TORONTO – December 9, 2004 – Scott Griffin today announced that, beginning January 1, 2005, Jane Wilson will be the new liaison for the media; responsible for news releases, press announcements and for providing information concerning the Griffin Poetry Prize, the nominated poets and the calendar of events for the 2005 awards, Wilson assumes her duties from Prudence Emery.
Scott Griffin noted the valuable contribution made by Prudence Emery, the Public Relations Director for the Prize since its inception in 2001, and was pleased that Emery will be remaining with the team as a consultant. “Prudence has been with us since the beginning and, as such, shares the credit for bringing the Griffin Poetry Prize to the awareness of an increasingly large audience. It means a great deal to us that she has agreed to stay on as consultant.” Emery will continue her career as a unit publicist in the feature film industry.
With a background in virtually all areas of media over the past twenty-plus years – as a reporter, interviewer and writer for radio, television, newspapers, magazines and the Internet in Canada and abroad – Wilson is enthusiastic about being directly involved with the Griffin Poetry Prize and the poets for whom it was created. Wilson brings a lifelong interest in poetry, and plans to make it her priority to raise interest as well as awareness by providing the press and interested parties with in-depth background information and up-to-the-minute status reports on the ongoing activities of the Prize’s rapidly expanding schedule of events and announcements.
Scott Griffin pointed to the recent appearance of Griffin Poetry Prize trustees and poets (Margaret Atwood, Robert Bringhurst, Anne Carson, August Kleinzahler and Anne Simpson) in October at the largest poetry festival in the UK, Poetry International 2004 in London, England, as being representative of the direction the Prize is moving: more international participation, exposure and recognition. The sold-out event was a stunning success. “With this sort of acknowledgment from the poetry world and with this group of enthusiastic people in place, I am confident the awareness of the Griffin Poetry Prize and our much lauded poets – both here at home and internationally – will rise exponentially. It’s an exciting time for poetry.”
The Griffin Poetry Prize – the most coveted and generous award for poetry in the world – consists of two awards bestowed each year for a Canadian and an international winner, and is valued at a total of C$80,000.
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For more information, contact:
Press and Publicity:
Jane Wilson, Public Relations Director
E-mail: press@griffinpoetryprize.com
Reminder: The deadline for the C$80,000 Griffin Poetry Prize for 2005 is fast approaching. Books must be submitted by publishers, postmarked no later than December 31, 2004 for books published between January 1 and December 31, 2004. The rules and entry forms are available online at: