Indigenous Voices Awards Announce 2020 Shortlist

Finalists for the 2020 Indigenous Voices Awards have been announced. 

Through a press release, the organization stated that winners of the IVAs (pronounced EYE-VAHz) will be revealed during a "virtual gala" as part of National Indigenous Day, June 21. More details are expected to arrive.

A cash prize of $30,000 will be split among the recipients, with no details yet on how the money will be distributed. 

On the jury panel this year are Jordan Abel, Jeannette Armstrong, Joanne Arnott, Francis Langevin, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Pierrot Ross-Tremblay, and Richard Van Camp. 

Read below for the full list of nominees:

Published prose in French

• Shuni — Ce que tu dois savoir, Julie, Naomi Fontaine (Mémoire d’encrier)
• Aquariums, D. Kurtness (L’instant même)

Published prose in English

• In My Own Moccasins, Helen Knott (University of Regina Press)
• ʔbédayine, Kaitlyn Purcell (Metatron Press)
• From the Ashes, Jesse Thistle (Simon & Schuster)

Published poetry in French

• Bréviaire du matricule 082, Maya Cousineau-Mollen (Éditions Hannenorak)
• Chauffer le dehors, Marie-Andrée Gill (La peuplade)

Published poetry in English

• I Am Still Too Much, Brandi Bird (Rahila’s Ghost)
• On/Me, Francine Cunningham (Caitlin Press)
• Kiskajeyi—I am Ready, Michelle Sylliboy (Rebel Mountain Press)
• Disintegrate / Disassociate, Arielle Twist (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Works in an Indigenous language

• Injichaag: My Soul in Story, Rene Meshake (University of Manitoba Press)
• Dakwäkãda Warriors, Cole Pauls (Conundrum)

Unpublished prose in English

• Excerpts from “Half-Bads in White Regalia,” Cody Caetano
• “Forest Fires and Falling Stars,” Treena Chambers
• “Gatzi Naka,” Steven Hall

Unpublished poetry in English

• “Willow A Quartet,” David Agecoutay
• “A Memory of Mary,” Corri Daniels
• “Two Little Foxes, Buttertown Beach, I Will Never be Happier,” Keely Shirt

Works in an alternative format

• Elizabeth Dances Pow-wow, Elaine McArthur (Independently published)
• Phyllis’s Orange Shirt, Phyllis Webstad (Medicine Wheel Education)

For more details on the Indigenous Voices Awards, visit their website.

_{*Photo of 2019 gala by Justine Crawford (justinecrawford.ca)}