Poetry Contest / Concours de poésie

 

Poetry Contest Winners             Past Contest Details

 

2026 CLC Poetry Contest: "Cross-Pollination" /
2026 Concours de poésie du CLC: « Pollinisation croisée »

 

The Centre for Literatures in Canada once again invites students from Athabasca University, MacEwan University, the University of Alberta, or the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to submit a poem written primarily in English and/or French.

This year we are looking for the best poem written on the theme of Cross-Pollination, interpreted literally and/or metaphorically.

 

The first place winner will receive $400 + a gift bag, and second place will receive $200. The deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM on March 22, 2026. A jury panel from the participating universities will select the winners, who will be announced in April 2026.

Please read and follow the instructions for submission carefully. 

Terms and Instructions:

• Eligible submission: One unpublished poem per student, on the theme of “Cross-Pollination."
• The poem can be one page in length maximum; poems longer than a page will be disqualified.
• Email your poem in .doc, .docx, or PDF format, with no identifying information on the document, to clccomm@ualberta.ca with the subject line [Your Last Name]: CLC Poetry Contest.
• Include your name, university email, and departmental and university affiliation in the body of the email only.

 

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2025 CLC Poetry Contest!

 

The CLC congratulates Alexis De Villa and Teren Hazzard as joint first-place winners of our 2025 Student Poetry Contest! 

Read the poems and bios from the winning poets below. 

Thank you to this year's contest jury--Ryan Fitzpatrick (Writer-in-Residence, U of A), Gabriel Proulx (Athabasca), Lisa Martin (MacEwan), and Kelly Shepherd (NAIT)--whose comments about each poem we share below. Thank you to all the students who submitted poems this year, as well as to our contest partners and sponsors: Athabasca University, MacEwan University, NAIT, Athabasca University Press, NeWest Press, University of Alberta Press, and the Edmonton Poetry Festival.

The Gateway, the U of A student newspaper, interviewed the winning poets about their interpretation of this year's poetry contest theme: polyphony. Read The Gateway interview with Alexis and Teren.

 

"sinigang on settler states" by Alexis De Villa

as pinoy kids on stolen lands
knowing collective existence is a chorus within our being
the warm harmonics of sinigang
the pork, the bok choy, the green beans, the sour tamarind soup
at minus 30 weather
interwoven with a melody singing "a better life but for whom?”
sipping sinigang wishing I knew the guava tree my mom sang about as a child
while only knowing the notes of tensioned ties to trees that are just as invasive as we
swaying between dissonance
comma
cognitive
and cross solidarity movements

i can't imagine sinigang without jasmine rice
i don't know life without these lands

 

From the jury: “'sinigang on settler states' simmers a spatial mix, reflecting on diasporic existence on stolen land. Its argument ends on a contradictory position around home and geography, of how and where the poem’s speaker is able to imagine themselves and the wish for a 'better life' amidst the dissonant feeling that they may be a kind of invasive species. The poem is soupy in a good way, swinging its lines across the page as it offers a complex warmth that pairs well with its critical sense of longing."

Alexis De Villa (they/them) is a pinoy/pangasinan transdisciplinary artist creating and moving in amiskwaciwâskahikan. They are just finishing up their MA in Material Culture at the University of Alberta, while also being a parent to the loveliest little human! Their approach to writing and art is informed by a blend of activism, self-knowing, lived experience, and intergenerational knowledge. They believe that knowledge and beauty is co-created through relationships with community and the land, and that all art must be done with consent, love, compassion, honesty, and reciprocity.

 

 

"Dance with Us, Girly Girl" by Teren Hazzard

A giggle bubbles in the baby’s throat that
rumbles and pops on her mother’s chest.
Mom’s own laugh echoes through Grandma’s hat
to Dad and aunt and brother and guest.

ABBA* crowns dancing queens on the radio for days.
High-pitched cries are a cracking beat of sticks
before a concerto of shhhh sends her in a daze.
”Chiquitita, tell me what’s wrong,” a metronome ticks.

Girly girl, girly girl, the food is almost ready.
Girly girl, girly girl, smell the sizzle of beef, of sauce.
Dance with mama as we make spaghetti.
That’s it. Wave to Grandpa. Watch his feet criss-cross.

Spin over ‘70s tile and sing
from arms to arms to arms to arms.


*A Swedish pop group formed in 1972 who wrote the line “Chiquitita, tell me what’s wrong” and crowned us all dancing queens.

From the jury: “'Dance With Us, Girly Girl' offers a joyous domestic scene of family bonding in the kitchen, dinner cooking and radio on. The poem is compact with a touch that is at once light and packed with flavour. The author stirs their vibrant language until it sounds like the crackle of a needle across a worn-in copy of Arrival (or is it Voulez-Vous?). It is a sonnet that is strikingly contemporary, even as it’s streaked with faded nostalgia, an overexposed Polaroid.” 

Teren Hazzard is an emerging transgender writer from Treaty Six Territory. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Conservation Sciences with a major in Conservation Biology at the University of Alberta. His place-based poetry focuses on the observations and details he sees around him. His work primarily explores queer joy, activism, and the importance of youth voice, but in his winning poem, he explores a new topic of family joy. As a poet and community leader, he plays an active role elevating young, queer voices through his work with several diversity-focused committees, including Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science, and Technology (WISEST) and local governments. His writing-related roles include volunteering with The Gateway, and having been the featured reader at the 2024 Strathcona County Pride Flag Raising. When he is not studying for his ecology courses, he is performing in open mic nights, writing silly short stories and poetry, or spending time at the library. He is currently penning his first poetry collection and is seeking representation.