The Montreal International Poetry Prize (also known as The Montreal Prize) is a biennial poetry competition based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was launched in April 2011 during National Poetry Month.
The competition invites online submissions of poems in English from anywhere in the world, and is adjudicated by a board of 10 international editors, which changes every competition, but the winner is selected by a single judge - in 2011, it was former British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion. Subsequent judges have been Don Paterson in 2013, Eavan Boland in 2015, and Michael Harris (poet) in 2017.
The $20,000 (CAD) prize is thought to be the world's largest monetary prize for a single poem.
In addition to the winning poem, the Montreal Prize publishes, with Véhicule Press, the top 50 poems in a printed anthology. The Véhicule Press poetry imprint, Signal Editions published The Global Poetry Anthology in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. In 2011 and 2013 the Montreal Prize produced an electronic longlist anthology. In 2015 the Montreal Prize discontinued the longlist anthology.
The Department of English at McGill University manages the Montreal Prize as of 2018. Yusef Komunyakaa is the judge for the 2020 Montreal Prize.
Winners
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Mark Tredinnick |
| 2013 | Mia Anderson |
| 2015 | Eva H.D. |
| 2017 | Erin Rodoni |
| 2020 | Victoria Korth |
| 2022 | Claire Wahmanholm |
References
- John Lundberg (April 3, 2011). "National Poetry Month Highlighted In Two High-Profile Contests". Huffington Post. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
National Poetry Month is here, and two newly announced poetry prizes are getting a lot of attention. You might even qualify to win one of them. The first annual Montreal International Poetry Prize awarded $50,000 for one winning poem.
- CBC.ca (March 29, 2011). "New Montreal Prize to award $50K for poetry". CBC News. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
Organizers of the Montreal International Poetry Prize have enlisted former British poet laureate Andrew Motion to judge the inaugural edition of the Canadian-based competition.
- Jeff Heinrich (March 31, 2011). "Your key to winning $50,000? Pure poetry". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
We realized that there's nothing on that scale for just one poem. And so there was an opportunity there. And when we started to think of it globally, that's when we realized how unique it could be.
- CBC.ca (March 29, 2011). "New Montreal Prize to award $50K for poetry". CBC News. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
Véhicule Press will publish two collections from the submissions: an e-book collection featuring the long-listed candidates and another global anthology (to be published in print and e-book) focusing on the finalists.
- "About the Prize".
- "2020 Competition — Montreal International Poetry Prize". www.montrealpoetryprize.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2020.