Each winner of the 1994 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $10 000 dollars and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners were selected by a panel of judges set up by the Canada Council for the Arts.

English Language

Fiction

Winner:

• Rudy Wiebe, A Discovery of Strangers

Other Finalists:

• Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride
• Donna McFarlane , Division of Surgery
• Alice Munro, Open Secrets
• Russell Smith, How Insensitive

Poetry

Winner:

• Robert Hilles, Cantos from a Small Room

Other Finalists:

• Robin Blaser, The Holy Forest
• Polly Fleck , The Chinese Execution
• Monty Reid , Dog Sleeps

Drama

Winner:

• Morris Panych, The Ends of the Earth

Other Finalists:

• Joanna McClelland Glass, If We Are Women
• Wendy Lill, All Fall Down
• Bryden MacDonald , Whale Riding Weather

Non-Fiction

Winner:

• John A. Livingston , Rogue Primate: An Exploration of Human Domestication

Other Finalists:

• Sharon Butala, The Perfection of the Morning: An Apprenticeship in Nature
• Denise Chong , The Concubine's Children: Portrait of a Family
• Joan Haggerty, The Invitation: A Memoir of Family Love and Reconciliation
• Peter Larisey , Light for a Cold Land: Lawren Harris's Work and Life-An Interpretation

Children's Literature - Text

Winner:

• Julie Johnston , Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me

Other Finalists:

• Sarah Ellis , Out of the Blue
• Carol Matas, The Burning Time
• Jim McGugan , Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story
• Ken Roberts, Past Tense

Children's Literature - Illustration

Winner:

• Murray Kimber , Josepha: A Prairie Boy's Story

Other Finalists:

• Marie Lafrance , La Diablesse and the Baby
• Michèle Lemieux , There Was An Old Man...: A Collection of Limericks
• Laurie McGaw , Polar the Titanic Bear
• Martin Springett , Who

Translation (from French to English)

Winner:

• Donald Winkler , The Lyric Generation: The Life and Times of the Baby Boomers

Other Finalists:

• Patricia Claxton , Tchipayuk or The Way of the Wolf
• Sheila Fischman, The Sound of Living Things
• David Homel , An Aroma of Coffee
• Shelley Tepperman , Playing Bare

French Language

Fiction

Winner:

• Robert Lalonde , Le petit aigle à tête blanche

Other Finalists:

• Réjean Ducharme, Va savoir
• Daniel Poliquin, L'Écureuil noir
• Hélène Rioux , Pense à mon rendez-vous
• Sylvain Trudel , Les Prophètes

Poetry

Winner:

• Fulvio Caccia , Aknos

Other Finalists:

• Marcel Labine , Machines imaginaires
• Rachel Leclerc , Rabatteurs d'étoiles
• Paul Chanel Malenfant , Hommes de profil
• Pierre Ouellet , Vita chiara, villa oscura

Drama

Winner:

• Michel Ouellette , French Town

Other Finalists:

• Michelle Allen , Morgane
• Yvan Bienvenue , Histoires à mourir d'amour
• Claude Poissant , Si tu meurs, je te tue
• Jean-Pierre Ronfard , Cinq études

Non-Fiction

Winner:

• Chantal Saint-Jarre , Du sida

Other Finalists:

• Fernand Dumont , Genèse de la société québécoise
• Jean Lamarre , Le devenir de la nation québécoise
• Ginette Pelland , La peur des mots
• Georges E. Sioui , Les Wendats : une civilisation méconnue

Children's Literature - Text

Winner:

• Suzanne Martel , Une belle journée pour mourir

Other Finalists:

• Marie-Danielle Croteau , Un monde à la dérive
• François Gravel , Klonk

Children's Literature - Illustration

Winner:

• Pierre Pratt , Mon chien est un éléphant

Other Finalists:

• Sylvie Deronzier , Tartarin et le lion
• Stéphane Poulin , Le parc aux sortilèges
• Rémy Simard , Monsieur noir et blanc
• Gilles Tibo , Simon et la plume perdue

Translation (from English to French)

Winner:

• Jude Des Chênes , Le mythe du sauvage

Other Finalists:

• Claire Dupond and Hervé Juste , Les spécialistes des sciences sociales et la politique au Canada
• Michèle Marineau , Au delà des ténèbres
• Normand Paiement and Hervé Juste , Les Géants des ordures
• Daniel Poliquin, Le récit de voyage en Nouvelle - France de l'abbé peintre Hugues Pommier

Other Governor General's Awards: