The provincial government has named the winners of the 2026 Arts and Letters competition.
Prizes totaling more than $47,000 were awarded in a number of categories including visual arts, literature and music.
Of the 507 submissions received, there were 29 winning entries in the junior division and 31 winning entries in the senior division, with five winners chosen in the one-time HERSTORY Empowers category.
2026 Arts and Letters Awards Recipients
JUNIOR AWARD WINNERS
Junior Poetry [15 and Under] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Danielle Devereaux; Jennifer Newhook; Craig Francis Power
Scarlet Duffney
My Safe Place
Peyton Brennan
Things I could be doing
Logan Jesso
The Worst Day
Autumn LeRoux
Organ Crusher
Junior Poetry [16-20] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Danielle Devereaux; Jennifer Newhook; Craig Francis Power
Arielle Connors
Dust Upon the Mantel (Saudade)
Jack Guy
Saltwoven
Emily Pike
On the Intimacy of a Clementine
Taylor Ennis
Guilty Pleasure
Junior Prose [15 and Under] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Charis Cotter; Ray Critch
Nimi Abraham
The Big Change
Kloey Murphy
The Weight of What Remains
Christina Grace Dawe
Unseen
Oladoyin Agbaje
O’Donnell Military School
Junior Prose [16-20] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Charis Cotter; Ray Critch
Ethan Reid
Murder in the Carpathians
Isabelle Chaignon
The Old Hag
Ava Sinclair
Amphibians
Tersea Sheng
Afterlight
Junior French Literary ($350 prize)
Adjudicator: Paul Rowe
Maya Marmouche
Au-dessus des barrières
Junior Music [15 and Under] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Tom Gordon; Rozalind MacPhail
Thurston Thomson
O.S.T. 09
Miguel Mendonça Harnett
Meep’s Masterpiece
Junior Music [16-20] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Tom Gordon; Rozalind MacPhail
Jack Guy
Nighttime Coastline
Summer Bennett
Hollow
Junior Visual [15 and Under] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Brian Amadi; Bethany Mackenzie
Tiara Naka Reynolds
The Consequence of Curiosity
Seth Morgan
My great grandfather’s boat, The Drusilla Theresa Schooner
Aurora Loder
LadyCats and GentleKits…the Meep Circus!
Claire Williams
Flashpoint Canine
Junior Visual [16-20] ($350 prize)
Adjudicators: Brian Amadi; Bethany Mackenzie
Meredith Parsons
It’s What’s Inside That Counts
Sydney Wells
Summer on Exploits Island
Tansy Staniland
Roots
Zoe Tucker
Reflections
SENIOR AWARD WINNERS
Senior Poetry ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Andreae Callanan; Aaron Tucker
Beth Follett
Women Are
Matthew Hollett
Robbie Burns Night
Joe Bishop
Sacred
Roger Power
Coming Upon a Moose Accident on the TCH
Senior Short Fiction ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Shelly Kawaja; Chad Pelley
Emma Cole
Wildfire
Molly Clarke
Renovation
Grant Loveys
Ghost Net
Allison Kelly
Aloe, Burn, Aloe, Burn
Senior Nonfiction ($1000 prize)
Adjudicator: Debbie McGee
Isabelle Schmelzer
Where do you belong
Adrian House
The Look
Ainsley Hawthorn
Plagues en Vogue
Senior Dramatic Script ($1000 prize)
Adjudicator: Sharon King-Campbell
Meghan Greeley
The Queen’s Wife
Mark Norberg
Bone
Senior French Literary ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Paul Rowe
Katherine Alexandra Harvey
Quand Je T’aurai Quitte
Percey Janes First Novel Award ($2,500 prize)
Adjudicator: Trudy Morgan-Cole
Paul Whittle
Sunflower
Senior Music ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Tom Gordon, Rozalind MacPhail
Alex Dinn
Carry the Weight
Allie Duff
Our Little Lives
Jodee Richardson
Night Train Whistle
Jenina MacGillivray
Bright Star
Senior Visual ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Daniel Rumbolt; Anita Singh; Kym Greeley
Reshelle Adams
Salt Work
Ginok Song
Afternoon Rowing
Molly Clarke
Nan’s Bedroom
Jackie Evans
Beyond the Veil
Kelly Bastow
Procession
Nicole Russell
Green Man
Tia Murphy Rowe
A Chapel Arm Winter
Christina Blanchard
Gutted
Chloe Lundrigan
Branch two generations ago, in wool sweaters
Deborah Cannon
Misty Morning Petty Harbour
Chelsea Beehan
Wendy
Tracy Cahill
Untitled
HERSTORY Empowers Special Category ($1000 prize)
Adjudicators: Andrea Cooper; Michelle Butler Hallett; Anne Troake
Alli Johnston
Una- Born 1925
Visual Arts
Chelsie Cake
Colours of a Movement
Visual Arts
Kathy Rowe
The Slow Turning of Paper
Poetry
Natalie Dalton
Voluntarily Unsex Themselves
Poetry
Michelle T Clemens
Better For Us All
Dramatic Script
