Established in memory of writer Bronwen Wallace, this award has a proven track record of identifying future writing stars. Alternating each year between short fiction and poetry, the 2019 prize will be given for an outstanding collection of unpublished poetry.
The prize is sponsored by Royal Bank of Canada. The winner is announced at a special ceremony in the spring.
2019 jurors Jordan Abel, Emma Healey, and Sue Goyette read 212 anonymous submissions to select the three finalists.
“Thisawardhasbeenatremendouslypositiveexperienceandhasalreadyhadanimpactonmycareer.ItalsogavemeaccesstothevibrantliterarycommunityinCanada.”
Bronwen Wallace was a poet, short story writer, and mentor to many young writers as a creative writing instructor at Queen’s University and St. Lawrence College in Kingston. This prize was established in her honour in 1994 by a group of friends and colleagues. Wallace felt that writers should have more opportunities for recognition early in their careers and so this annual award is given to a writer below the age of 35 who has published poetry or prose in literary magazines, journals, or anthologies, but has not yet been published in book form.
Royal Bank of Canada is Canada’s largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. RBC is one of North America’s leading diversified financial services companies, and provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services, and capital markets products and services on a global basis. RBC has over 80,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States, and 37 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com.
Since 2003, RBC’s investments in arts organizations have exceeded $72 million. Since 2015, over 8,000 artists have been supported through Emerging Artists programs. In 2018, the RBC Foundation donated $7.3 million as part of the Emerging Artists Project to over 130 organizations in Canada, helping to bridge the gap for over 2,700 emerging artists.
RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments, and employee volunteer activities. For more information please see: rbc.com/community-sustainability.
