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York politics professor delivers presentation at juried workshop on race and bio-medicine beyond the lab

Research word graphic
Research word graphic

Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) Associate Professor of politics Karen Bridget Murray was an invited speaker at a juried workshop held on Sept. 26 and 27 at King’s College in London, England.

Karen Bridget Murray

Murray’s talk, “Epigenetics and Politics: Engaging the Colonial Present,” was part of a two-day interdisciplinary workshop aimed at building an international research network that focuses on the ways that race and biomedicine are mobilized beyond the lab in the 21st century. The 28 workshop participants were drawn from universities on five continents, 10 countries and from across the spectrum of academic life.

Murray was the only scholar from a Canadian university participating in the workshop. She spoke about ideas introduced in two of her recently published articles, the first, “Epigenetics and Politics in the Colonial Present,” was published in 2018 in the Canadian Journal of Sociology; and the second, “Bio-gentrification: Vulnerability Bio-value Chains in Gentrifying Neighbourhoods,” was published in 2015 in Urban Geography. Murray’s presentation highlighted how an epigenetic style of thought has been translated into concrete governmental practices in the context of Canada, and British Columbia in particular. She noted that epigenetic reason emphasizes how gene-environmental interactions shape genetic expression, even while genes do not change. She sketched out how epigenetic logics have underpinned the creation of the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a widely used survey tool that is the basis of a statistically defined population classification referred to as child “vulnerability.”

Murray argued that it is important to consider the political implications arising from the translation of epigenetic thinking, such as how EDI research has been drawn upon in the shaping of governance practices and, that there can be potentially problematic implications. Examining the translation of epigenetic logics through the EDI and into public policy is pertinent beyond British Columbia, Murray maintained. The scope of policy adaptions of EDI research has yet to be fully and critically documented and evaluated. What is clear, she said, is that EDI-based research has a global reach, including several regional implementations among the 30 countries where EDI data collections at various scales are undertaken.

“It is essential that sustained attention be paid to how epigenetic logics are shaping governmental practices,” Murray said, adding “epigenetics is not a settled science, but it is at times drawn upon in public policy as if it were. We need to understand how and why this is happening and to what ramifications, especially since some are raising alarm bells about new eugenics.”

Reflecting on her experience in London, Murray said she was “honoured to have been part of the King’s College event. It offered an unprecedented chance to be part of a newly launched global research network, which in turn has opened space for future collaborative endeavours that could create opportunities for York University graduate students as well.”

Murray’s trip was made possible with funding from the LA&PS, specifically a Seed Grant for Collaborative Research. LA&PS Minor Research Grants, and a York Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Small Research Grants, have supported Murray’s research.

Twelve students named LA&PS Writing Prize winners

Twelve students from across the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) were recognized as winners of the annual LA&PS Writing Prize on Nov. 27. The students were honored for their outstanding work by Associate Dean (Students) Peter Avery during a recognition ceremony.

Avery congratulated the winners in front of a gathering of students’ family members and professors in a reception at the Second Student Centre. There, each student was recognized, and the adjudicators’ comments concerning their submission were read aloud.

LA&PS Writing Prize winners pictured with faculty members during the reception

The 2018-19 winners featured finalists from both sides of the LA&PS ampersand, from the Humanities Department to the Department of Social Science. This year, the competition featured entries from Fall/Winter 2017 and Fall/Winter 2018, to compensate for the labour disruption of two summers ago.

“We continue to get some really amazing papers,” noted the competition’s co-ordinator Professor Jon Sufrin. “My personal favourite this year was a paper on Viking magic, but we saw a wide variety of submissions, from formal writing to personal essays. The judges had a particularly difficult decision given the high quality of entrants this year.”

For the Fall/Winter 2017 and 2018 competition, the winners were:

  • First-year honourable mention: Michelle Molubi, “Violence Against Black Queer People: The Intersections of Antiblackness and Antiqueerness in North American Society,” from HUMA 1300, Cultures of Resistance in the Americas: The African American Experience, taught by Professor Andrea Davis.
  • First-year honourable mention: Sivana Vythilingum, “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” from WRIT 1700A, Writing: Process and Practice. Course director: Kerry Doyle.
  • First-year winner: Robert Gibbs, Shailee Peck, “Misogynistic presence in Cellini’s Vita & the works of Machiavelli,” from HUMA 1125, Medieval and Renaissance Civilizations, taught by Professor Thomas Cohen.
  • Second-year honourable mention: Noorin Pattni, “Angola’s Challenges,” from SOSC 2800, International Development in Comparative and Historical Perspective, taught by Associate Professor Merouan Mekouar.
  • Second-year honourable mention: Vincent Rizzo, “The Mission Before the Escape,” from WRIT 2710, Grammar & Proofreading, taught by Frances Maranger (TA) and Dunja Baus (course director).
  • Second-year winner: Gil Segev, “Homme Improvement,” from WRIT 2004, Writing in Digital Cultures, taught by Associate Professor Andrea McKenzie.
  • Third-year honourable mention: Jerome Paul, “The Comedy of Tragedy in Good Night, Desdemona and Cloud 9,” from EN 3191, Comedy, taught by contract faculty member Aida Jordao.
  • Third-year honourable mention: Chris Paulin, “In Time We Hate That Which We Often Fear,” from HIST 3843, Occupation, Collaboration and Death: A Social and Military History of the Second World War to 1944, taught by Associate Professor Deb Neill.
  • Third-year winner: Ranfateh Chattha, “State Management and Private Enterprise in the Grain Supply of Ancient Rome,” from HIST 3140, The City in the Roman World, taught by Associate Professor Ben Kelly.
  • Fourth-year honourable mention: Olivia Quenneville, “The Counterfeit Clothing Wars,” from WRIT 4002, Periodical Writing and Publishing Practicum, taught by Paul McLaughlin (course director).
  • Fourth-year honourable mention: V. M. Roberts, “Misjöfn Verks: Gendered division of labour and social/instrumental power in the Viking Age,” from HIST 4990, History of Technology, taught by Associate Professor Margaret Schotte.
  • Fourth-year winner: Joseph Yachimec, “Dreams of the Merchant-King: Sidewalk Toronto as Neoliberal Project,” from POLS 4404, Politics and Cultures of Neoliberal Urbanism, taught by Associate Professor Karen Bridget Murray.

There were no entrants in the category of Major Research Project.

Both the winning essays and the adjudicators comments can be found online, in the Fall/Winter 2017 and Fall/Winter 2018 YorkSpace Repository for the LA&PS Writing Prize. The winners also received transcript notations, certificates and cash prizes.

Each year, the Faculty invites course directors to submit outstanding essays in any field but creative writing. The submissions are collected and organized by Writing Department staff into year levels (first to fourth year), with a special category for major research projects and undergraduate theses included.

Then, small teams of full-time writing faculty (each responsible for a category) review the submissions. Using criteria of originality, research, expression (style, structure etc.) and overall significance, the teams choose a winner and a runner-up for each level of the competition.

In Fall/Winter 2017 and 2018, the competition received more than 65 entries written in many different styles and on a wide variety of topics. Some departments held their own internal competitions first, to nominate their strongest submissions to the Faculty-level competition.

The Fall/Winter 2019 LA&PS Writing Competition, open to papers from summer 2019 to winter 2020 will open in April 2020.

Justice Beverley McLachlin delivers 2019 McLaughlin College Annual Public Policy Lecture

Beverley McLachlin

Justice Beverley McLachlin, the longest serving chief justice in the history of the Supreme Court of Canada, delivered this year’s McLaughlin College Annual Public Policy Lecture held on Oct. 30.

Beverley McLachlin

McLachlin served on the Supreme Court of Canada for some 28 years and, for more than half of those, served as its chief justice. Legal scholars such as Professor Ian Greene and Peter McCormick (Beverley McLachlin: The Legacy of a Supreme Court Chief Justice, 2019) have observed that she left an indelible and remarkable imprint on the jurisprudence of Canada during her years of service. The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada ranks third on the Table of Precedence for Canada, behind the governor general of Canada and the prime minister, and above the speaker of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Commons, and is a position of great authority and responsibility in the government of Canada.

The topic for her lecture was “The Role of the Constitutional Court in a Modern Democracy,” a subject that she has unparalleled expertise and experience with. The Supreme Court of Canada is the final court of appeal that decides the most important constitutional law issues confronting Canadian society and sets precedents that must be followed by every court in Canada.

McLachlin began her lecture by reference to the recent landmark constitutional law case of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, R (Miller) v The Prime Minister, that limits the royal prerogative power to prorogue Parliament. In a unanimous judgement, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that the matter was not only justiciable but that Prime Minister Boris Johnston’s advice to Queen Elizabeth II was unlawful. McLachlin noted that the case demonstrates the extent of the authority of the constitutional court in a liberal democracy; that is, to shape it’s governance and, thereby, the very nature of its society.

Turning to Canada, McLachlin identified three functions of any constitutional court within a federal system of government: to decide the “separation of powers” between the federal and provincial governments; to ensure that the powers of governments conform to the constitution; and, since the advent of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, to decide on the nature of the rights guarantees contained therein.

Each of these three functional areas of the constitutional court were addressed in detail with reference to some of the leading constitutional judgments during her years on the Supreme Court of Canada and before she arrived in 1989, including:

1998 Reference Re Secession of Quebec – that dealt with the legality of the unilateral succession of Quebec from Canada, in Canadian and international law.

1989 Irwin Toy Ltd. v. Quebec – that decided the meaning of freedom of expression under Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

1990 Sparrow – that decided the meaning of Aboriginal rights under Section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act.

1988 Ford v. Quebec – that struck down part of the Charter of the French Language as a violation of the freedom of expression in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

1985 Operation Dismantle – that rejected a Section 7 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms argument that allowing the U.S. Government to test cruise missiles over Canadian territory posed an increased risk of nuclear war and that Canada would be a more likely target as a consequence.

1989 Crown v. Black – that determined an accused’s right to counsel under Section 10 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

All these leading judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada demonstrate, McLachlin noted, that the constitutional courts have the power to protect the constitution and the “rule of law.” She further noted that the protection of all Indigenous rights and reconciliation were the most satisfying part of her work.

Following her lecture, McLachlin answered questions from a capacity crowd. Professor James C. Simeon, head of McLaughlin College, observed that “From the question and answer session, it was evident that all those present were highly engaged and hung on every word that she said.”

At the conclusion of the formal part of the evening’s program, McLachlin met and had her photo taken with those in attendance, and signed copies of her recent autobiography, Truth be Told, and her novel, Full Disclosure.

“It was a highly successful and rewarding evening for all concerned,” Simeon stated, “and, again, demonstrated the value of the McLaughlin College Annual Public Policy Lecture that brings some of the most outstanding public figures of the day to York University to talk about those things that matter the most to us all in advancing the ‘public good.’”

A road map back home: Jesse Thistle and the power of storytelling at the Kitty Lundy Memorial Lecture

Jesse Thistle

It’s hard to believe that Jesse Thistle never intended to be a writer.

“I’ve got all these fancy titles now, but really I’m just a storyteller,” he told a captive audience at York University’s Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre on Tues. Nov 19. Thistle spoke sincerely, but it was evident to anyone at the 2019 Kitty Lundy Memorial Lecture – which he headlined – that Thistle is much more than just a storyteller.   

Jesse Thistle delivering his lecture (image: Nicole Glassman)

A PhD candidate at York University’s Department of History, and author of the best-selling memoir From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way, Thistle was lauded for his courage, honesty and resilience by the three artists and panelists who joined him at the lecture: Shane Belcourt, Jesse Wente, and ShoShona Kish.

“Stories like Jesse’s are like a road map back home,” said Kish, an Anishinaabekwe community organizer, producer, activist, songwriter and JUNO award-winning artist. “I don’t know how many of you have read this book, but I’m just really happy that you’ll have this medicine.”

Kish reflected on Thistle’s experience with homelessness; it brought back memories of her grandfather, who lived on the street for many years. Just like so many other individuals on the frontlines of colonial intergenerational trauma, Kish noted, her grandfather passed away without sharing his story.

“One of the products of colonialism and oppression is that our stories get cloaked in shame, and they get buried,” she said.  

This is why, for Kish and the other panelists, stories like Thistle’s are essential to the process of healing and reconciliation.  

