Group of young people stand in three rows on steps and smile.
Emerging Historians, Heritage Toronto Awards, October 17, 2022. Image: Ashley Duffus
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Embracing change by connecting to the past
September 5, 2023 (Toronto, Ont.) – Heritage Toronto is pleased to announce the 47 nominees for the 48th Annual Heritage Toronto Awards. The wide-ranging slate of nominees speaks to an evolving understanding of heritage where personal lived experiences harmonize with creative expressions and architecture. What all these nominated projects share is an aspiration and confidence that in doing the work, we can envision and achieve a better future for our city.
 
Nominees are being recognized for their extraordinary contributions to Toronto's heritage in three categories: Public History, Book, and Built Heritage. 
THE NOMINEES

Vying for the Public History award are 15 nominees including: Stories and Storefronts, an art exhibition on the culture, history, and geography of immigrant shopkeeping that featured the work of four artists who activated shop windows on the Danforth with sculpture, sound, and social practice; Queer Spaces, a research project and public education campaign by the Toronto Society of Architects that shared the relationship between Toronto’s 2SLGBTQ+ community and the built environment through unconventional parade floats and an engaging virtual guide; A Big Vision for Little Jamaica, a Black cultural history and mapping project for the city's first Cultural District which implemented an approach centered on community knowledge, capacity-building, and equity. Two awards will be presented in this category, including the Peoples Choice Award selected by event attendees and Heritage Toronto supporters.

This year's 25 Book Award nominees include We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story, a memoir by Simon Liu, the star of Marvel's first Asian superhero film, chronicling his journey as a Chinese immigrant in Toronto while battling cultural stereotypes and his own family's expectations and definition of success; Sideways: The City Google Couldn't Buy, a compelling investigation by Josh O'Kane into the Sidewalks Labs proposal for a high-tech neighbourhood on Toronto's waterfront and what the Google sister company's failure reveals about Big Tech, data privacy, and the monetization of everything; and The Underground Railroad: Next Stop, Toronto!, a collection of stories, based on original research, featuring the courageous men, women, and children who overcame barriers of prejudice and racism to create homes, institutions, and a rich and vibrant community life in Canada’s largest city.

Highlighted among the seven projects in the Built Heritage category are the revitalization of the Clark Centre for the Arts, a new cultural facility at the Guild Park and Gardens that houses specialized art studios and gallery spaces in a complex comprised of a new contemporary addition set back and rotated away from the historic 1964 building previously used for storage; the reimagining of an academic library with Robarts Common, a transformation of the 1973 Brutalist architecture with a transparent counterpoint that provides increased accessibility, modern study space, and a layout that encourages social interaction; and the restoration and renovation of the Victory Building at 80 Richmond Street, a conservation project that carefully reinterpreted the original Art Deco design of the 1929 office building and addressed unsympathetic alterations made during the late 1980s. Three awards will be presented in this category.

A full nominee list, by category and with descriptions, is available at the 2023 Awards website. 
THE EVENT

The 48th Heritage Toronto Awards will be held on October 30, 2023 at The Carlu. This event is Heritage Toronto's major fundraiser of the year, raising monies in support of its public programming. Ticket information is available at heritagetoronto.org.
About us

Heritage Toronto is a charity and agency of the City of Toronto that builds a better city by bringing people together to explore Toronto’s shared past and peoples’ lived experiences. Our programs include tours, historical plaques and online exhibits.

CONTACT
Lucy Di Pietro, Manager, Marketing & Communications
647-227-0159 | lucy.dipietro@toronto.ca
Images (Available for publication with credit)
Landscape view of a Robarts Library. The tall building stands with a glass attachment. The addition has multiple stories and floor to ceiling glass windows. The interior lights glow and can be seen in the image.
Robarts Common. Image: Doublespace photography. Courtesy of Diamond Schmitt.
Two people talking and looking at a notebook
Little Jamaica Infrastructure Walk, September 2022. Image: Jay Pitter
A detail of a blue book cover that shows a man dressed casually with a navy sports blazer. He is sitting on a stool with his hands folded on his lap. The title reads We Were Dreamers.
Detail, cover for We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story. Design: Ploy Siripant
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