The not-for-profit Montreal International Poetry Prize launches its 2013 competition.

Montreal, Quebec -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/22/2013 -- Get your poems ready! The not-for-profit Montreal International Poetry Prize is offering $20,000 for one original, unpublished poem of no longer than 40 lines written in any English dialect. Early entry deadline is March 31. Online entries only. Entry fees vary. Please see montrealprize.com for details.

Here's how the competition works: Approximately 50 poems will be published in the Montreal Prize's 2013 Global Poetry Anthology. As editors of the anthology, 10 poets from across the globe sort through submissions blindly (without seeing author names) and select poems for the collection (which serves as a shortlist). The prize judge then reads a blind copy of the manuscript of the anthology and selects the $20,000 poem. The 2013 Prize Judge is Don Paterson.

The 10 editors of the 2013 Global Poetry Anthology are Mary Dalton (Canada), Keki Daruwalla (India), Kwame Dawes (Ghana/Jamaica), Kendel Hippolyte (St. Lucia), Medbh McGuckian (Ireland), Sean O'Brien (United Kingdom), Niyi Osundare (Nigeria), Robyn Sarah (Canada), Nicolette Stasko (USA/Australia), and Chase Twichell (USA).

The Montreal Prize launched its first poetry competition in March 2011 and awarded $50,000 to Australian poet Mark Tredinnick. The 2011 Global Poetry Anthology is a solid collection that garnered positive reviews. It includes unknown voices alongside celebrated poets from around the world. Internationally acclaimed American artist Eric Fischl responded to one poem in the anthology with a watercolour painting.

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Mark Tredinnick, an Australian poet, has been awarded the $50,000 Montreal International Poetry Prize for his poem, "Walking Underwater."

Montreal, Quebec -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/19/2011 -- The winning poem was selected by former UK poet laureate Andrew Motion from a shortlist of nearly 50 poems. "This is a bold, big-thinking poem, in which ancient themes (especially the theme of our human relationship with landscape) are re-cast and re-kindled. It well deserves its eminence as a prize winner," said Motion. The poem has been published on the Montreal Prize website at http://www.montrealprize.com.

The nonprofit Montreal International Poetry Prize represents a new approach to major literary awards. It is the first major literary prize to be awarded "blind," meaning the author's identity is not revealed to the judge until after the winner has been selected. It is also based on a crowd-funding model, as it aims to be sustained directly by the community of poets who participate in the process by entering their work in the competition.

"Both our 'blind' judging process and our community-funding model represent a significant revolution in the field of major literary awards," says Montreal Prize co-founder, Len Epp, who holds a doctorate in English Literature from the University of Oxford. "Our project represents a challenge to the traditional hierarchies and conservative instincts that characterize much of the modern literary world."

The advisory board of the Montreal Prize reflects its global approach, and includes Jamaican-born poet Valerie Bloom, Scottish poet Don Paterson, Nigerian poet and novelist Ben Okri, Indian poet Jeet Thayil, and Australian poet John Kinsella, editor of The Penguin Anthology of Australian Poetry.

A second poem was selected from the shortlist by Eric Fischl, the renowned U.S. painter and sculptor, as the basis for a "broadside," or illustrated poem. Fischl's selection, "The Grasshoppers' Silence" by Canadian poet Linda Rogers, is inspired by the true story of Rumana Monzur, who was tragically blinded in an attack by her husband in Bangladesh in June. "I've chosen this poem because the image of the one-legged grasshopper won't let me sleep," said Fischl of his selection.

The 50 shortlisted poems, previously unpublished and chosen from 3,200 entries, will be published in a global poetry anthology. The poems were selected by a group of ten accomplished poets from Australia, Canada, Guyana, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Malawi, Nigeria, the U.K., and the U.S. According to Asa Boxer, a Montreal-based poet and another prize co-founder, "Our anthology may represent the first opportunity many readers have had to see a truly global collection of previously unpublished poetry."

All the poems that made the 2011 Montreal Prize longlist have been published in a separate e-anthology, available for free download at http://www.montrealprize.com. The 2011 Global Poetry Anthology will be published early in the new year. Both anthologies are being published under the Signal Editions imprint of Montreal's Vehicule Press.

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The new Montreal International Poetry Prize offers $50,000 for a single short poem, by far the biggest poetry competition of its kind.

Montreal, Quebec -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/31/2011 -- A group of leading poets from around the world has organized the biggest poetry competition in history. Launched this week, the new Montreal International Poetry Prize will award $50,000 for a single poem of 40 lines or fewer, written in any English dialect. Designed to bring more attention to poetry and to encourage people from all over the world to enter their poems, the not-for-profit Montreal Prize represents a major contribution to the global cultural scene.

To reflect its global perspective, the Montreal Prize has assembled an editorial board of accomplished poets from Australia, Canada, England, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Malawi, Nigeria, Northern Ireland and the US. These poets will select 50 poems for the competition's shortlist, which will be published in a unique global poetry anthology, representing the very latest work from around the world. From these finalists, Sir Andrew Motion, the 2011 prize judge and former UK poet laureate, will select the winner of the $50,000 prize.

"The launch of such a large prize for poetry obviously marks an important moment for anyone interested in literature," says Michael Harris, a Montreal poet recently nominated for Canada's Governor General's Award for Poetry, and a member of the Montreal Prize Editorial Board.

The $50,000 prize purse is a gift to the Montreal Prize from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. "We were lucky to find someone generous and forward thinking enough to kick-start this project with a catalyst donation. And we are currently seeking a sponsor or patron for future years," explains Peter Abramowicz, one of the Montreal Prize's three founders.

"But even without a major sponsor," adds Len Epp, another co-founder, "our innovative community funding model will allow us to deliver the world's biggest poetry competition, thanks to those who support the Montreal Prize by directly participating in it."

The early entry deadline for the competition is April 22.

For more information on the Montreal International Poetry Prize, contact Len Epp or visit http://www.montrealprize.com.

About the Montreal International Poetry Prize
The Montreal International Poetry Prize is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization committed to promoting poetry and poets around the world. It manages the world's biggest poetry competition, offering a $50,000 prize for a single poem.

Media Contact:
Len Epp
Director, Montreal International Poetry Prize
Tel: +1 514-750-8678
Email: lenepp@montrealprize.com
Web: http://www.montrealprize.com

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