2026 Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Prize winners
Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Prize!
Junior category (grades 7-9)
Winner: Annika Paradkar, "What He Taught Us Was Not Math"
Second place: Brayden Ma, "Nostalgia"
Third place: Lanice Chen, "Parents"
Comment from the judge:
"This heartfelt elegy weaves together memories of and reflections about the poet’s grandfather while paying thoughtful tribute to his commitment to knowledge, teaching, and family. The stanzas, line breaks, and diction work in harmony to bring the grandfather’s rich world and the poet’s lingering grief to life for the reader. "
Comment from the judge:
"This poem uses form in a compelling and inventive way to evoke both a series of moments and their larger framework in the city and its past/present/future. The specificity of the images calls upon all the senses as the reader too becomes an observer of the people with whom and places where the poet lingers."
Comment from the judge:
"This highly relatable poem uses a combination of end-stopped and thoughtfully enjambed lines to propel the reader forward into the details of the complex relationship between poet and parents. The dialogue is both realistic and funny, and the final turn of the poem resonates with emotion without neat resolution."
Honourable mentions:
Senior category (grades 10-12)
Winner: Lara Chamoun, "Daphne, Midflight"
Second place: Harmony Chen, "Shelled peanuts in my mother’s hometown"
Third place: Rose Haberer, "Forget Your Life Vest"
Comment from the judge:
"This fierce poem takes on myth with fresh eyes and language. The speaker’s voice is confident and unflinching, and the vivid images are evocative and atmospheric. The lineation and white space work together to generate momentum that dares the reader to keep moving toward the striking final lines."
Comment from the judge:
"Written in poignant couplets, this poem explores inheritance and geography with tenderness. Using the language of the body and of the earth alongside lush vocabulary and images, the poet paints a nuanced portrait of family through women’s work and wants."
Comment from the judge:
"This surreal poem flies the reader into the clouds while conjuring original ideas, images, and language. Drawn into the mind of the self-assured speaker, the reader follows the speaker’s desires and declarations through unexpected and arresting dips, folds, and turns."
Honourable mentions:
Thanks to the generous support of the Jessamy Stursberg Endowment Fund, the League also produces an annual chapbook of the winners and honourable mentions from the Jessamy Stursburg Poetry Prize. More details will be available soon.
Thank you to the judge of our 2026 prize
Amanda Merpaw (she/her) is the author of the collection Most of All the Wanting and the chapbooks Put the Ghosts Down Between Us and Holy Dissolving. Her work has recently appeared in The Capilano Review, The Fiddlehead, Riddle Fence, Yolk, and elsewhere. She is English Program Director at Poetry in Voice, and currently serves as Associate Poetry Editor at Plenitude Magazine and as a member of the editorial board at Anstruther Press.