For immediate release — 11 am ET, March 14, 2024
MONTREAL, QC — Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie announces 9 Champions in its 2024 Junior Online Finals and 24 Semi-finalists in its 2024 Senior Online Qualifiers.
This year, high school students from across the country participated in classroom and school contests by learning poems by heart from the Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie online anthology. Students in grades 7–9 entered the Junior Online Finals, while students in grades 10–12 entered the Senior Online Qualifiers, in one of the contest’s three streams: English, French, or Bilingual. Each school's champion submitted two recitation videos for consideration. The videos were judged and the winners were selected by two panels of Canadian poets, one for the Junior Online Finals and the other for the Senior Online Qualifiers. The selected reciters were chosen from close to 20 000 students from across the country.
$25 000 in Prizes
Each Junior Champion earned between $200 and $500, while each Semi-finalist earned $250. The recipient of the People’s Choice Award will receive an extra $500. During the National Finals, a total of nearly $18 000 will be awarded to the winners.
Until March 20, the public is invited to watch the 24 Semi-finalists’ recitations on the Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie website and to vote for their favourite in the People’s Choice Award. Poetry lovers and neophytes alike: everyone will find poems and interpretations to their taste!
https://poetryinvoice.ca/peoples-choice
https://lesvoixdelapoesie.ca/choix-du-public
The judges will have the difficult task of choosing the nine reciters who will participate in the National Finals, to be announced on Friday, March 22. The National Finals will be held live on April 24th, at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and streamed on multiple platforms.
Here are our 2024 Junior Champions.
English Stream
The first prize of $500 for the best combined score of two recitations in English goes to Munira Igal from Edmonton Islamic Academy, Edmonton, AB.
The second prize of $300 goes to Lan Sean from St. George's School, Vancouver, BC.
The third prize of $200 goes to Noureen Maherali from University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, ON.
Bilingual Stream
The first prize of $500 for the best combined score of one recitation in English and one recitation in French goes to Mia Deuitch from École Maïmonide, Côte-Saint-Luc, QC.
The second prize of $300 goes to Jaylene Mugeni from Collège international Marie de France, Montreal, QC.
The third prize of $200 goes to Sara Al-Metwalli from Villa Sainte-Marcelline, Westmount, QC.
French Stream
The first prize of $500 for the best combined score of two recitations in French goes to Mathilde Pommel from Collège de Lévis, Lévis, QC.
The second prize of $300 goes to Victor Dubé-Marcus from Collège St-Alexandre de la Gatineau, Gatineau, QC.
The third prize of $200 goes to Ava Adibi from Thornlea Secondary School, Thornhill, ON.
And here are the 2024 Senior Online Semi-finalists.
9 Finalists will be chosen next Friday March 22 to advance to the National Finals in Ottawa.
English Stream
- Faith Aborode from Assumption College Catholic Middle School, Windsor, ON
- Heart Barabad from Kildonan-East Collegiate, Winnipeg, MB
- Sylvia Chiu from École Alpha Secondary School, Burnaby, BC
- Katie Clark from Bishop Carroll High School, Calgary, AB
- Daniela Damier Ducreux from Collège Jean-Eudes, Montreal, QC
- Mateus De Melo from Marshall McLuhan Catholic Secondary School, Toronto, ON
- Ken Hanson from All Saints High School, Calgary, AB
- James Hoag from Prince of Wales Secondary School, Vancouver, BC
- Emiliia Lebedeva from Webber Academy, Calgary, AB
- Kyo Lee from Laurel Heights Secondary School, Waterloo, ON
- Samayta Rujhan from École internationale de Montreal, Montreal, QC
- Angel Zhao from Crofton House School, Vancouver, BC
French Stream
- Sami Al Khayara from Lycée international de Calgary, Calgary, AB
- Taras Baranovskyy from Champlain Regional College – Saint-Lambert, Saint-Lambert, QC
- Luca Fraillon from Collège international Marie de France, Montreal, QC
- Cynthia Li from Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, Montreal, QC
- Leïla Malo from Collège Jean-Eudes, Montreal, QC
- Sara-Joelle Yao from École Alexandre-Taché, St. Albert, AB
Bilingual Stream
- Farès Benmansour from Collège Jesus-Marie de Sillery, Quebec, QC
- Maia Cassie from Queen Margaret's School, Duncan, BC
- Bem Denga from Webber Academy, Calgary, AB
- Kaycee Leung Yin Kow from Philip Pocock Catholic Secondary School, Mississauga, ON
- Philippe Morissette from Toronto Prep School, Toronto, ON
- Chloé Simard from Champlain Regional College – Saint-Lambert, Saint-Lambert, QC
The judges
The judges of the Junior Online Contest are:
- Simon Boulerice
- Doyali Islam
- Sally Ito
- Jean-Christophe Réhel
- Stephen Kent Roney
- Aimée Verret
The judges of the Senior Online Contest are:
- Alice Burdick
- Jason Camlot
- Marilou Craft
- Shazia Hafiz Ramji
- Rayanne Haines
- Desiree Mckenzie
- Amber O’Reilly
- Jonathan Roy
- Adam Sol
FutureVerse
FutureVerse will be held alongside the National Finals in Ottawa. An all-expenses-paid poetry intensive, FutureVerse brings together young writers from all over the country for four days of workshops, panels, readings, and activities with well known authors, publishers, and activists. To apply, students submitted an original poem to VOICES/VOIX, our student poetry journal, or to Voices/Voix Monthly Prize, our monthly poetry contest, and/or applied through our online application form. Below is the shortlist of our FutureVerse applicants. Click on their names to read one of their poems and learn more about them. The 16 students selected for FutureVerse will be announced on March 22.
