Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural community was in the spotlight this past weekend as the winners of the 2018 Arts and Letters Awards Program were announced at The Rooms in St. John’s.
Prizes totaling $43,000 were awarded in literary, music, visual arts, and digital multimedia categories. In the junior division, 30 winning entries were submitted from youth, while there were 31 winning submissions in the senior division. A total of 423 entries were submitted for consideration under the 2018 Arts and Letters Program. The Percy Janes First Novel Award, the program’s top prize of $2,500, was awarded to Willow Kean of St. John’s for her manuscript Our Impossible Forever. A detailed list of award recipients can be found in the backgrounder below.
For the first time, the public is invited to a brief exhibition at The Rooms to view works by winners and selected entries of the 2018 Arts and Letters Awards program.
In keeping with commitments set out in The Way Forward, this year the Arts and Letters Awards Program moved to digital delivery for the first time, improving efficiency and opening the program in future to a greater number of submissions from all areas of the province . The Way Forward outlines all actions the Provincial Government is taking to achieve a strong, diversified province with a high standard of living, and can be viewed at thewayforward.gov.nl.ca.
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“For 66 years, the Arts and Letters Awards program has celebrated the artistic expression of our province’s artists, both emerging and established. The program fosters the creation of new works through an annual competition that includes the awarding of monetary prizes and the exhibition of winners and additional meritorious entries. Congratulations to all this year’s winners and entrants, and thank you for your continued contribution to the growth and evolution of Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural landscape. This cultural landscape is a significant contributor to our province both socially and economically, and that is why we are currently holding consultations throughout the province to set the priorities and key actions for a new cultural plan.”
Honourable Christopher Mitchelmore
Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation
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Learn More
Arts and Letters program – www.gov.nl.ca/artsandletters
Engaging Stakeholders on Development of a New Cultural Action Plan
gov.nl.ca/releases/2018/tcii/0425n09.aspx
The Way Forward – thewayforward.gov.nl.ca
Follow us on Twitter: @GovNL and @TCII_GovNL
Media contact
Eric Humber
Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation
709-729-4819, 725-9655
erichumber@gov.nl.ca
BACKGROUNDER
2018 Arts and Letters Awards Recipients
Senior Poetry
(46 entries; $1,000 prize) Adjudicators: James Langer and Stephen Rowe
| Name | Home | Title |
| Matthew Hollett | St. John’s | Theory of Ghosts |
| Catherine Daley | Goulds | To Split Stone |
| Anna Swanson | St. John’s | In which skinny dipping temporarily fixes a voice |
| Cory Collins | St. John’s | A Canticle of Morales |
Senior Short Fiction
(45 entries; $1,000 prize) Adjudicators: Sharon Bala and Jessica Grant
| Name | Home | Title |
| Dane Gill | Gander | Cassette Tape |
| Allison Graves | St. John’s | Shallow Water |
| John Robinson Blackmore | St. John’s | Lub Dub Funk |
| Colleen Soulliere | Harbour Grace | Driving Lessons |
Senior Nonfiction
(15 entries; $1,000 prize) Adjudicator: Jenny Higgins
| Name | Home | Title |
| Susie Taylor | Harbour Grace | An Inconvenient Heart |
| Tom Moore | St. John’s | The Rat |
| Caroline Hillier | Paradise | The Dove and the Bullet |
