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The esteemed Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival has revealed the distinguished category award recipients for its 2025 Mountain Book Competition. This annual event honors exceptional works in mountain and adventure writing, film, and photography, with the literary component being a significant highlight. While the ultimate Grand Prize will be disclosed during the festival, the individual category champions have already been recognized for their outstanding contributions.

Celebrated Authors and Their Award-Winning Works at the 2025 Banff Mountain Book Competition

On October 17, 2025, the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival announced the initial winners of its highly anticipated Book Competition. Two authors received Special Jury Mentions: Vineeta Muni for \"Across the Himalaya,\" a gripping memoir recounting her experience on the 1997 all-female trans-Himalayan expedition, and Robert Macfarlane for \"Is a River Alive?\", an exploration of waterways and their profound significance. The Climbing Literature award was bestowed upon Dave MacLeod for \"Moving the Needle,\" a testament to an ordinary climber's extraordinary journey through the sport's toughest traditional routes. Craig Childs' \"The Wild Dark: Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light\" secured the Environmental Literature prize, inspiring readers through a stargazing bicycle adventure in Nevada. Caroline Van Hemert received the Mountain Article prize for \"Fleet-Winged Ghosts of Greenland,\" a captivating magazine piece on the peregrine falcon. Feryal Ali-Gauhar's novel, \"An Abundance of Wild Roses,\" a mythic environmental tale set in Pakistan's Black Mountains, won the Mountain Fiction & Poetry award. The Jon Whyte Award for nonfiction went to Cassidy Randall for \"Thirty Below: The Harrowing and Heroic Story of the First All-Women’s Ascent of Denali,\" a powerful account of an all-female expedition. Will Herman's \"Northern Horizons\" was celebrated in the guidebook category for its stunning photography, and Jon Waterman's \"Into the Thaw: Witnessing Wonder Amid the Arctic Climate Crisis\" earned the Adventure Travel prize, offering a poignant look at climate change through an adventurer's lens. These authors now await the Grand Prize announcement in November, along with their cash prizes and recognition.

This year's Banff Mountain Book Competition winners collectively demonstrate the breadth and depth of adventure and environmental storytelling. From harrowing personal memoirs of high-altitude traverses to insightful explorations of our planet's ecosystems and the human spirit's resilience, these works inspire readers to look beyond the ordinary, fostering a deeper appreciation for both the natural world and the narratives that emerge from it. The emphasis on diverse voices and critical environmental themes underscores the festival's commitment to promoting literature that not only entertains but also enlightens and provokes thought about our place in the wild and our responsibility towards it.