Shane Belcourt talking about his work and how it relates to Thistle’s book. Seated, left to right:
Professor Ruth Koleszar-Green (moderator), Jesse Thistle, ShoShona Kish, Jesse Wente and Professor Carolyn Podruchny (moderator) (image: Nicole Glassman)

For Wente, sharing stories is not only a way of reclaiming Indigenous sovereignty, but also a vessel through which to counter harmful colonial narratives. As a self-described ‘Ojibwe dude,’ Wente has had a long career as a film and pop culture critic, but to him, “film is just the conduit … it’s really about the story.”  

He talked about the need to have more Indigenous representation in artistic spaces, recalling moments at prestigious events like the Cannes Film Festival where he was the only Indigenous person in the room. 

Belcourt, a Métis cinematographer, writer and director, echoed these sentiments, and added a plea for other Indigenous folks to continue to share their stories. “Your Indigeneity is your gift and your responsibility.” 

Thistle ended the night by sharing a token of wisdom he received from one of his elders: the fact that storytelling is a form of preserving culture, memory and identity.

“My elder reminded me to present the book in a way that reflects that we are strong people,” Thistle said. “We resist.” 

About the Kitty Lundy Memorial Lecture

The annual Kitty Lundy Memorial Lecture honours the late Kitty Lundy, an admired educator of sociology who was associated with York’s former Atkinson Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies from 1986 to 1989. Wide-ranging in her accomplishments and interests, Lundy felt particular concern for the fields of education, occupations and women’s studies, and demonstrated a keen commitment to students pursuing their studies on a part-time basis. To honour her memory, the Lundy family established the Kitty Lundy Memorial Fund, which supports the annual lecture.

The 2019 Kitty Lundy Memorial Lecture was co-hosted by The Department of Equity Studies, the Aboriginal Students Association at York (ASAY), the Centre for Aboriginal Student Services (CASS), the Indigenous Council, the Indigenous Studies Program, the History of Indigenous Peoples Network, the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, the Department of History, Office of the Provost & Vice-President Academic, Office of the President.

McLaughlin College commemorates International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10

To commemorate International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, McLaughlin College will present a panel of speakers as part of its popular Lunch Talk Series.

International Human Rights Day commemorates Dec. 10, the day on which, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UDHR is one of UN’s major achievements as well as the first enunciation of human rights across the world.

The declaration stipulates universal values and a shared standard of achievement for everyone in every country. While the declaration is not a binding document, it inspired more than 60 human rights instruments that today make a common standard of human rights. It is the most translated document around the globe – available in more than 500 languages.

Despite the efforts to protect human rights, the hostility toward human rights and those who defend them continues to rise. As a result, this year’s Human Rights Day advocates for everyone to stand up for their rights and those of others – civil, economic, political and cultural rights. Additionally, the day aims to enlighten us about how our rights are a foundation of sustainable development and peaceful societies. The day also acknowledges the advocates and defenders of human rights around the world.

The event moderator is James C. Simeon, head of McLaughlin College and an associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA), Faculty of Arts and Professional Studies, York University. He is a member-at-large of the Executive of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS) and a past president of CARFMS.

Panelists include:

• Anna Purkey, a senior research associate and the summer course director at the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University. Purkey is a lawyer by training and has a long history of academic and advocacy engagement with issues related to the human rights of refugees and refugee law. Her talk is titled “Legal Empowerment and Human Rights: the Dignity of ‘Others’.”

• Warda Shazadi Meighen, a refugee and immigration lawyer at Waldman & Associates. She is the current chair of the International Justice Circle at Human Rights Watch Canada and an adjunct professor of refugee law at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law. Her talk is titled “Activating Human Rights Instruments: Strategies and Challenges.”

The event runs from 12 to 2 p.m. in 140 McLaughlin College, Senior Commons Room. All are welcome to attend.

York students earn national prizes for Canadian Studies research

Image announcing Awards

Two students in York University’s Canadian Studies program have earned praise for their research with awards from the prestigious Canadian Studies Network-Le Réseau d’études canadiennes (CSN-RÉC).

Warren Bernauer
Evania Pietrangelo-Proco

Evania Pietrangelo-Porco (undergraduate, history) and Warren Bernauer (PhD, geography) earned prizes for best 2018-19 undergraduate thesis and PhD dissertation respectively. York University’s Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies nominated the two works to the CSN national prize level after they won Robarts’ own Odessa (undergraduate) and Godard Prizes (PhD) this past spring.

