Press Release: May 15, 2002
Toronto Poet Wins Top Prize
Maureen Scott Harris of Toronto has won the 2002 “Poem of the Year” contest, it was announced today in Ottawa. The prize, sponsored by Arc: Canada’s National Poetry Magazine, carries a cash award of $1,000. Harris’s poem, “Be the River”, won over approximately 1300 entries. Her first book of poems, A Possible Landscape, was published by Brick Books in 1993. Last year, she took second prize in the Contest with her poem, “The Drowned Boy.”
Kitchener poet Alison Pick took second prize ($750) for her poem, “Infant Abandoned in High Park” and Deanna Young of Ottawa won third place ($500) for her poem, “Recent Sightings”. Pick recently won the Bronwen Wallace Award for poetry. Young’s second book of poems, Drunkard’s Path, was published by Gaspereau Press in 2001.
This year’s judge, Mary Dalton of St. John’s, Newfoundland, a poet who teaches at Memorial University, also selected three poems for Honourable Mention: “Auguste and the Arsenic” by John Barger of Halifax, “Prolegomenon to the Inhabitation of Trees” by Ken Howe of Toronto, and “Night Bus” by Russell Thornton of North Vancouver.
“The Poem of the Year Contest, now in its seventh year, attracted a record number of entries in 2002,” said Arc co-editors John Barton and Rita Donovan. “Poems were submitted by nearly 400 poets from every province in Canada, as well as some from the United States and elsewhere.”
The winning poems will be published in the winter edition of the magazine ([Arc ] 49; release date: November 30, 2002). Six additional poems from the 50 shortlisted poems, chosen one each by Arc editors, will be published, as well: “Reaching Fern Island” by E. Russell Smith of Ottawa, “Lobby” by Esther Mazakian of Toronto, “A Good Death” by Genevieve Lehr of White’s Lake, Nova Scotia, “Erratic” by Su Croll of Edmonton, “Stolin” by Isa Milman of Victoria, and “All Day I Sit in Plastic Chairs” by Sarah Shaughnessy of St. Albert, Alberta.
In addition to the prize winners, honourable mentions, and Editor’s Choice poets, Arc also congratulates the authors of the 50 poems that made the shortlist of finalists. Arc also thanks all entrants to the Poem of the Year Contest for their support.
For further information:
0 The Poem of the Year Contest is an annual event.
Arc 49, Winter 2002
