2026 Department of English Creative Writing Awards Winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of 2026 Joyce Marshall Hsia Memorial Poetry Prize and Margó Takacs Marshall Prize for Excellence in Short Story Writing.

Joyce Marshall Hsia Memorial Poetry Prize

• First Prize – “Ballads by the Bard of a Generation” by Annastasia Brooks
• Second Prize – "The Shape of What Stays” by Daryan Gerami Schaefer
• Third Prize – “Teens, Dreams, and Automobiles ” by Samantha Lord
• Honourable Mention - “Untitled Collection” by Grayson Kennedy 

Margó Takacs Marshall Prize for Excellence in Short Story Writing

• First prize –  “Children Are the Only Ones Who Blush" by Mikayla Hanlon 
• Second prize – “Firekeeper" by Grayson Kennedy
• Third prize –  “The Spider (L'araignée)” by Samantha Lord 
• Honourable Mention - “Grief” by Tori Dean