|
NLIS 3 2002 Arts and Letters Awards recipients announced Julie Bettney, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, announced the recipients of the 2002 Arts and Letters Awards at a gala ceremony at the St. John�s Arts and Culture Centre Saturday evening. "The Arts and Letters Awards honours the creative spirit in all of us," said Minister Bettney. "We are pleased to help celebrate its 50th anniversary by holding a gala to recognize the contribution of past as well as current winners." The Minister added that government used the opportunity of the jubilee anniversary to improve the program to better reflect changes in the art world. The changes include: renaming the program the "Arts and Letters Award" from the "Arts and Letters Competition" to emphasize that the program is a celebration of excellence among equals, encouraging more participation in the musical competition category; and consolidating the various visual arts categories into one to make it easier for artists to combine various techniques into one work or to use non-traditional materials. Author Kevin Major, chair of the Arts and Letters Committee, thanked the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador for increasing the budget of the program by $40,000 this year in honour of the anniversary. "We are proud of the fact that the majority of these funds went directly to artists, either as increased prizes or increased honoraria for the adjudicators," said Mr. Major. "Some of the additional funding also went to develop a new Web site to make the program more accessible to future entrants, a commemorative booklet identifying all past winners of the program and the gala event." Seventeen prizes were awarded in the Junior Division for entrants 12 to 18, and 25 prizes were awarded in the Senior Division. Prizes in both divisions were awarded for prose, poetry, visual arts and musical composition. Minister Bettney presented the Senior Awards while Christopher Pratt, Ron Hynes, Michael Crummey, Bernice Morgan and Julia Pickard presented the Junior Awards. In addition, the Percy Janes First Novel Award was presented to Oral Mews for his manuscript I Have a Solution for the Woman with Slugs, and three awards were presented for the David C. Saxon Humanitarian Essay Competition. The presentation of awards was interspersed with performances and exhibits from award winners past and present, including works by dramatist Helen Porter, writer Tom Dawe and poet Lenore Pratt. The Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador at the St. John�s Arts and Culture Centre is showing an exhibition of the winning visual arts entries, along with selected other entries, from June 2 to June 16. "This is a wonderful opportunity for those who could not make the awards gala to see some of the work of our talented artists," said Minister Bettney. "I congratulate and thank everyone who submitted their work for the 2002 Arts and Letters Awards. This year 1,400 people submitted entries and although not everyone could win an award, this is evidence of the great creative talent we have in Newfoundland and Labrador." To obtain a copy of the commemorative booklet, or for more information about the Arts and Letters Awards, please call Regina Best, Arts and Letters Awards Coordinator, (709) 729-5253.
Media contact: Carmel Turpin, Communications, (709) 729-0928.
Junior Division Short Shory, Essay or Dramatic Script
Poetry Division
Visual Arts
Musical Composition
Senior Division Poetry
Fictional Prose
Non-Fictional Prose
Dramatic Script
Musical Composition
Visual Art
Percy Janes First Novel Award
David C. Saxon Humanitarian Essay Competition
2002 06 03 12:15 p.m. |
||
|