- Olivia Beshtoev from Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School, Toronto, ON
- Dee Brandt from H.B. Beal Secondary School, London, ON
- MariePier Brouillette from Collège Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Longueuil, QC
- Marie-Pauline Chaffanjon from Lycée Français de Toronto, Toronto, ON
- Juliette Comtois from Collège Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Longueuil, QC
- Brooke Gallant from Fredericton High School, Fredericton, NB
- Andrea Granata from Lighthouse Christian Academy, Portage La Prairie, MB
- Emma Hawkins from Bellerose Composite High School, St. Albert, AB
- Melanie Heipel from Southwood Secondary School, Cambridge, ON
- Felix Helbig from Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, Vancouver, BC
- Asha Ireland from H.B. Beal Secondary School, London, ON
- Sarah-Jeanne Leclerc from Collège Jean-Eudes, Montréal, QC
- Kyo Lee from Laurel Heights Secondary School, Waterloo, ON
- Eunsae Lee from St. Peter Catholic Secondary School, Peterborough, ON
- Thomas Li from St. George's School, Vancouver, BC
- Clark Makaba from Ross Sheppard School, Edmonton, AB
- Feather Mason-Delorme from Mount Boucherie Secondary School, West Kelowna, BC
- Nora Moher from École secondaire publique de La Salle, Ottawa, ON
- Hannah Mulessa from Blessed Sacrament Outreach School, Wainwright, AB
- Kayshini Nilendran from Markham District High School, Markham, ON
- Maria Fernanda Osorio Arredondo from École des Pionniers-de-Maillardville, Port Coquitlam, BC
- Mia Romero from Regiopolis-Notre-Dame Catholic High School, Kingston, ON
- Marianne Rouleau from Collège Mont Notre-Dame de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC
- Gloria Sanouvi-Awoga from École Alexandre-Taché, St-Albert, AB
- Amy Savciuc from All Saints High School, Calgary, AB
- Rena Shang from Crofton House School, Vancouver, BC
- Khushi Sidhu from Calgary French & International School, Calgary, AB
- Cassius Solaris from Bedford Road Collegiate, Saskatoon, SK
- Caprice Strgar from Assumption College Catholic Middle School, Windsor, ON
- Richard Su from Fraser Heights Secondary School, Surrey, BC
- Malcolm Wernestrom from Dawson College, Westmount, QC
- Tosia Wolska-Chaney from CBe-learn, Calgary, AB
- Abby Zhang from The Study, Westmount, QC
- Angel Zhao from Crofton House School, Vancouver, BC
About Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie
Founded by Scott Griffin, chairman and founder of the illustrious Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry, Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie encourages all Canadians to speak the language of poetry. They are the essential resource for teaching and learning poetry in Canada — and beyond. The organization started by hosting a recitation contest with 12 schools in Ontario in 2010 and has since become “a cultural force in Canada,” according to Margaret Atwood.
Every year, the organization hosts two national recitation contests (one for students in Grades 10–12, and another for students in Grades 7–9) and a dozen local team recitation contests. These contests rely on robust online anthologies of classic and contemporary poems in English and French. The organization also publishes an annual bilingual journal of student poetry, VOICES/VOIX, with issue #6 to be released next September.
Their website includes comprehensive teaching materials, and to date Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie has sent poets into over 2500 classrooms to work with over 75,000 students through their Poet In Class/Poètes à l’école program.
MEDIA CONTACT
For all media enquiries, including interviews with the Junior Champions, the Semi-finalists, or with Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie, contact David Smith, Executive Director, david@poetryinvoice.ca, c: 514.668.0768, Rorie Bruce, e: rorbruce@mymts.net, c: 204-781-1769.