Griffin Poetry Prize

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The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. The awards go to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language.

Effective 2010, the annual Griffin Poetry Prize was doubled from CAD$100,000 to CAD$200,000 in recognition of the prize's tenth anniversary. The increased amount of $100,000 will be awarded as follows: CAD$10,000 to each of the seven shortlisted - four international and three Canadian - for their participation in the shortlist readings. The winners, announced at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards evening, will be awarded CAD$65,000 each, for a total of CAD$75,000 that includes the CAD$10,000 awarded at the readings the previous evening.

History
In April 2000, Scott Griffin started the Griffin Trust to raise public awareness of the crucial role poetry plays in society's cultural life. Griffin served as its Chairman, with Trustees Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson and David Young. In June 2004, Carolyn ForchÃ© joined the board of Trustees.

The Trust created the Griffin Poetry Prize with the aim of helping to introduce contemporary collections of poetry to the public's imagination. Originally, the award was two annual prizes of CAD$40,000 each, for collections of poetry published in English during the preceding year. One prize for a living Canadian poet, the other to a living poet from any other country, which could include Canada. Qualified judges are selected annually by the Trustees. The prize shortlists are announced in April (National Poetry Month) every year. The shortlisted poets gather for an evening of public readings every May/June, and the winners are announced and all of the poets are feted the following evening. Eligible collections of poetry must have been published between January 1 and December 31 of the prior year. Submission must come from the publishers only.

In November 2010, Scott Griffin announced a new Griffin Trust initiative called Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poÃ©sie, a bilingual recitation contest for high school students across Canada.

Finalists, Judges and Lifetime Recognition Recipients
Winners are listed first and highlighted with bold.

2001
Canada:
 * Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours
 * Robert Bringhurst, Nine Visits to the Mythworld
 * Don McKay, Another Gravity

International:
 * Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh, translation of Glottal Stop: 101 Poems by Paul Celan
 * Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld, translation of Open Closed Open by Yehuda Amichai
 * Fanny Howe, Selected Poems
 * Les Murray, Learning Human

Judges:
 * Carolyn ForchÃ©
 * Dennis Lee
 * Paul Muldoon

2002
Canada:
 * Christian BÃ¶k, Eunoia
 * Erin MourÃ©, Sheep's Vigil by a Fervent Person
 * Karen Solie, Short Haul Engine

International:
 * Alice Notley, Disobedience
 * Victor HernÃ¡ndez Cruz, Maraca
 * Christopher Logue, Homer: War Music
 * Les Murray, Conscious and Verbal

Judges:
 * Dionne Brand
 * Robert Creeley
 * Michael Hofmann

2003
Canada:
 * Margaret Avison, Concrete and Wild Carrot
 * Dionne Brand, thirsty
 * P.K. Page, Planet Earth: Poems Selected and New

International:
 * Paul Muldoon, Moy sand and gravel
 * Kathleen Jamie, Mr And Mrs Scotland are Dead: Poems 1980-1994
 * Gerald Stern, American Sonnets: poems
 * C. D. Wright, Steal Away: selected and new poems

Judges:
 * Michael Longley
 * Sharon Olds
 * Sharon Thesen

2004
Canada:
 * Anne Simpson, Loop
 * Di Brandt, Now You Care
 * Leslie Greentree, Go-go Dancing for Elvis

International:
 * August Kleinzahler, The Strange Hours Travelers Keep
 * Suji Kwock Kim, Notes From the Divided Country
 * David Kirby, The Ha-Ha
 * Louis Simpson, The Owner of the House

Judges:
 * Billy Collins
 * Bill Manhire
 * Phyllis Webb

2005
Canada:
 * Roo Borson, Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida
 * George Bowering, Changing on the Fly
 * Don McKay, Camber

International:
 * Charles Simic, Selected Poems: 1963-2003
 * Fanny Howe, On the Ground
 * Michael Symmons Roberts, Corpus
 * Matthew Rohrer, A Green Light

Judges:
 * Simon Armitage
 * Erin MourÃ©
 * TomaÅ¾ Å alamun

2006
Canada:
 * Sylvia Legris, Nerve Squall
 * Phil Hall, An Oak Hunch
 * Erin MourÃ©, Little theatres

International:
 * Kamau Brathwaite, Born to Slow Horses
 * Michael Hofmann, translation of Ashes for Breakfast: Selected Poems by Durs GrÃ¼nbein
 * Michael Palmer, Company of Moths
 * Elizabeth Winslow, translation of The War Works Hard by Dunya Mikhail

Judges:
 * Lavinia Greenlaw
 * Lisa Robertson
 * Eliot Weinberger

Lifetime Recognition Award (presented by the Griffin trustees) to Robin Blaser

2007
Canada:
 * Don McKay, Strike/Slip
 * Ken Babstock, Airstream Land Yacht
 * Priscila Uppal, Ontological Necessities

International:
 * Charles Wright, Scar Tissue
 * Paul Farley, Tramp in Flames
 * Rodney Jones, Salvation Blues
 * Frederick Seidel, Ooga-Booga

Judges:
 * John Burnside
 * Charles Simic
 * Karen Solie

Lifetime Recognition Award (presented by the Griffin trustees) to Tomas TranstrÃ¶mer

2008
Canada:
 * Robin Blaser, The Holy Forest: Collected Poems of Robin Blaser
 * Robert Majzels and Erin Moure, translation of Notebook of Roses and Civilization by Nicole Brossard
 * David McFadden, Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems of David W. McFadden

International:
 * John Ashbery, Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems
 * Elaine Equi, Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems
 * Clayton Eshleman, translation of The Complete Poetry: A Bilingual Edition by Cesar Vallejo
 * David Harsent, Selected Poems 1969-2005

Judges:
 * George Bowering
 * James Lasdun
 * Pura Lopez Colome

Lifetime Recognition Award (presented by the Griffin trustees) to Ko Un

2009
Canada:
 * A.F. Moritz, The Sentinel
 * Kevin Connolly, Revolver
 * Jeramy Dodds, Crabwise to the Hounds

International:
 * C.D. Wright, Rising, Falling, Hovering
 * Mick Imlah, The Lost Leader
 * Derek Mahon, Life on Earth
 * Dean Young, Primitive Mentor

Judges:
 * Saskia Hamilton
 * Dennis O'Driscoll
 * Michael Redhill

Lifetime Recognition Award (presented by the Griffin trustees) to Hans Magnus Enzensberger

2010
Canada:
 * Karen Solie, Pigeon
 * Kate Hall, The Certainty Dream
 * P.K. Page, Coal and Roses

International:
 * Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, The Sun-fish
 * John Glenday, Grain
 * Louise Gluck, A Village Life
 * Susan Wicks, translation of Cold Spring in Winter by Valerie Rouzeau

Judges:
 * Anne Carson
 * Kathleen Jamie
 * Carl Phillips

Lifetime Recognition Award (presented by the Griffin trustees) to Adrienne Rich

2011
Canada:
 * Dionne Brand, Ossuaries
 * Suzanne Buffam, The Irrationalist
 * John Steffler, Lookout

International:
 * Seamus Heaney, Human Chain
 * Khaled Mattawa, translation of Adonis: Selected Poems by Adonis
 * Philip Mosley, translation of The Book of the Snow by Francois Jacqmin
 * Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Heavenly Questions

Judges:
 * Tim Lilburn
 * Colm Toibin
 * Chase Twichell