Congratulations to the 2023 Awardees and Honourable Mentions on their literary works. 
 

Poetry 

Age 12 

1st - Alexis Pereira, Right to Education
2nd - Olivia Haas, Forest in Summer

 
Age 13 

1st – Trinity Oruebor, My Beautiful Ebony
2nd – Danika Thorne, Perfect

Honourable Mentions: 
Claire Hunter, Star Lost
Karen Chen, Uncertainty
Annie Grace Ntumba Buzangu, A Special Kind Of Love.
Simone Bremer, Growing Up

Age 14 

1st - Rhiann Hogben, Gossip Gardens
2nd – Ellora Stewart, I Never Thought I'd Be That Girl

Honourable Mentions: 
Nam Hai Ha, I Am 
Marie Njoroge, Space

Age 15 

1st – Chloe Joyner, A Book Like Me
2nd - Arnold Fu, Ashes To Ashes: Odes to a Shattered World
 
Honourable Mentions: 
Selina Hazin, Until the Next Time
Ella Meyer, Reflections
Alec Aird, Chemical Reactions of the Soul

Age 16 

1st – Stephanie Jean Pierre, How to Crochet
2nd – Liam Brennan, The Dread of a Poet

Age 17 

1st – Len Lu, Pretend
2nd- Tegwen Park, The Blank Page

Honourable Mentions: 
Mona Siyad, Failed Marionette

Age 18 

1st - Kezia Hart, In Envy of Icarus
2nd- Mha Al Sawadi, Lines in the Sand 

Honourable Mentions: 
Emily Marshall, Devour me, Father.
Sarah Reid, My Age: A Rave. 

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Poetry (French) 

1st – Len Lu, Juste Des Fantomes
2nd – Simone Bremer, L'Ete

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Short Story 

Age 12 

1st - Lucy Ye-Eun Jung, The Path to Freedom
2nd - Brinley Proper, An Unexpected Battle
 

Honourable Mentions: 
Alyvia van der Heiden, A black Loyalists Journey
Lora Veenstra, Speak
Jacob Veldpaus, The Battle of Queenston Heights
Grace Kikkert, The Diary of Cathrine Rose Alden
Faith Pamplin, The Beavers
Olivia Haas, Celestia
 
Age 13 

1st – Sarah Jayne Harsevoort, Together We Fight
2nd – Maya Mabayyed, 494

Honourable Mentions: 
Kristina Speelman, The Story of Simon LeBlane: Acadian Expulsion
Thomas Luong, Flowers in Vases
Tea Grozev, Halloween
Teodora Jovicevic, The Mumbling Woods
Zainab Shoaib, Message in a Bottle

Age 14 

1st – Violet Brauen, Parasites
2nd – Lanya Fitoski, The Diary of Gabby Calloway

Honourable Mentions: 
Griffin Dekker, Free as a Bird
Phoebe Mecca, Crotchpot
Maddyson Hunter, The Devil's Bargain
Emily Vaillancourt, The Legend of the Stone Horse

Age 15 

1st – Lennex Maley, Who We Are 
2nd - Charlotte Needham-Robbins, The Secret Goldfish

Age 16 

1st – Olivia Belrose, The Glass World
2nd – Razan Shahrouri, Made with Love 

Honourable Mentions: 
Angeline Strumas, The Astronaut, The Researcher, And The Professor

Age 17 

1st – Len Lu, Memories of a Railroad Worker
2nd - Chaim Evans, I don't believe in "The End" 

Honourable Mentions: 
Sage Rosamond, Fly Away (but come back to me) 
Olivia Gringhuis, The Harmonicist
Joshua Middleton, Saint Nick in Disguise 

Age 18 

1st – Kezia Hart, A Reminder of What is Not
2nd - Sarah Reid, Bird Seed
 
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Short Story (French) 

1st – Len Lu, Journal de Vacances
2nd – Griffin Dekker, Antagonish, Nova Scotia 

Honourable Mentions: 
Joshua Middleton, Echapper Nous Meme

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The Hamilton Association Young Poet's Award Winner: 

Kezia Hart, In Envy of Icarus

Maitland Banting Silver Quill Award Winner:
Lanya Fitoski, The Diary of Gabby Calloway

For previous years, please visit the Local History & Archives Department at the 3^rd floor of the Central Library.