Senior Dramatic Script
(6 entries; $1,000 prize) Adjudicator: Sara Tilley
| Name | Home | Title |
| Berni Stapleton | St. John’s | Dolly |
| Emily Bridger | St. John’s | Our Hell is a Good Life |
Junior Poetry
(93 entries; $350 prize) Adjudicators: Alison Dyer and Randy Drover
| Name | Home | Title |
| Kelsey Brennan | Port au Port | Dress Code |
| Emma Butler | Kippens | My Sister’s Song |
| Madison LaSaga | Stephenville | Day Dreamer |
| Sarina Quereshi | Stephenville | A Story All Too Common: Confessions of a Brown Girl |
| Cassandra Clowe-Coish | St. John’s | Ether, Appeaser |
| Olivia Perry | York Harbour | 400 Post Meridiem |
| Amber Gibbon | Stephenville | I Knew |
| Emily Griffin | Carbonear | I Remember |
Junior Prose
(27 entries; $350 prize) Adjudicators: Dave Andrews and Beth Ryan
| Name | Home | Title |
| Dannika Furst | St. John’s | The Waterfall |
| Madilyn Miller | St. John’s | Eclipse |
| Tingzhi Linda Zhang | St. John’s | 122 |
| Kate Brown | Gander | Drifting Memories |
| Faith Ford | Paradise | I Hope You Never Read This |
| Emma Cole | St. John’s | Jubilance |
| Leslie Amminson | St. John’s | Weight |
| Hayleigh Bursey | Mount Pearl | The Last Will and Testament of Private Samuel Leighton |
Junior French Literary
(6 entries; $350 prize) Adjudicator: Stephanie Bowring
| Name | Home | Title |
| Jada Chesney | Mount Pearl | Petit garçon de musique |
Senior Music
(18 entries; $1,000 prize) Adjudicators: Brian Way, Sonya Gosse, and Joe Argentino
| Name | Home | Title |
| Louise Gauthier | Corner Brook | Petit Coeur |
| Aiden Hartery | Grand Falls-Windsor | Mundus Novus |
| John Ennis | St. John’s | The Offering |
| Allie Duff | St. John’s | On Your Side |
Junior Music
(7 entries; $350 prize) Adjudicators: Brian Way, Sonya Gosse, and Joe Argentino
| Name | Home | Title |
| Nick Trnka | St. John’s | Pulp Fiction |
| Paige Penney | St. John’s | Natural Disaster |
| Clare Follett | St. John’s | Nine Hundred Ninety-Nine |
| Olivia Jones | St. John’s | Rain |
Senior Visual Art
(100 entries; $1,000 prize) Adjudicators: Ray Fennelly, Greg Bennett, Philippa Jones
| Name | Home | Title |
| Fatima Hammond | St. John’s | Pitcher Plant |
| Jill O’Reilly | St. John’s | Shoreline Blooms |
| Kaitlyn Jones | CBS | Bright Eyes and Blueberry Pie |
| Deborah Cannon | Portugal Cove-St. Philips | Remembering Pennan |
| Mary Dunphy | St. John’s | Beloved Son |
| Krista Van Nostrand | St. John’s | Great Blue Heron and Bulrushes |
| Sheri Coombs | St. John’s | The Driver |
| Tim Pottle | St. John’s | Got to get me moose b’y |
| Michael Harlick | Conception Harbour | Moose Knife |
| Graham Cox | St. John’s | Brussel Sprouts |
| Cindy Saunders | St. John’s | Nan’s Garden |
| Darren Whalen | St. John’s | Tom of the Group of Seventy-Seven |
Junior Visual Art
(44 entries; $350 prize) Adjudicators: April White and Jeanette Jobson
| Name | Home | Title |
| Grace Way | St. John’s | Rose-Coloured Sky |
| Isobel Gauthier | St. John’s | Curly |
| Samantha Frew | Mount Pearl | Hidden |
| Rebecca Boone | St. John’s | In Bloom |
| Andie Lois Winsor | Mount Pearl | The Waiting Room |
| Kaeleigh Fitzgerald | Clarenville | Confined |
| Ellen Saunders | St. John’s | Nature’s Eye |
| Breanna Tilley | CBS | Deadly Flora |
Percy Janes First Novel Award
(11 entries; $2,500 prize) Adjudicator: Janet McNaughton
| Name | Home | Title |
| Willow Kean | St. John’s | Our Impossible Forever |
Senior Digital Multi Media
(2 entries; $1,000 prize) Adjudicator: Duncan Major
| Name | Home | Title |
| Curtis Collier | St. John’s | Confederation ‘49 |
Junior Digital Multi Media
(3 entries; $350 prize) Adjudicator: Duncan Major
| Name | Home | Title |
| Julia Dawe | St. John’s | Butter Witch |