The CSN-RÉC is a national association dedicated to serving the purposes of scholars, including faculty, students and independent researchers, involved in the study of Canada through Canadian Studies programs at the post-secondary level in Canada.

In its adjudication, the prize committee called Pietrangelo-Porco’s work “ambitious, mature, and well-researched” and they were unanimously impressed by Bernauer’s “methodology, sources and clear and lively prose.”

Pietrangelo-Porco’s essay, titled “Sex and the City Streets: Intersections of Politics, Morality, Race, and Community in Vancouver, 1983 – 1989” was completed under the supervision of Daniel Murchison (history). The essay examined Vancouver’s sex work industry through an intersectional lens and sought to ‘read’ the field through the lens of developing neo-liberal policies. Earlier this year, it won the Robarts Centre’s Odessa Prize for the Study of Canada, which recognizes the best fourth-year undergraduate essay written in either English or French at York University on a topic relevant to the study of Canada. The prize, which was relaunched in 2018-19 after a four-year hiatus, came with a $1,000 award. Pietrangelo-Porco is currently in the first year of a master’s program in history at York University.

Bernauer’s PhD dissertation “Extractive Hegemony in the Arctic: Energy Resources and Political Conflict in Nunavut, 1970-2017” examines the history of conflicts over resource extraction in Nunavut and explains how Nunavut’s government and Inuit organizations have come to support an economy based on energy extraction. In the summer of this year, it was awarded the Barbara Godard Dissertation Prize. This award, from the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, is given to the doctoral dissertation on a Canadian topic defended at York University during the calendar year that best advances our knowledge of Canada. The award is accompanied by a prize of $500.

Since completing his dissertation, Bernauer has worked as a consultant to Indigenous and environmental organizations and as a senior researcher at the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Bernauer is currently teaching at the University of Manitoba in the Geography and Native Studies departments. He is preparing a book monograph on the history of Inuit resistance to uranium mining, co-authored with Inuit Elder/activist Joan Scottie and social science researcher Jack Hicks, for submission to a publisher.

The Robarts Centre has a recent record of successful nominations to the national level. To nominate a student for the Odessa Prize, faculty members are invited to submit one essay on behalf of a student, with a short covering letter explaining the context in which the work was written. For the Godard Prize, the graduate program director of each graduate program at York University may nominate one dissertation per year. For more information, email robarts@yorku.ca or visit robarts.info.yorku.ca.

Canadian Studies professor launches new edited collection on Canadian environmental history

A talk by York University Canadian Studies Professor Colin Coates on Nov. 21 on the theme of agriculture and rural life as a framework in Canadian environmental history provided an opportunity to highlight the launch of a new edited collection on the topic.

Hosted by the Department of Multidisciplinary Studies (MDS) at Glendon College, in collaborations with the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, the talk “Going Back to the Land: The Nature of Canada” was presented as one of the MDS Research Talks that include short presentations from members of the department. These events are designed to support collegiality and potential research synergies in a department that hosts many academic programs.

“Our monthly departmental talks are a great way for colleagues, students and members of our community to stay up to date with the research projects of others in the department,” said Chair of the Department, Professor Betsey Price.

From left to right: Professor Colin Coates (Canadian Studies Program), Professor Jean Michel Montsion (deputy director, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies), and Professor Betsey Price (Chair, MDS Department)

The new edited collection titled The Nature of Canada (UBC Press) was co-edited by Coats and Professor Graeme Wynn from the University of British Columbia. Speaking of the book, Coates indicated that he and Wynn wanted to create an “accessible collection of articles that would give a taste of what environmental history offers to our understanding of Canada.”

The book covers topics ranging from the cod and beaver trades, mining, gender, environmentalism, to climate change.

