Canadian Christian Poetry Contest: Winners

Contest Winners at Utmost Canada

Contest winners for our Canadian poetry contests are listed below. For information on other poetry contests—offering much larger prizes—please visit our international site.

Most of the poems below are from our previous quarterly contest for Canadians. Most of these poems were written to a suggested theme.

2010 Poetry Contest: Deadline June 1

Prizes will be mailed on July 5, due to the holiday weekend.

($600 in prizes paid)

First Prize: $300 Nishan Swais Toronto, Ontario	Ontological Sonnet
Honorable Mention: $200 Matthew S. MacLennan Vancouver, BC	Left
Judges' Favorite: $50 Violet Nesdoly Langley, BC	Trinkets
Judges' Favorite: $50 Anne Laidlaw Sault Ste Marie, Ontario	landmarks lost

2009 Poetry Contests: Deadline October 31
Theme: "Fire Scene"

"Poets wrote on an image of two deer standing in a river, surrounded by a forest fire."

($300 in prizes paid)

First Prize: $200 Matthew S. MacLennan Vancouver, BC	Serotiny
Honorable Mention: $50 Nishan Swais Toronto, Ontario	The Consuming Fire
Honorable Mention: $50 Violet Nesdoly Langley, BC	Forest Usurper

2009 Poetry Contests: Deadline July 31
Theme: "Make Us Laugh"

"Your winning poem will touch the funny bone of Utmost judge, Nathan Harms."

($300 in prizes paid)

First Prize: $100 (TIE) Kevin P. McCabe St. Catherines, Ontario	Zoom By Ya
First Prize: $100 (TIE) Alvin G. Ens Abbotsford, BC	Pointless
Honorable Mention: $50 Ruth Hill Chetwynd, BC	Squirmin' Herman
Honorable Mention: $50 Stephanie Tombari Burlington, Ontario	The Wreck of Frederick McPhee

2009 Poetry Contests: Deadline April 30
Theme: Psalm 51:10-12

"Your winning poem will be based on the psalmist's words in verses 10 – 12 of the 51st Psalm."

($350 in prizes paid)

First Prize: $250 Daryl Wocknitz Champion, Alberta	The Question
Honorable Mention: $50 Gail Dickie Markham, Ontario	Just As I Am
Honorable Mention: $50 Tricia Larose Sudbury, Ontario	Showered

2009 Poetry Contests: Deadline January 31
Theme: Open Theme

($350 in prizes paid)

First Prize (shared): $125 Christy Frost Verdun, Quebec	Vox vocis
First Prize (shared): $125 Daryl Wocknitz Champion, Alberta	Keats in the Field
Honorable Mention: $50 Alvin G. Ens Abbotsford, British Columbia	Guiding Light
Honorable Mention: $50 Margaret Drage Sarnia, Ontario	A Day in God's Life

2008 Poetry Contests: Deadline October 31
Theme: Where is God?

"Your winning poem will deal in some way with the question, 'Where is God?'"

($350 in prizes paid)

First Prize: $250 Judith Frost Verdun, Quebec	The Ants' Part in Opening the Peony
Honorable Mention: $50 Daryl Wocknitz Champion, Alberta	Adam: On Mortal Skin
Honorable Mention: $50 Violet Nesdoly Langley, British Columbia	His Name

2008 Poetry Contests: Deadline July 31
Theme: Flag

"Your winning poem will be titled 'Flag.'"

($350 in prizes paid)

First Prize: $250 Violet Nesdoly Langley, British Columbia	Flag
Honorable Mention: $50 Alvin G. Ens Abbotsford, British Columbia	The Flag
Honorable Mention: $50 Patricia Anne Elford Pembroke, Ontario	Flag

2008 Poetry Contests: Deadline Apr. 30
Theme: Thaw

"Your winning poem must contain the word 'thaw.'"

($400 in prizes paid)

First Prize: $250
Marcia Lee Laycock
Blackfalds, Alberta

Dying to Live

Honorable Mention: $50
Daryl Wocknitz
Champion, Alberta

Thaw

Honorable Mention (Tie): $50
Connie Spuria
London, Ontario

Honorable Mention (Tie): $50
Patricia Peters
Swift Current, Saskatchewan

April

The Time When Kings Go Off to War

2008 Poetry Contests: Deadline Jan. 31
Theme: Redeemed

"The theme of this contest is Redeemed."

($350 in prizes paid)

First Prize: $250 Judith Frost Verdun, Quebec	This is the Hard Part
Honorable Mention: $50 Peggy Fletcher Sarnia, Ontario	Looking Down Life
Honorable Mention: $50 Lorraine Buck Charlottetown, PEI	Ode to Biblis

2007 Poetry Contests: Deadline Oct. 31
Theme: Canadian Landscape

"The winning poem will excel in imagery and language. It will be clearly Canadian in the landscape it shares with readers. (Think of it as 'A. Y. Jackson in poetry!')"

The quality of the poems entered in our first Canadian contest was outstanding. Some of the poems not selected as winners are no doubt worthy of publication. Judges were unable to choose for First Prize between poems submitted by Alvin Ens and Sabrina L'Heureux, so it was decided to split the $250 prize between these two poets. We also added a third Honorable Mention for this contest.

($325 in prizes paid)

First Prize (shared): $125 Alvin G. Ens Abbotsford, British Columbia	From Coast to Coast
First Prize (shared): $125 Sabrina L'Heureux Dawson Creek, British Columbia	Car nap
Honorable Mention: $25 Violet Nesdoly Langley, British Columbia	Canadian Rivers
Honorable Mention: $25 Judith Frost Verdun, Quebec	Seasons of an Island Home
Honorable Mention: $25 Peggy Fletcher Sarnia, Ontario	Group of Seven Worship

Christian Poetry Contest

Contest Winners at Utmost Canada

($600 in prizes paid)

($300 in prizes paid)

($300 in prizes paid)

($350 in prizes paid)

($350 in prizes paid)

($350 in prizes paid)

($350 in prizes paid)

($400 in prizes paid)

($350 in prizes paid)

2007 Poetry Contests: Deadline Oct. 31 Theme: Canadian Landscape

($325 in prizes paid)

2007 Poetry Contests: Deadline Oct. 31
Theme: Canadian Landscape