2005 John Newlove Award

This year’s judge for the 2005 John Newlove Award was Toronto fiction writer, poet, editor, and creative-writing instructor, Stuart Ross. The selection committee chose 20 poems, from which Mr. Ross selected four honourable mentions and one winning poem. Melissa Upfold, read from her poem, 'Coy'.

The festival's writer in residence, rob mclennan, gives Melissa a lesson on posing like a poet.

From bywords.ca:
The annual John Newlove Poetry award, launched in the fall of 2004, commemorates the honest, poignant and well-written poetry of John Newlove, an Ottawa resident for almost twenty years and poet who died in 2003.

The 4 poems receiving honourable mention in 2005 are

alligator pear by Caleb J W Brasset;
When I doubt the gospels by Rhonda Douglas;
Monday morning by Chris Pitre;
Fence Posts by Andrew Stacey


Each year the winner will receive a certificate, a poetry book by John Newlove and the opportunity to publish a chapbook through Bywords. This year’s award winner received Black Night Window, 1st Edition.

Poems published on bywords.ca from September 2005 to August 2006 will be eligible for consideration for next year’s Newlove award.

last year's award winner Norma Elliot was absent from the night's proceedings due to illness. Her step-daughter Tarryn, read in her place. Norma, inspired by Alden Nowlan, Gwendolyn McEwan, and John Newlove, selected poems from these authors for Tarryn to read.