Montreal International Poetry Prize
Encyclopedia
The Montreal International Poetry Prize (also known as The Montreal Prize) is an annual poetry competition based in Montreal
, Quebec
, Canada
. It was launched in April 2011 during National Poetry Month
.
The prize invites online submissions of poems in English from anywhere in the world, and is adjudicated by a board of international editors, which includes Valerie Bloom
(Jamaica
and England
), Stephanie Bolster
(Canada
), Frank Chipasula
(Malawi
and USA
), Fred D'Aguiar
(Guyana
and England
), Michael Harris
(Canada
), John Kinsella (Australia
), Sinéad Morrissey
(Northern Ireland
), Odia Ofeimun (Nigeria
), Eric Ormsby
(England
), and Anand Thakore (India
). In 2011 the Prize Judge is former British Poet Laureate
Andrew Motion
.
The $50,000 (CAD
) prize is thought to be the world's largest monetary prize for a single poem.
In addition to the winning poem, the Montreal Prize publishes, with Véhicule Press
, 150 "long-listed" poems in an electronic anthology, and fifty shortlisted
poems in a printed "Global Anthology".
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It was launched in April 2011 during National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month is a celebration of poetry first introduced in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. It is celebrated every April in the United States and in Canada as well...
.
The prize invites online submissions of poems in English from anywhere in the world, and is adjudicated by a board of international editors, which includes Valerie Bloom
Valerie Bloom
Valerie Bloom MBE is a poet and a novelist.-Early years:She was born in Clarendon, Jamaica in 1956 and later moved to England in 1979. She attended the University of Kent at Canterbury and earned an honours degree, and was later awarded an honorary Masters degree...
(Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
), Stephanie Bolster
Stephanie Bolster
Stephanie Bolster is a Canadian poet who lives in Montreal, Quebec, and is a professor of creative writing at Concordia University. She was at one point a writer in residence at York House School.-Awards:...
(Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
), Frank Chipasula
Frank Chipasula
Dr. Frank M. Chipasula is a Malawian writer, editor and university professor. Previously a professor of Black Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Howard University, Chipasula has also worked as the education attache at the Malawian embassy in Washington, D.C.. Chipasula went into...
(Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
and USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
), Fred D'Aguiar
Fred D'Aguiar
Fred D'Aguiar is an author of poetry, novels, and drama.D'Aguiar was born in London. His parents were Guyanese. He spent his childhood, from the age of two to twelve, in Guyana. His work has received much, and growing, acclaim. His Bill of Rights, about the Jonestown Massacre of 1978, was a...
(Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
), Michael Harris
Michael Harris (writer)
Michael Harris is a Canadian poet and translator. His book Circus is a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award for English language poetry at the 2010 Governor General's Awards....
(Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
), John Kinsella (Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
), Sinéad Morrissey
Sinead Morrissey
Sinéad Morrissey is a poet from Northern Ireland.-Life:Raised in Belfast, she was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where she took BA and PhD degrees, and won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 1990...
(Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
), Odia Ofeimun (Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
), Eric Ormsby
Eric Ormsby
Eric Linn Ormsby, born in Atlanta in 1941, is a poet, a scholar, and a man of letters. He was a longtime resident of Montreal, where he was the Director of University Libraries and subsequently a professor of Islamic thought at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University...
(England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
), and Anand Thakore (India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
). In 2011 the Prize Judge is former British Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
Andrew Motion
Andrew Motion
Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.- Life and career :...
.
The $50,000 (CAD
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
) prize is thought to be the world's largest monetary prize for a single poem.
In addition to the winning poem, the Montreal Prize publishes, with Véhicule Press
Véhicule Press
Since 1973, Véhicule Press has published poetry, fiction, translations, and social history by Canadian authors, with a commitment to publishing first-time authors—a third of its list....
, 150 "long-listed" poems in an electronic anthology, and fifty shortlisted
Short list
A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates . The length of short lists varies according to the context.-U.S...
poems in a printed "Global Anthology".