This is a list of the Governor General's Award winner for children's literature. The current award was created in 1987. Previously from 1949 to 1958 an award for juvenile literature existed.

Juvenile fiction winners

• 1949 - R.S. Lambert , Franklin of the Arctic
• 1950 - Donald Dickie , The Great Adventure
• 1951 - John F. Hayes , A Land Divided
• 1952 - Marie McPhedran , Cargoes on the Great Lakes
• 1953 - John F. Hayes , Rebels Ride at Night
• 1954 - Marjorie Wilkins Campbell , The Nor'westers
• 1955 - Kerry Wood , The Map-Maker
• 1956 - Farley Mowat, Lost in the Barrens
• 1957 - Kerry Wood , The Great Chief
• 1958 - Edith L. Sharp , Nkwala

Children's literature winners

• 1987 - Morgan Nyberg , Galahad Schwartz and the Cockroach Army
• 1988 - Welwyn Wilton Katz, The Third Magic
• 1989 - Diana Wieler , Bad Boy
• 1990 - Michael Bedard , Redwork
• 1991 - Sarah Ellis , Pick-Up Sticks
• 1992 - Julie Johnston , Hero of Lesser Causes
• 1993 - Tim Wynne-Jones , Some of the Kinder Planets
• 1994 - Julie Johnston , Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me
• 1995 - Tim Wynne-Jones , The Maestro
• 1996 - Paul Yee , Ghost Train
• 1997 - Kit Pearson , Awake and Dreaming
• 1998 - Janet Lunn , The Hollow Tree
• 1999 - Don Gillmor , The Christmas Orange
• 2000 - Deborah Ellis , Looking for X
• 2001 - Arthur Slade , Dust
• 2002 - Martha Brooks , True Confessions of a Heartless Girl
• 2003 - Glen Huser , Stitches
• 2004 - Kenneth Oppel, Airborn