Thinking of submitting to the CBC Poetry Prize? These 5 previous winners and finalists explain why you should
'Being a finalist gave me the courage to keep writing and continue forward'
Submitting to a literary prize can be a daunting task, especially if you're just starting out or have already submitted multiple times to no avail.
That's why we spoke to five previous CBC Literary Prizes winners and finalists to find out why they submitted to the CBC Poetry Prize, what advice they have for those who might be on the fence and how the experience catalyzed their writing careers.
The 2023 CBC Poetry Prize is open for submissions until Wednesday, May 31 at 11:59 pm ET. The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point, a cultural hub on Toronto Island, for submitting one original, unpublished poem or collection of poems, up to 600 words in length.
Here's what the five poets had to say:
Selina Boan, finalist for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize
Selina Boan's debut poetry collection, Undoing Hours, recently won the 2022 Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Undoing Hours is a personal and powerful account of reconnecting with family and community and reclaiming identity. Boan also explores the impact of colonization.
The Vancouver poet made the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize shortlist for Conversations with Niton, Have you ever fallen in love with a day. Her poem In six, the seasons was also shortlisted for the 2016 CBC Poetry Prize.
"I was a finalist for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2016, as well as 2020. In both those instances, versions of those poems that now appear in Undoing Hours were finalists for the prize," said Boan.
Being a finalist gave me the courage to keep writing and continue forward with this project.
"The first time that happened, I didn't have that many publications. I was very new to the literary world and notably nervous about putting my work out there.
"Having that validation that you're on the right track with something, that you're putting your time and your heart and your energy into something that other folks respond to, was really powerful.
"Being a finalist gave me the courage to keep writing and continue forward with this project."
Michael Fraser, winner of the 2016 CBC Poetry Prize
Toronto-based poet Michael Fraser's newest poetry collection, The Day-Breakers, is a fictional retelling of Black soldiers' experiences during the American Civil War. This is his third collection of poetry. He is also the author of the poetry collections The Serenity of Stone, which won the 2007 Canadian Aid Literary Award Contest, and To Greet Yourself Arriving.
He won the 2016 CBC Poetry Prize for the poem African Canadian in Union Blue.
Fraser said winning the CBC Poetry Prize has had a big impact on his career: "My goodness, it's been phenomenal — just night and day. So initially, after the announcement that I won the 2016 prize, my previous work, To Greet Yourself Arriving, sold really well for a poetry book.
It provided recognition within the poetry community and beyond.
"Then I had the amazing writing residency in Banff, which was spectacular. I was invited to far more readings across the country and in the United States as well.
"I got invited to judge contests, grant applications and writing festivals — my favourite being Winnipeg. I was there for about five or six days. I went to the local high schools and did workshops in Winnipeg and Selkirk. It provided recognition within the poetry community and beyond."
Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang, finalist for the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize
Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang is a poet and children's book author. Her poetry collections include Sweet Devilry, which won the 2012 Gerald Lampert award, and Status Update, which was nominated for the Pat Lowther Award. Tsiang was longlisted for the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize and shortlisted for the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize. She currently works as the Poetry Editor for Arc Poetry Magazine and the Creative Director for Poetry In Voice.
Her new poetry collection, Grappling Hook, is "a love letter to those who are making meaningful change in unprecedented times."
Yi-Mei Tsiang submitted to the CBC Poetry Prize multiple times before being longlisted and then shortlisted in 2019.
"Sending out your work is an act of trust and an act of faith. At the end of the day, the fact that you were willing to put it out is what's important," said Yi-Mei Tsiang.
Sending out your work is an act of trust and an act of faith.
"The whole point of writing is to communicate. The idea of sending it, whether it's a prize or a journal, is the idea of reaching out and trying to find that audience.
"The CBC Poetry Prize is fantastic because you have a really large audience built-in."
Jenny Boychuk, winner of the 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize
Jenny Boychuk is a poet based in New Westminster, B.C. She won the 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize for her story Slow Violence.
Her poems and essays have appeared in the Walrus, Best New Poets 2016, the Malahat Review, the Fiddlehead, Grain, the New Quarterly and PRISM international. In 2018, she won the Copper Nickel Editors' Prize in Poetry. Her new poetry collection, Antonyms for Daughter, is an unsparing exploration of memory, trauma and love as Boychuk addresses the loss of her mother to addiction.
Her advice?
"You don't have to send your work into a contest or engage in similar opportunities to be a writer by any means, and you don't have to do it to be a good writer," said Boychuk.
But I think it opens doors that honestly you can't imagine would open for you otherwise.
"But I think it opens doors that honestly you can't imagine would open for you otherwise."
Sadiqa de Meijer, winner of the 2012 CBC Poetry Prize
Sadiqa de Meijer won the 2012 CBC Poetry Prize for her poem Great Aunt Unmarried and has since won the 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction with her memoir alfabet/alphabet: a memoir of first language, a poetic book that reflects on the writer's journey from switching her primary spoken language from Dutch to English.
Born in Amsterdam and currently living in Kingston, Ont., de Meijer has also published two poetry collections: Leaving Howe Island and The Outer Wards.
She entered the poetry prize multiple times before, to her surprise, winning in 2012. "The experience almost literally put places and people in the writing community on the map for me. It really helped get my first book out," said de Meijer.
The experience almost literally put places and people in the writing community on the map for me.
"Once I had that prize experience and started completing the manuscript that that poem was a part of, it was much easier to find a publisher."
These comments have been edited for length and clarity.
