League of Canadian Poets Poetry Contest Submissions - Summer 2026

The Lesley Strutt Poetry Contest is an award that provides a $500 prize for the single best poem submitted to our judges. This contest is open to all poets (professional, emerging, and first-time) in Canada, and is run each summer in memory of poet and friend Lesley Strutt.

Submission Guidelines 

• This contest accepts poems in English, French and Innu-Aimun. 
• Open to all poets (professional, emerging, first-time, etc.). 
• Membership in the League of Canadian Poets is not required.
• Submit one (1) poem per submission. 
• Please submit poetry that is unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere. 
• There is a $5 entry fee for this award. If you are facing financial barriers and are unable to pay the contest fee, please find information about a discounted fee on the submission form. 
• Multiple submissions are accepted, but the entry fee applies to each individual submission. 
• Eligible to Canadian poets, poets living and working in Canada, as well as Indigenous, Inuit and Métis poets who may not identify as Canadian but live in the region known colonially as Canada.

• If submitting multiple poems, please upload each poem as a separate document. (Accepted file formats: pdf, doc, docx)
• Please save the file(s) with the title of your poem.
• Do not include your name or email address anywhere in the uploaded document(s).

The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Foundation Poetry Award is a $500 prize sponsored by the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto Foundation. This prize is awarded to the best single poem by a poet in the early stages of their career.

"To advance education by providing scholarships, bursaries and awards to Canadian residents for demonstrated excellence in the arts."

Submission Guidelines 

• This contest accepts poems in English only. 
• Submit one (1) poem per submission.
• There is a $5 entry fee for this award. If you are facing financial barriers and are unable to pay the contest fee, please see below for a discounted fee.
• Please submit poetry that is unpublished. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere. 
• Multiple submissions are accepted, but the entry fee applies to each individual submission.
• Membership in the League of Canadian Poets is not required.
• Eligible to all emerging Canadian poets in the early stages of their career, defined as no more than two traditionally published chapbooks and/or one traditionally published book of poetry.
• We encourage submissions from LGTBQ2S+, BIPOC, and equity-deserving groups.
  
  

• If submitting multiple poems, please upload each poem as a separate document. (Accepted file formats: pdf, doc, docx)
• Please save the file(s) with the title of your poem.
• Do not include your name or email address anywhere in the uploaded document(s).

The summer submission window for the LCP Spoken Word Award is open for submissions of audio/video recordings of spoken word poems with no additional supporting music or visuals.

With a $500 prize, this prize will recognize a poem or suite of poems that center the performance, structure, and artistry of spoken word without multi-media creativity. Multimedia spoken word poems will be welcomed during the winter submission window.

• This prize is open to spoken word and poetry performance artists in the country colonially known as Canada, or Canadian artists living abroad (Please note: prize payments can only be made to Canadian or US bank accounts). 
• Membership in the League of Canadian Poets is not required.
• Submissions are accepted in any language (no translation required). 
• Open to poets at any stage of their career. 
• Limit of one entry per poet. 
• There is a $5 entry fee for this award. If you are facing financial barriers and are unable to pay the entry fee, please see below for a discounted fee.

Visit poets.ca/awards/#spoken-word-award for additional information on eligibility, as well as for tips and examples on artist statements and artist bios.

You may provide your artist statement and artist bio as any of the following:

• One combined Word, PDF, or image file
• Two separate Word, PDF, or image files
• One video or audio file up to 5 minutes in length

For text-based files: Artist statements must be fewer than 500 words, and artist bios must be fewer than 300 words.

For audio/video: The combined length of an artist statement and bio must not exceed 5 minutes.

Submissions that exceed these limits will not be considered.

Please *either* upload your poem submission *or* include a link to the video.

• This file/link should be your poem or suite of poems *only*.
• The poem/suite should not be accompanied by any additional visuals or music/audio effects.
• Poem audio files/videos longer than 10 minutes in length will not be considered.