Winners of the Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Youth Announced

During Young Poet's Week (April 8-14), young poets are encouraged to participate in many exciting projects and initiatives happening across the country and online.

Today, the League of Canadian Poets (LCP) announced the winners of the Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Youth (formerly the Poetic Licence Contest for Canadian Youth), which celebrates emerging Canadian talent. The contest is named in honour of Jessamy Stursberg, the late wife of journalist and author Peter Stursberg. Jessamy had a “lifelong love of poetry.” The contest's categories consist of junior and senior age groups. The winning poets will be awarded cash prizes of $350 (first place), $300 (second place) and $250 (third place).

All winning and shortlisted poems will be published in the LCP’s e-zine, Re:verse. All winners will receive Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Youth certificates and student membership in the LCP for one year.

The winners in the senior category are:

First Place — "Jesus Never Worked at the Mustard Seed" by Adam Marsh (Victoria, BC)
Second Place — "Flares Across the Persian Gulf" by Erika Ruiter (Victoria, BC)
Third Place — "In Place of a Bucket List" by Sabrina Dahl (Calgary, AB)

Honourable mentions in this category go to:

"Soy Beans" by Marc Charlebois (Victoria, BC)
"Blur" by Shan Jose (Saanichton, BC)
"Exit Al Purdy" by Wilfrid Low (Victoria, BC)

The winners in the junior category are:

First Place — "Hatchlings" by Tegwyn Anne Hughes (Ottawa, ON)
Second Place — "Hint of Blue" by Sydney Eliot-Wilson (Harrowsmith, ON)
Third Place — "Blame it on the Weather" by Sam De Leon (Surrey, BC)

Honourable mentions in this category go to:

"A Sombre Morning" by Alice Huang (Burnaby, BC)
"Name, date of birth, time of death" by Zainab Syed (Toronto, ON)
"For Johnnie" by Theo Gallaro (Toronto, ON)