The launch of the book, a key text in the growing field of Canadian environmental history, was supported by the Environmental Research Group of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. A Robarts Centre research cluster, this group is composed of various students and faculty members of York University that research the multiple dimensions of the Canadian environment from a broad range of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields, including sciences, social sciences, humanities, fine arts and health. Representing the group at the event, Professor Jennifer Bonnell said they are always looking for members of the York community to join this growing network. Her group will host quarterly presentations of works-in-progress, beginning with the first meeting Dec. 10, 12:30 to 2 p.m. at the Robarts Centre, 7th floor of the Kaneff Tower. For more information, contact Bonnell at bonnellj@yorku.ca.

During the Nov. 21 event, a second book was also highlighted. For this book titled La Confédération, 1864-1999: nouvelles perspectives (University of Calgary Press), Coates coordinated the translation of the original English-language collection of essays, edited by Daniel Heidt. The work of the translation and revision team was made possible by a Canada150@York grant. Also supported by the Robarts Centre through its groupe de recherche sur le Canada francophone, francophile et en français, the book launch was an opportunity to celebrate this important collection, especially useful for French-speaking academics working on and teaching Canadian politics and history.

“This book brings new analyses of Confederation by examining this process from a regional perspective and considering the impact on Indigenous Peoples,” said Professor Audrey Pyée. “We particularly welcome a new resource in French about the entire country. There are too few of them.”

Book Launch of The Nature of Canada and La Confédération 1864-1999: nouvelles perspectives, from left to right: Professor Audrey Pyée (Chair, History, Glendon), Professor Jennifer Bonnell (History, LA&PS), Professor Colin Coates (Canadian Studies Program, Glendon), Professor Jean Michel Montsion (deputy director, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies)

The Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies is a research centre that facilitates and mobilizes research pertaining to various aspects of the study of Canada in the York community. Through various research clusters such as the Environmental Research Group and the Francophone Canada Research Group, the Robarts Centre promotes emerging inter-Faculty, collaborative and interdisciplinary fields in Canadian Studies. For more information about the Centre and its research clusters, visit its website.

Students perform spoken word at annual event

Students in the Department of Humanities, in the Culture & Expression Program and Black Canadian Studies Program, present a year-end performance of spoken word on Nov. 28.

The fifth edition of the “Griots to Emcees: Spoken Word Showcase” will begin at 7 p.m. at the Fred Thury Studio Theatre, second floor of Vanier College.

The event is a live showcase of art, power and spoken word presented by York University students. It is hosted by Motion.

For more information, or to attend the event, visit the Eventbrite listing.

Vanier College’s annual book sale will take place Jan. 13 to 16, 2020

Tables piled with books
Tables piled with books

Vanier College’s annual book sale once again has thousands of books available in a variety of genres.

The book sale will run from Jan. 13 to 16, 2020 at two locations, 152 Founders College and 001 Vanier College. It will be open Monday to Thursday, from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Everyone is welcome.

Browse through the enormous selection of new and used books, including mysteries, popular fiction, self-help tomes, textbooks, cookbooks and biographies, as well as reference, languages and academic. Most books will cost between $1 to $7.

Funds raised from the sale go towards helping students, clubs and refurbishing student space. In preparation, book donations are being accepted.

Volunteers are needed to help with the book sale and those interested in helping out can register at http://vanier.apps01.yorku.ca/forms/view.php?id=88844.

For more information, visit the Vanier College website.

Call for submissions: President’s Prizes in Creative Writing Competition

Get writing! The President’s Prizes in Creative Writing Competition is seeking original pieces in one or all of the following genres: poetry, short fiction, screenplay and stageplay.

The contest is open to all full- or part-time York University undergraduate students at the Keele and Glendon campuses. The deadline for submission is Monday, Jan. 13, 2020 by 5 p.m.

Although students can submit work to more than one category, they may only submit one work per genre. Submissions must fall within the four genres.

A prize of $400 will be awarded to the best entry in each genre. Material submitted must be original, unpublished and cannot have previously won any other contests.

The entries will be judged anonymously. Results of the competition will be announced within three months of the deadline. Prizes will be awarded at the President’s and the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies Creative Writing reception in the spring.

Winners’ names will be published in YFile and posted on the English Department and Creative Writing Program websites.

For all the details, including submission format, visit https://crwr.en.laps.yorku.ca/awards/presidents-prizes/.

For more information, contact Michelle Anacleto, creative writing program assistant, at ext. 33304 or by email at michana@yorku.ca.