The Honourable Steve Crocker, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation, is congratulating the winners of the 72nd annual Arts and Letters Awards Program. The awards were presented on Friday evening (April 19) during a ceremony at The Rooms.
This year, prizes totaling $46,700 were awarded in literary, music, visual arts and media arts sections. There were 30 winning entries in the Junior Division and 32 winning entries in the Senior Division, with an additional 27 Visual Art exhibitors chosen by the Curator at The Rooms, Mireille Eagan. A total of 618 entries were submitted for consideration for the 2024 program.
The Percy Janes First Novel Award, with the program’s top prize of $2,500, was awarded to Sabrina Pinksen for her novel, Those Who Stayed.
A detailed list of award recipients can be found in the backgrounder below. More information on the program and submission guidelines can be found here.
First launched in 1952, the Arts and Letters Awards Program is a renowned provincial program that encourages artistic creation and recognizes excellence through the awarding of monetary prizes, along with the opportunity for adjudication, to both emerging and established artists. Original creative work in literature, music, visual art, and media arts are eligible for submission annually.
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“Since its inception in 1952, the Arts and Letters Awards Program has been a beacon of encouragement and celebration for artists from various backgrounds, experiences, cultures and traditions. Artistic expression stands as a cornerstone of our province’s cultural mosaic, serving as a powerful medium for vitality and wellness. Sincere congratulations to this year’s exceptional winners and applicants! Your dedication and creativity are invaluable in shaping and enriching the artistic landscape of Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Honourable Steve Crocker
Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation
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Learn more
Arts and Letter Awards Program
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BACKGROUNDER
JUNIOR AWARD WINNERS
Junior Poetry [15 and Under] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Maggie Burton, Randy Drover, Katie Vautour
Anastasia Saika-Voivod, A Snowman
Sadie Butt, These are my Summers
Mia Butler, Alignment
Logan Caines, What we Forget to See
Junior Poetry [16-20] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Maggie Burton, Randy Drover, Katie Vautour
Rhyann Sibley, Ramea, NL
Arielle Connors, Birdbrain
Michelle Woodfine, Sinking Out
Bridget O’Brien, The Graduate
Junior Prose [15 and Under] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Ainsley Hawthorn, Charlotte Jones
Isabella Sommerfeld, The Letters we Read
Caylee Smith-Stoney, What can I do?
Dylan Whitten, Finding Peter P
Maia McKeown, Forsea
Junior Prose [16-20] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Ainsley Hawthorn, Charlotte Jones
Tanish Bhatt, A Pawn’s Shadow
Léna Bernard Wills, Seluk’s Fable
Alicia Power, Growing Up
Brianna Russell, Black Hole
Junior French Literary ($350 prize)
Adjudicator: Agnès Mamet
William Lush, Les roses d’or, d’argent et de bronze
Junior Music [15 and under] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Justin Fancy, Ian Foster
Ethan Gough, Dead Bodies
Junior Music [16-20] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Justin Fancy, Ian Foster
Summer Bennett, Another Girl
Rebecca-Ann Bartlett, Wrong
Junior Visual Art [15 and under] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Daze Jefferies, Jessica McDonald
Ava Slaney Hearn, A Matter Of Time
Emma Coffin, Here in the Garden
Ava Caines, Orange Bliss
Adam Masek, Fungi
Junior Visual Art [16-20] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Daze Jefferies, Jessica McDonald
Bronwyn Fiske, Nice to Meet You
Kanto Ratsimandresy, Healing the Inner Child
Amy Parsons, Our Mechanized Future
Briagh Hogan, Haleine
Junior Media Arts ($350 prize)
Adjudicator: Jenn Brown
Jesse Carew, Your Cat
Nyah Williams, Oranges
SENIOR AWARD WINNERS
Senior Poetry ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Mark Callanan, George Murray
Matthew Hollett, Lobster Villanelle
Duncan Major, Three Voices
Allie Duff, Bleeding Through My Jeans at The Bonavista Foodland
Bernard N. Wills, Pictures
Senior Short Fiction ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Evan Careen, Renée Hackett
Ida Linehan Young, Never
Darren Ivany, The Banshee on Salmonier Line
Connie Boland, Cards Laid Out On The Table
Kirsti Mikoda, Pam Sunday
Senior Nonfiction ($1000 prize)
Adjudicator: Libby Creelman
Stephanie Morgan, Going Home
Sara Swain, Palimpsest
Christina Wells, The Third Line of my Haiku
Senior Dramatic Script ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Ruth Lawrence, Bernardine Stapleton
Santiago Guzmán, Seis Grados en Mayo
Cole Hayley, & They All Melt Into Their Carpets
Senior French Literary ($1000 prize)
Adjudicator: Agnès Mamet
Mohamed Madiou, Âme fanée
Percy Janes First Novel Award ($2500 prize)
Adjudicator: Sharon Bala
Sabrina Pinksen, Those Who Stayed
Senior Music ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Justin Fancy, Ian Foster
Alex Dinn, Fairweather Friend
Pat Sloan, Can’t Wait
Mark Hoyles, It’s Not Bad, It’s Just Fast
Madisan Dohaney, Erase Me
Senior Media Arts ($1000 prize)
Adjudicator: Jenn Brown
Jason MacDonald, Evolution of a Province
Senior Visual Art ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Marlene Creates, Kendall Sweeney, Anastasia Tiller
Wanita Normore Powell, Tranquil, Inviting Lights
Kathryn Welbourn, Gifts of St. Vincent’s
Cathy Driedzic, Panorama: Life on the Ria Formosa
Nasim Makaremi Nia, Tuckaway
Carolina Valverde Cardenas, Glow
Shane N. Dwyer, Political Landscape
Maggie Rex, August
Amber Gibbon, Up in Smoke
Nicole Travers, Nkamulamun (My Heart)
Louis-Christophe Villeneuve, Vase torus 2023
Shell Ledrew, Newfoundlander at Vimy
Ting Ting Chen, A Midsummer Morning’s Dream: A Self Portrait