The Paper Trail Earns Writing Award

Catherine Clement’s latest book The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act (Plumleaf Press Inc.) was named the first runner up in the 2026 British Columbia Historical Federation’s Historical Writing Award competition that honour exceptional works that deepen public understanding of British Columbia’s history.

A deeply researched and visually compelling examination of the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act and its long term impacts on families and communities. Clement blends archival work with community sourced documents to illuminate a pivotal and painful chapter in BC’s history.

Catherine is an award-winning community historian, author, and exhibition curator who is known for her extensive, crowdsourced community history projects that help uncover, share and preserve the experiences of ordinary people in extraordinary times. Her widely celebrated books have been extensions of her history projects Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow (2020) and The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act (2025). She lives in Sechelt, BC

Catherine accepted the award at the BC Historical Federation’s annual conference, held in Vancouver on May 30. Earlier in the evening she delivered a keynote presentation of how ordinary community photographs of everyday people helped her recover two forgotten chapters in B.C. and Canadian history. You can view the keynote presentation on the BCHF YouTube Channel.