Paul Rowe wins 2016 Winterset book prize

The second time was the charm for Newfoundland author Paul Rowe, the new winner of the BMO Winterset Award.

Rowe captured the $12,500 prize with his second novel and second finalist The Last Half of the Year. Rowe's first book, written in 2008, was also a finalist for the prize.

Rowe beat out Michael Crummey's Little Dogs and Robert Chafe's Two-Man Tent.

"The Last Half of the Year explores the age-old interplay between innocence and experience in a dramatic new way," according to publisher Creative Book Publishing.

"Jason Dade, a deeply sensitive and strangely ambitious young man, leaves home in July on a mock-heroic quest to find himself and become the man he is meant to be."

At $12,500, the Winterset award is Newfoundland and Labrador's richest book prize. Books in any genre that were published in 2016 were eligible for this round.

According to the award description, Rowe is a writer, actor and teacher from Point Verde. He was part of the acting company at the Stratford Festival in 2015.