A first-time novelist familiar with the backrooms of federal and provincial politics has claimed the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.

A “head-on collision of shock and joy” was how author Terry Fallis described his reaction to winning the prestigious award for The Best Laid Plans, a fictional work centering on a cranky and reluctant political candidate.

Fallis, who worked several years as an advisor to Liberal ministers on Parliament Hill and Queen’s Park, admitted he had plenty of material from which to draw inspiration.

“There is much fodder for satire,” the “thunderstruck” 48-year-old Fallis told Orillia Today moments after the announcement at a luncheon held Wednesday.

An avid collector of “funny” novels for the better part of his life, the bespectacled writer appeared gobsmacked by the win.

“To have my first novel appear on this list, and now to win this extraordinary honour, literally leaves my knees weak and wobbling,” he told members of the Stephen Leacock Association and invited guests.

Fallis will receive the medal and a $10,000 cash prize, the latter courtesy of TD Bank Financial Group, during a gala dinner on June 7 at Geneva Park.

The other nominees for this year’s award were: Douglas Coupland, for The Gum Thief; Spanish Fly, by Will Ferguson; Ron Wood, for And God Created Manyberries; and Scott Gardiner, for King John of Canada.

Accompanying Gardiner at the luncheon was his publisher, Douglas Gibson, described during the presentation as a “Mount Rushmore” of the Canadian literary scene.

Gibson has published 10 authors whose works have garnered the prestigious humour medal, among them such heavyweight scribes as W.O. Mitchell, Pierre Berton, Robertson Davies, and Mordecai Richler.

 “It is a big deal to be nominated,” Gibson told a reporter prior to the announcement of the winning entry. “It is even better to win.”

Publishers happily sticker their authors’ award-winning books with the familiar gold seal that bears the Leacock brand.

“You see one that has a sticker, and it means other people thought it was great,” Gibson added. “It does drive up sales.”

Leacock Museum curator Fred Addis credits the annual award with driving public interest in Leacock himself.

“For many people, it is the first point of contact with the Leacock legacy,” he said. “(The award) really has a reach that is much broader than Orillia. It allows us to put tentacles out into the literary and general reading community in a way that we would never be able to purchase.”

An anonymous panel comprising five national judges and 11 local readers, whose combined votes determine the winner, judges entries.

Books are judged primarily for their humour, as well as literary merit and general appeal.