Grace Lavigne is the winner of the Cowichan Foundation’s first annual Michael Coleman Poetry and Spoken Word contest.
With the accolade, Lavigne won $2,500. Maia Cassie took home second place and $500 while Hanna Jenks earned $250 and third place.
“We were very excited to see so many young poets from our community enter the contest. This competition is a wonderful opportunity to honour our beloved Michael Coleman, who was so many things to our community, a founder of the Cowichan Foundation and a passionate poet,” said Foundation president Daniel Varga. “We know Mike would have loved all the spoken word and poetry entries! The judges truly had some amazing admissions to evaluate and we thank each and every contestant for their entry.”
According to her video entry, entitled Undetermined Phenomenon, Lavigne is “an avid writer, artist, nerd, and costume maker. Her natural habitat includes thrift stores, cafes, and anywhere with cats!”
According to her video entry, named Letter to the Male Gaze, Cassie “when not organizing her school’s Poetry Café or rereading her favourite poems, also enjoys analyzing film and TV through video essays and volunteering at her local library.”
According to her entry called The Cave, “Hannah grew up in the Cowichan Valley and currently attends school at West View Learning Canter. Although she started writing at a young age, this is her first publicly shared piece of work.”
To view the top three entries, visit https://www.cowichanfoundation.com/category/mc-poetry-contest/
