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(Back row, left to right: President Lorna R. Marsden, Libby Zeleke, Alex Nassar, Meghan Leitch, the Hon. David Tsubouchi, Mark Auger, Rosemary Paniccia, Katherine Maheux, Julie Read and Eliza Clark; and front row, left to right: Professor Priscila Uppal, Leigh Nash, Mandi Freedman, Trang Cao and Sean Moore)
There are some elated students on campus these days – winners of York’s 2003 Creative Writing Program prizes. On March 18, representatives of the President’s Office, the Creative Writing Program and the Division of Humanities hosted a reception for the award recipients.
Handing out prizes were Lorna R. Marsden, York president and vice-chancellor, Priscila Uppal, professor, coordinator of the Creative Writing Program and graduate of the program, and David Tsubouchi, Ontario minister of culture and Chair of the management board of cabinet. Tsubouchi holds a BA in English from York and a law degree from the University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.
The competition is open to any full- or part-time York undergraduate student.
There are three awards: President’s Prizes, which include four categories – poetry, prose fiction, screenwriting and playwriting – bp nichol Award and Sorbara Award.
Prize recipients are as follows.
1. President’s Prizes
A. Poetry
Winner
Katherine Maheux, “Once There Was a Boy”
Honourable Mentions:
- Julie Read, “A Way of Dreaming”
- Meghan Leitch, “Decadence”
- Alex Nassar, “The Caravanserai of the Gods”
B. Prose fiction
Winner
Alex Nassar, “Silence and the Butterflies”
Honourable Mentions:
- Mandi Freedman, The Length of a Minute
- Libby Zeleke, Tales of the Trouble Girls
C. Screenwriting
Winner
Mark Auger, L’amour a trois
D. Playwriting
Winner
Rosemary Paniccia, Perfectly Empty
2. bp nichol Award
Alex Nassar
The bp nichol Award is named after the experimental poet who taught at York in the 1970s and the early 1980s before his untimely death. The award is for a graduating student who has developed the most over the course of the program.
Sorbara Award
- Trang Cao
- Sean Moore
- Leigh Nash
The Sorbara Award is sponsored by Gregory and Kate Sorbara and their six children, all of whom have a strong dedication to the creative arts and music. Gregory Sorbara is a graduate of Glendon College and Osgoode Hall Law School. He was a member of the Ontario Legislature from 1985 to 1995 and is now a partner in the Sorbara Group. The Sorbara Award in Creative Writing was established to provide financial assistance to students with proven talent and commitment in the area of creative writing. This is the first year that the Sorbara Award has been given.