2019 Priscila Uppal Prize Winners

We are thrilled to introduce the recipients of the first annual Priscila Uppal Memorial Award for Poetry. Over 250 poems from over 100 poets were submitted to the contest and these were all carefully considered by judge Phoebe Wang as blind submissions.

First place: “After Learning My Friend Has Cancer” by Rebekah Rempel

Rebekah Rempel studied creative writing at the University of Victoria. Her poems have appeared in a number of journals, including Grain Magazine, Prairie Fire, Room Magazine, and Contemporary Verse 2, as well as the anthologies Sweet Water: Poems for the Watersheds (Caitlin Press), Refugium: Poems for the Pacific (Caitlin Press), Force Field: 77 Women Poets of British Columbia (Mother Tongue Publishing), and Unfurled: Collected Poetry from Northern BC Women (Caitlin Press). She lives near Dawson Creek, BC.

This poem opened with a running line that didn’t lose a beat of its momentum. Its tone is casual but cut through with colour and the abrupt changes in mood that mimic the startling impact of grief, the way the attention wanders when a loss is too terrible to contemplate. I heard in its recalcitrant and seemingly neutral image of hope a stubborn refusal to see meaning as one thing or another, as open or shut. It was coincidental that a poem about losing a friend to cancer should be the winner of the inaugural Priscila Uppal Memorial Award contest, but this poem’s sound and substantial imagery made the choice simple. — Phoebe Wang

Second place: “False Memories” by Halle Gulbrandsen

Halle Gulbrandsen is a writer and pilot from Ladner, BC. Her work has been previously published in The New Quarterly, CV2, Juniper, The Antigonish Review, and others. Find her in the sky, by the water, or online at hallegulbrandsen.com.

I was struck by this poem’s sharpness and movement, the way it pulled me along its thought process and its humour, and how it asks us to “Come sit,/come watch the kites/bend like wet light,” an invitation that is hard to refuse. The poem ends with a simple and insistent declaration of wanting not only to survive, but to accumulate meaningful memories. — Phoebe Wang

You will be able to read the winning poems in Canthius 08, which will be published this summer. Thank you so much to everyone who submitted their work to our first poetry contest. We hope that you’ll consider submitting again in the fall.

We are also so grateful to Phoebe Wang for her careful engagement with all of the poems submitted and for her thoughtful reviews of the winning poems. Please note that all poems were submitted to Phoebe anonymously.

Finally, we’d like to thank all of Priscila’s friends who reached out to us with their support and feedback as we launched this inaugural award. You were in our thoughts throughout this process and we are very grateful to have shared this opportunity to celebrate Priscila’s life and legacy. We understand that Priscila touched many lives in numerous ways and we welcome continued feedback on this award in her honour.