Each winner of the 1984 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit was selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.^[1]

Category	Winner	Nominated
Fiction	Josef Skvorecky, The Engineer of Human Souls	Timothy Findley, Not Wanted on the Voyage Susan Kerslake, The Book of Fears Audrey Thomas, Intertidal Life
Non-fiction	Sandra Gwyn, The Private Capital: Ambition and Love in the Age of Macdonald and Laurier	Bob Beal and Rod Macleod, Prairie Fire: The 1885 North-West Rebellion Graham Fraser, P.Q.: René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois in Power
Poetry	Paulette Jiles, Celestial Navigation	Roo Borson, The Whole Night, Coming Home Marilyn Bowering, The Sunday before Winter David McFadden, The Art of Darkness Sharon Thesen, Confabulations Peter van Toorn, Mountain Tea
Drama	Judith Thompson, White Biting Dog	James Reaney, The Canadian Brothers or The Prophecy Fulfilled George Ryga, A Letter to My Son

Category	Winner	Nominated
Fiction	Jacques Brault, Agonie	Madeleine Ouellette-Michalska, La Maison Trestler Jacques Poulin, Volkswagen Blues Jacques Savoie, Les Portes tournantes Marie José Thériault, Les Demoiselles de Numidie
Non-fiction	Jean Hamelin and Nicole Gagnon, Le XXe Siècle: Histoire du catholicisme québécois	Luc Bureau, Entre l'Éden et l'Utopie Philippe Haeck, La Table d'écriture: poéthique et modernité
Poetry	Nicole Brossard, Double Impression	Michel Beaulieu, Kaléidoscope André Roy, Les sept jours de la jouissance Élise Turcotte, Navires de guerre
Drama	René-Daniel Dubois, Ne blâmez jamais les Bédouins	Gilbert Dupuis, Les Transporteurs de monde Marcel Sabourin, Pleurer pour rire Michel Tremblay, Albertine, en cinq temps