VANCOUVER - One of the largest prizes in Canadian writing has just grown even larger. The value of the British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction has been increased by more than half - to $40,000 from $25,000 - making it the richest literary non-fiction prize in Canada.

"The award's higher value reflects the growing prestige of this national award program and of the calibre of non-fiction produced by outstanding writers and publishers today across the country," said Premier Gordon Campbell, who is on the board of the British Columbia Achievement Foundation, which presents the prize.

The annual award, which recognizes Canada's finest writers of literary non-fiction, has also changed its schedule. Submissions for the fourth award are due by Aug. 31, 2007. The shortlist will be announced in November 2007, and the final award presentation ceremony will take place in early 2008.

Previous winners of the British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction include Noah Richler for This Is My Country, What's Yours? (2007), Rebecca Godfrey for Under the Bridge (2006), and Patrick Lane for There Is a Season (2005).

Publishers are invited to nominate authors for the fourth annual British Columbia prize by submitting non-fiction titles of outstanding literary merit by Aug. 31, 2007. Eligible books will be published between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2007. Those not published by Aug. 31 can be submitted as bound page proofs. An independent jury panel will select a shortlist of up to four books, one of which will receive the award in early 2008.

The British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction is presented by the British Columbia Achievement Foundation, an independent foundation established and endowed by the Province of British Columbia to celebrate excellence in the arts, humanities and community service.

For more information on the British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction and on submission guidelines, please visit www.bcachievement.com.