or she is judging
• A writer who has contributed editorial material to any of the books being considered for an award in the category he or she is judging
• Mentioned in the Acknowledgements by the author in his or her category