About Us

The Poetry Institute of Canada was founded to encourage the art of poetry throughout the nation. This is being done by holding highly competitive poetry and short story contests and awarding cash prizes and other awards each year.

An anthology is published after each contest. This occurs after final judging of poems or stories has taken place and all prizes have been awarded by the judging committee.

We have held these successful contests since 1993. We are delighted with the positive response from poets, authors, teachers and parents, and have many encouraging letters on file praising our efforts. Please visit our testimonial page.

Our aim amongst young Canadians is to encourage the writing of English poetry, by publishing examples of the best work received each year. We provide the opportunity for many students to see their work in print, and also to compare it with the work of students of a similar age. It is also important that their writing skill be given an audience where it can be shared and enjoyed by others.

There is no obligation other than the return of the writer’s author’s release form, which gives us permission to publish their work.

Poets/authors receive the news of our contests mainly through news releases. These are published as a news article by editors of local newspapers. Or, in the case of schools, used for an English project in the classroom, or posted on the school notice board.

In our contests we do not publish all entries; up to 40 percent are not accepted. We value what we do, and know we are doing a wonderful job in uniting writers of “all” ages and encouraging many to continue with their writing. Please contact us if you have any concerns or questions; we’ll be happy to hear from you.