David Huebert wins 2016 Walrus Poetry Prize

David Huebert has won the 2016 Walrus Poetry Prize for his poem"Colloquium: J.T. Henry and Lady Simcoe on Early Ontario Petrocolonialism."The prize, now in its fifth year, comes with a $4,000 purse.
Earlier this year, David Huebert wonthe 2016 CBC Short Story Prizefor his story"Enigma."

Huebert is a Ph.D. student at Western University. His first poetry collection,We Are No Longer the Smart Kids in Class, was published in 2015, and his story collectionPeninsula Sinkingis forthcoming from Biblioasis.

"Given the tremendous amount of luck and contingency involved in decisions such as this one, I'm truly grateful that this time fortune has smiled on my work," Huebert commented in a press release.

Walrus poetry editor Damian Rogers judged the prize with poet Hoa Nguyen. According to Nguyen, "Colloquium" - which comments on colonial encounters in 18th-century Ontario - puts "avarice and empire on display." Rogers was impressed by the way the poem "repurposes historical texts to frame the ongoing violence of extraction and dispossession within the language of early settlers."

The People's Choice winner for the 2016 Walrus Poetry Prize is Adle Barclay for her poem"I Open the Dryer and a Robin Sails Out."Barclay is awarded $1,000.