Skip to content

The City of Victoria is seeking nominations for Youth Poet Laureate

The Youth Poet Laureate is an honorary one-year term position from January 1 to December 31, 2016

The City of Victoria in partnership with the Greater Victoria Public Library is seeking nominations for the position of Youth Poet Laureate.

Created in 2013 by the Victoria Youth Council, the Youth Poet Laureate position provides the community access to strong youth voices. The Youth Poet Laureate is tasked with reaching out to vulnerable youth  populations and encouraging peer to peer education and inspiration through new works and by developing a community youth poetry event.

Candidates must be 14 – 24 years of age, reside in the Capital Region, and can be self-nominated or nominated by someone else.  Applicants must provide three original poems in any format including written, audio or video; a letter of intent outlining their vision for the Youth Poet Laureate position and three sample project ideas; and a resume noting their community engagement experience related to school, work, or volunteering.

The Youth Poet Laureate is an honorary one-year term position from January 1 to December 31, 2016. The position will receive a $1,750 honorarium and $1,000 of project funding, in addition to a year-long mentorship with Victoria’s Poet Laureate Yvonne Blomer. The position is funded by the City of Victoria with project support from the Greater Victoria Public Library.

For submission guidelines, visit: www.victoria.ca/poetlaureate. The deadline for nominations is Monday, October 26, 2015 at 4 p.m.

The inaugural Youth Poet Laureate Aysia Law, second Youth Poet Laureate Morgan Purvis, and current Youth Poet Laureate Zoé Duhaime have broken new ground and set the stage for up and coming young poets.

Victoria’s new Youth Poet Laureate will be announced at a City Council meeting in December. The City of Victoria is the first municipality in Canada to have a Youth Poet Laureate.