The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Foundation Annual Poetry Award

A $500 prize, sponsored by the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Foundation, to the best single poem by a poet in the early stages of their career. 

“To advance education by providing scholarships, bursaries and awards to Canadian residents for demonstrated excellence in the arts.”

 

The judges for this contest are Concetta Principe and Stuart Ian McKay.

Congratulations to the 2022 Winner of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Foundation Poetry Award

Fresh Air by Gordon Taylor

Gordon Taylor (he/him) is a queer poet who walks an ever-swaying wire of technology, health care and poetry. His poems have appeared in or are forthcoming in Grain, Rattle, Event, Banshee, Descant and Plenitude. In his spare time Gordon is a volunteer reader for Five South Magazine.

 

 

 

Honourable Mentions

(in no particular order)

Diving Birds by Catherine St. Denis

Here, Grass by Farah Ghafoor

Florivore by Masa Torbica

Mystics by Hannah Siden

This Arrival Poem by Jason Coombs

 

About the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto 

 On a blustery March night in 1908, a group of writers, musicians, architects, academics and supporters of the arts, encouraged by Augustus Bridle, a journalist covering the arts beat, met to found an organization committed to championing of the arts in English-speaking Canada: The Arts & Letters Club of Toronto. 

Celebrating both the creative and performing arts — and equally devoted to spirited, sometimes biased and often hilarious argument — the Arts & Letters Club quickly became a forcing-ground for ideas in all artistic disciplines. Into the Club’s embrace came people who would become prime movers in creating the artistic culture we enjoy today: great names such as Robertson Davies, Vincent Massey, Marshall McLuhan, Eden Smith, Wyly Grier, Ernest MacMillan, Mavor Moore and many, many more. Their contributions to the arts in Canada are legendary. 

The avowed purpose of the club was to be a rendezvous for people of diverse interests to meet for mutual fellowship and artistic creativity. It was to become a “comradely haven for kindred souls.” 

Submission Guidelines 

  • This contest accepts poems in English only 
  • Submit one (1) poem per submission.   
  • This annual contest has an entry fee of $5 per submission. If you are unable to pay the contest fee, please send an email to admin@poets.ca  
  • Please submit poetry that is unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • Multiple submissions are accepted, but the entry fee of $5 applies to each individual submission.   
  • Membership in the League of Canadian Poets is not required. 
  • Eligible to all emerging Canadian poets in the early stages of their career, defined as no more than two traditionally published chapbooks and/or one traditionally published book of poetry 
  • We encourage submissions from LGTBQ2S+, BIPOC, and equity-deserving groups.
  • Open to all emerging Canadian poets in the early stages of their career
    • defined as no more than two traditionally published chapbooks and/or one traditionally published book of poetry 

Now Closed. The deadline was August 7, 2022.

Entry fee: $5