Nomination Period is over

The Golden Beret Award will be given to a Canadian Spoken Word Artist who has made a substantial contribution to the development of the discipline, through their own writing/performance works, and their involvement in the community-at-large.

The short list will be announced at the 2013 Calgary Spoken Word Festival (Tenth Annual: Theme: Extreme Thinking) in April as part of National Poetry Month! And the award will be presented at the AGM of The League of Canadian Poets! The 2013 recipient will also receive a prize of $1000.

In 2014 The Sheri-D Golden Beret Award will be awarded by The League of Canadian Poets.

The selection committee will evaluate candidates based on the following qualities:
    1.   Lifetime contribution to the genre of Spoken Word
    2.   Originality of Creative Process—Innovation
    3.   Use of New Technologies
    4.   Contribution to Community

After being presented by the Calgary Spoken Word Festival for 7 years, The Golden Beret Award, previously labeled as “soon-to-be-prestigious”, is now transitioning into The Sheri- D Golden Beret Award. It will be passed on to The League of Canadian Poets who will continue to endow a $1000 cash prize in 2014. In this transition, the award continues to represent excellence in the Spoken Word community and will grow to its prestigious heights.

Previous Recipients

2012 – Kirk Miles (Calgary, AB)
2011 – Ian Ferrier (Montréal, QC)
2010 – Wendy Morton (Victoria,BC)
2009 – Lillian Allen (Toronto, ON)
2008 – Sarah Murphy (Calgary, AB)
2007 – Murdoch Burnett (Comox, BC)

For Information:
Please contact Sheri-D Wilson @ 403.686.4292
Or sheridwilson@ciswf.com