Poetry in Voice has revealed the nine Canadian finalists for its annual poetry recitation contest and the 16 students selected for its FutureVerse poetry intensive.
The annual Poetry in Voice competition challenges Canadian students to learn poems by heart and perform them online for consideration. The organization hosts two national recitation contests — one for students in Grades 7-9 and another for students in Grades 10-12 — and a dozen local team recitation contests.
The competition was established in 2010 by Scott Griffin, chairman and founder of the Griffin Trust for Excellence In Poetry. According to the organization, more than 20,000 students across Canada participated to learn a classic and contemporary poem by heart in 2024.
School champions participated in online qualifiers and the 24 students who obtained the highest scores advanced to the semifinals, where their videos were judged by a panel of Canadian poets.
The semifinalists all received $250 each in prize money. During the national finals, a total of nearly $25,000 will be awarded to the winners. Students compete in one of the contest's three streams: English, French or Bilingual.
The 2024 national finalists are:
English:
- Daniela Damier Ducreux from Collège Jean-Eudes, Montreal
- James Hoag from Prince of Wales Secondary School, Vancouver
- Emiliia Lebedeva from Webber Academy, Calgary
French:
- Cynthia Li from Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, Montreal
- Leïla Malo from Collège Jean-Eudes, Montreal
- Sara-Joelle Yao from École Alexandre-Taché, St-Albert, Alta.
Bilingual:
- Maia Cassie from Queen Margaret's School, Duncan, B.C.
- Bem Denga from Webber Academy, Calgary
- Chloé Simard from Champlain Regional College – Saint-Lambert, Saint-Lambert, Que.
The nine finalists will move on to the national finals at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on April 24. The event will also be available for streaming on the Poetry In Voice website.
The finalists' recitations will be judged by a jury of poets; Michael Crummey, Susan Musgrave and Armand Garnet Ruffo for the English recitations; Marie-Célie Agnant, Natasha Kanapé Fontaine and Chloé Savoie-Bernard for the French recitations.
Over 4,500 votes were cast to choose the winners of the 2024 People's Choice Awards.
Katie Clark from Bishop Carroll High School in Calgary won the English People's Choice prize, worth $500, and Luca Fraillon from Collège international Marie de France in Montreal won the French People's Choice prize, also worth $500.
The 2024 junior champions, for the competition for students on Grades 7-9, were selected from the videos they submitted online.
For the English stream, Munira Igal from Edmonton Islamic Academy won the $500 first place prize. Lan Sean from St. George's School in Vancouver won $300 for second place and Noureen Maherali from University of Toronto Schools won $200 for third prize.
For the bilingual stream, Mia Deuitch from École Maïmonide in Côte-Saint-Luc, Que., won the $500 first place prize. Jaylene Mugeni from Collège international Marie de France in Montreal won $300 for second place and Sara Al-Metwalli from Villa Sainte-Marcelline in Westmount, Que., won $200 for third prize.
The French stream first place winner was Mathilde Pommel from Collège de Lévis in Lévis, Que. Victor Dubé-Marcus from Collège St-Alexandre de la Gatineau in Gatineau, Que. won $300 for second place and Ava Adibi from Thornlea Secondary School in Thornhill, Ont., won $200 for third prize.
Last year's Poetry in Voice winners were Maia Cassie, Aaronsaul Negre and Hope Anaky.
FutureVerse to bring young poets together
The FutureVerse youth poetry event will be held alongside the Poetry in Voice national finals in Ottawa. An all-expenses-paid poetry intensive, the event brings together young writers from all over the country for four days of workshops, panels, readings and activities with Canadian authors, publishers and activists.
Kyo Lee is a Korean-Canadian writer from Waterloo, Ont. (Submitted by Kyo Lee)
Among the 16 students participating is Kyo Lee, who became the youngest person to ever win the CBC Poetry Prize in 2023. Her winning poem, lotus flower blooming into breasts, explores themes of familial relationships and is also partly a queer love story.
The complete list of FutureVerse participants is:
- Marie-Pauline Chaffanjon from Lycée Français de Toronto, Toronto
- Juliette Comtois from Collège Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Longueuil, Que.
- Andrea Granata from Lighthouse Christian Academy, Portage La Prairie, Man.
- Kyo Lee from Laurel Heights Secondary School, Waterloo, Ont.
- Eunsae Lee from St. Peter Catholic Secondary School, Peterborough, Ont.
- Clark Makaba from Ross Sheppard School, Edmonton
- Feather Mason-Delorme from Mount Boucherie Secondary School, West Kelowna, B.C.
- Hannah Mulessa from Blessed Sacrament Outreach School, Wainwright, Alta.
- Kayshini Nilendran from Markham District High School, Markham, Ont.
- Maria Fernanda Osorio Arredondo from École des Pionniers-de-Maillardville, Port Coquitlam, B.C.
- Khushi Sidhu from Calgary French & International School, Calgary,
- Caprice Strgar from Assumption College Catholic Middle School, Windsor, Ont.
- Richard Su from Fraser Heights Secondary School, Surrey, B.C.
- Malcolm Wernestrom from Dawson College, Westmount, Que.
- Tosia Wolska-Chaney from CBe-learn, Calgary
- Abby Zhang from The Study, Westmount, Que.