Each winner of the 1982 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit was selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
English Language
Fiction
Winner:
Other Finalists:
- Alice Munro, The Moons of Jupiter
- Chris Scott , Antichthon
Poetry
Winner:
Other Finalists:
Drama
Winner:
- John Gray , Billy Bishop Goes to War
Other Finalists:
- Lawrence Jeffery , Clay
- Betty Lambert , Jennie's Story
Non-fiction
Winner:
- Christopher Moore , Louisbourg Portraits: Life in an Eighteenth- Century Garrison Town
Other Finalists:
- Northrop Frye, The Great Code: The Bible and Literature
- Christina McCall-Newman , Grits: An Intimate Portrait of The Liberal Party
French Language
Fiction
Winner:
- Roger Fournier , Le cercle des arènes
Other Finalists:
- Gaëtan Brulotte , Le surveillant
- Louis Caron , Les fils de la liberté II: La corne de brume
- Anne Hébert, Les fous de Bassan
Poetry
Winner:
Other Finalist:
- Alphonse Piché , Dernier profil
Drama
Winner:
Other Finalists:
- Marie Laberge , Avec l'hiver qui s'en vient
- Léo Lévesque , ... Quand j'y ai dit ça ... à parti à rire
- Jovette Marchessault , La terre est trop courte, Violette Leduc
Non-fiction
Winner:
- Maurice Lagueux , Le marxisme des années soixante: une saison dans l'histoire de la pensée critique
Other Finalist:
- Flore Dupriez , La condition féminine et les Pères de l'Église latine