Power Poets
Local writer Andrea Callanan is this year檚 winner of the Gregory J. Power Poetry Award.
Ms. Callanan檚 poem, 淩evival won first prize in the annual competition honouring 91亚色檚 poets. She was presented with a cheque for $300 by Julia Power, granddaughter of the award檚 namesake, at a ceremony on Thursday, April 6. Gregory J. Power Jr. was also present at the ceremony.
Matthew Hollett won second prize valued at $200, for 淏errypickers in Bauline and Katie Vautour took third, valued at $100 for 淧atient. Both Mr. Howlett and Ms. Vautour are working towards diplomas in creative writing. Honourable mentions were awarded to MA students Shannon Webb Campbell for 淭he Decolonization of My Heart and Megan Loch for 淒epart 7 am Tuesday. Undergraduate English student Alexandra Duff received honourable mention for 淚t Follows.
The competition is open to all 91亚色 undergraduates and graduate students. Judges Drs. Joel Deshaye and Susan Ingersoll (now retired from the Department of English) received 55 poems from 32 entrants (the rules allow for each entrant to submit up to two poems).
淎ndreae Callanan's poem "Revival" stood out because it is a deft historical tale of pickles, which is not a typical subject of a poem and which made the history snappy, said Dr. Deshaye. 淭he poem has playful changes of tone the speaker aghast at the prospect of the end of national pickle production (榥o pickles left in the shops at all), and then proudly resourceful as the locals execute a plan to restore the supply by themselves, each local business offering 榓 signature slant, / each community a variation, an accent. It's a pitch-perfect, sparkling, focused commentary on the potential for local self-sufficiency in an era of globalization.
Ms. Callanan plans to begin her MA with a creative focus in the spring semester. She is currently enrolled in a graduate level poetry course.
At the ceremony, Professor Mary Dalton read from Gregory檚 Power檚 淏ogwood, which has been called one of the province檚 best literary achievements. Professor Dalton also awarded the Jeroboam Poetry Prize to Mr. Hollett for 淢erchant Vessel. The award was established by the founding members of the student publishing house Jeroboam to honour a poem with a subject unique to Newfoundland and Labrador.
Gregory J. Power was born in Dunville, N.L., in 1909 and first achieved recognition as an athlete; in 1930, he represented Newfoundland at the first British Empire Games. He was a Member of the House of Assembly for Placentia-St. Mary檚 from 1951 to 1959, serving as both minister of Finance and minister of Highways in those years. The Gregory J. Power Poetry Prize recognizes Mr. Power檚 literary gifts; he twice won the O橪eary Newfoundland Poetry Awards and published two important books: Gems of Newfoundland Poetry(1967) and The Power of the Pen (1989).