- Shortlisted for BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction for The Boys or, Waiting for the Electrician's Daughter, 2005
- Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction, short-listed, 2005
- Governor General's Award for Poetry, short-listed, 2003 for Disarmament
- Hamilton and Region Arts Council Poetry Collection/Anthology Award (2001)(regional)
Nod Me In, Shake Me Out
- Hamilton and Region Arts Council Poetry Book Prize (1999) (regional)
Devil's Punch Bowl
- GUI (God Uses Ink)
Prize for poetry (1999) (national)
To God, as a Small Pest, and Atonement, two poems from Devil's Punch Bowl
- Hamilton and Region Arts Council Poetry Book Prize (1998) (regional)
The Church Not Made With Hands
- Hamilton and Region Arts Council First Prize for Non-Fiction (1995) (regional)
"Where in the world is Burlington Heights?"
- CBC Radio Literary Competition (1991) (national) First Prize for Poetry (poem or series of poems)
Captain Kintail
- Il Premio Francesco Guiseppe Bressani Prize for Poetry also known as the Bressani Prize (1988) (national)
Forty Days and Forty Nights
John Terpstra's works copyright © to the author.