Meet our latest #CCPrizes winners!

Molson Prizes

Two Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes, in the amount of $50,000 each, are awarded annually to distinguished individuals (one in the arts and one in the social sciences and humanities). The prizes allow recipients to contribute to the cultural and intellectual heritage of Canada.

This prize is administered by the Canada Council for the Arts in partnership with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

To date she has published more than twenty novels in France (Le Seuil, Grasset, Gallimard, Laffont, Belfond) and Québec, all of them translated into English, as well as six plays and several collections of poetry. She has had several residencies abroad and won many awards for her work.

Her works include, in no particular order, Tête blanche (1980), L’insoumise (1966), David Sterne (1967), Manuscrits de Pauline Archange (1968), Vivre! Vivre! (1969), Le sourd dans la ville (1980), Visions d’Anna (1982), Pierre (1986), L’ange de la solitude (1989), Un jardin dans la tempête (1990)... The first volume in the series entitled Soifs (1995), recipient of the 1996 Governor General’s Literary Award, was published by Éditions du Boréal, Éditions du Seuil in Paris and in its English translation, These Festive Nights, by Anansi Press. Her most recent novel, Le festin au crépuscule, was published in 2016 by Éditions du Boréal and Seuil and will be published by Anansi, as with all the titles in this remarkable series.

Solitary childhoods, tainted innocence, capriciousness and rebelliousness and infinite tenderness are conjured by a novelist who never evokes realism without transforming it into poetry.

Some of Marie-Claire Blais’ novels have been adapted for film and television, including Une saison dans la vie d’Emmanuel directed by Claude Weisz in 1968 (Prix de la Quinzaine des jeunes réalisateurs), Le sourd dans la ville directed by Mireille Dansereau in 1987 (honorable mention at the Venice Film Festival) and L’océan (telefilm) directed by Jean Faucher and produced by Radio-Canada in 1971.

McGarry’s work has had an important public policy dimension and impact. He has testified as an expert witness in the US Congress. His work on power-sharing and policing reform in Northern Ireland has been seen as influential in the resolution of its conflict. In 2008, McGarry was appointed as the first ever “Senior Advisor on Power-Sharing” to the United Nations (Mediation Support Unit). He is currently the Senior Advisor on Governance and Power-Sharing in the UN backed negotiations in Cyprus. He has advised on a range of conflicts around the world, including Iraq, Yemen, Philippines, Kenya and Western Sahara.

Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture

The $50,000 Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture is awarded annually to either a young practitioner of architecture or an architectural firm that has completed its first built works and has demonstrated exceptional artistic potential.

Promoting the idea that living small is a type of social and environmental sustainability, the studio is exploring a broader vision of sustainable design through building form, alternative programme, and consideration of the existing urban fabric. The studio is actively pursuing the integration of sustainability without compromising design excellence; moreover, it employs sustainable design as a means to explore innovation in architectural design.

Principal Heather Dubbeldam, a fourth generation architect, carries on the modernist approach of her Dutch lineage. Heather is active as an advocate for the profession, leading numerous design and architecture organizations. She is co-editor and author of several publications, a mentor to intern architects, and visiting critic at schools of architecture.

This award will support their research project entitled "The Next Green – Innovation in Sustainable Housing", which entails travel to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Germany to study sustainable housing precedents and research for northern climates. The firm will explore how architects in these countries set new standards for buildings that surpass current protocols for sustainability, while developing a unique spatial and artistic architectural language in which energy efficiency and design merge seamlessly.

Ronald J. Thom Award for Early Design Achievement

The Ronald J. Thom Award for Early Design Achievement is awarded to either a practitioner of architecture or an architectural firm. The successful candidate must be in the early stages of a career or practice and must demonstrate both outstanding creative talent and exceptional potential in architectural design.

Studio Junction’s body of work operates in the context of “incremental urbanism” – the smaller, more modest projects that focus on place-making and contribute to creating a more diverse, vibrant neighborhood and livable city.

As with the Courtyard House and Mjolk House, the sites are confined and challenging. Projects are frequently mixed-use, with both a live and a work component. Courtyard typology and courtyard and atrium elements are often used to allow the projects to successfully adapt to an urban siting where there is no traditional front or rear yard.

Past honors include the Michael V. and Wanda Plachta Award (OAA), a Toronto Urban Design Award and two North American Wood Design Awards.

John G. Diefenbaker Award

The John G. Diefenbaker Award enables a distinguished German scholar to do research in Canada and will be encouraged to participate in the teaching activities of the host institution. The spirit of the award is to encourage exchange between scholarly communities in Canada and Germany.

Virginia Parker Prize

The Virginia Parker Prize is awarded annually to a Canadian classical musician, instrumentalist or conductor under the age of 32, who demonstrates outstanding talent, musicianship and artistic excellence, and who makes a valuable contribution to the artistic life in Canada and internationally.

She actively commissions music from composers at all stages of their careers, and develops each new work through multiple performances. Current collaborations include projects with composers Anna Höstman, Martin Arnold, Amber Priestley, John Lely, Linda C. Smith and James Weeks.

Since 2011, Mira has co-directed NU:NORD – a project-based music and performance network which instigates artistic exchanges and encourages community building between music creators from Canada, Norway & the UK. Through this initiative, Mira hopes to offer a foundation from which Canadian artists can reach out to artistic communities overseas, and provide a conduit through which international artists can access Canada’s rich culture. This summer the project will invite nine Canadian musicians to the UK, where new works will be developed and presented to London audiences.

Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Awards

The Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Awards are awarded annually for outstanding artistic achievement by Canadian mid-career artists in the disciplines of Dance, Inter-Arts, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts and Writing and Publishing.

Louise’s version of the Lisa Moore short story All Zoos Everywhere was named one of the Top Three Performances in 2013 by The Overcast, St. John’s. Louise Moyes and Paul Rowe’s interactive show Francophone Newfoundland and Labrador received a 2014 Manning Heritage Award. She is currently making a docudance for NL dancers Calla Lachance, Andrea Tucker and Tammy McLeod and mentoring New Brunswick actor-dancer Lou Poirier in making her own docudance. In 2016 Louise will be spending five months researching working with people on the autism spectrum, storytelling and dance. She will also be directing a documentary on Franco-Acadian War Veterans from the Port-au-Port Peninsula. Moyes studied dance and performance at Studio 303 in Montreal. She has performed throughout Newfoundland & Labrador and Canada, and in Germany, Italy, Iceland, New York, Australia, France, and Brazil. Louise collaborates frequently with Newfoundland artists Anne Troake, Lisa Porter, Diana Daly and Lori Clarke.

He is currently; performing with Adam Linder at the Los Angeles Biennial - Kien Paradiso, performing Relative Collider with Pierre Godard and Liz Santoro in Tanz im August (Berlin), creating an installation using compulsory ice figures with visual artist Xavier Veilhan (France) for 2017 at Theatre de la Villette in Paris.

He has exhibited and screened his work nationally and internationally at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Family Business Gallery in New York City, Te Tuhi Centre for Arts Auckland, New Zealand, City Arts Centre in Edinburgh Scotland, Institute of Contemporary Arts Philadelphia and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City. His collaborative film project with Brian Jungen, Modest Livelihood, was originally presented at the Walter Phillips Gallery at The Banff Centre as a part of dOCUMENTA (13) with subsequent exhibitions of this work at the Logan Centre Gallery at the University of Chicago (curated by Monika Szewcyyk), and the Art Gallery of Ontario (curated by Kitty Scott). Duane has upcoming exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Alberta and will be a participating at the SeMa Biennale in Seoul, Korea. Duane was also the recipient of the 2013 Sobey Art Award, an annual prize given to an artist under 40. Duane is currently represented by Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver.

Raised within the unconventional milieu of her artist grandfather and the singing, song-writing women in her family, living among the forests of the Oak Ridges Moraine, Chloe was encouraged to question everything seek new ways of doing old things and to always challenge herself. It is therefore no surprise that her work is always breaking the boundaries of musical conventions and people’s expectations. Touring constantly across Europe Charles’ developed an international, genre-less sound and thus when it came time to record her latest album, With Blindfolds On, she not only took a leap of faith and decided to self-produce but she made it an international affair, recording between Toronto, Berlin and New York. Released in May 2016, it follows on the heels of Charles’ critically acclaimed 2013 debut album Break the Balance, which received major accolades from Billboard Magazine, Rolling Stone, Mojo, London Times etc. With 2 albums under her belt, nearly 1000 shows played internationally, and an impressive string of awards and accolades (e.g. 2014 Sirius/XM Indie Award, 2015 John Lennon Songwriting Contest), Charles is already proving herself to be one of Canada’s brightest emerging singer-songwriters and was recently featured in everything from Noisey/VICE and Now Magazine all the way to the Strombo Show.

Qui Va Là won three awards for best young people’s play with La Fugue: a Cochon d’Or (2010), Prix Opus (2011) and a Dora Mavor Award (2013).

Félix Beaulieu-Duchesneau has often appeared on stage, including with Théâtre PÀP in Le Traitement (2006) where he won a Masque for male actor in a supporting role. For Théâtre de La Manufacture, he was an actor and musician in Coma Unplugged which won the Masque for best Montreal production (2007). He was in As Is (Tel Quel) for Simoniaques Théâtre (2014-2015). He will be repeating his performance as Baron de Münchhausen in Münchhausen, les machineries de l’imaginaire for Théâtre Tout à Trac, a role that won him the Denise Pelletier (2011) prize for best actor.

He took on contemporary dance with Corps Caverneux (2013) for Danse-Cité. With Théâtre de la Roulotte, he adapted and directed Le Magicien d’Oz (2010) and Peter Pan (2012). He improvised with the LNI (2007 to 2008) and the LIM (2005 to 2007) where he was named recruit of the year (2005-06) and co-player of the year (2006-07).

Since 2014 he has been teaching creation at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal. Félix is currently working on a solo show entitled Le Nombril du Monstre that will be presented in April and May 2017 at Théâtre de La Petite Licorne.

His installation and photographic work has been exhibited internationally and he has participated in residencies in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. Cedric holds an MFA from the Malmö Art Academy (2007) and a BFA from Emily Carr University (2003). His work often focuses on the power dynamics established by constructed spaces and takes the form of large-scale rambling ad hoc architectural installations. The projects follow a methodology he calls ‘thinking through building’ in which construction takes on an emergent quality rather than an illustrative one. Concurrent to this installation work is a rigorous photographic practice that operates at times in parallel with and at others tangentially to the installation works.

While the majority of his projects are solo efforts, Bomford often works collaboratively with a number of different partners including his brother Nathan, father Jim and with other artists such as: Verena Kaminiarz, Mark Dudiak and Carl Boutard. Recent projects include Deadhead, a production of Other Sights for Artists’ Projects in Vancouver and Substation Pavilion a public art commission in Vancouver, BC. Upcoming projects include a solo exhibition at the Esker Foundation in Calgary, Alberta and a public art commission in Seattle, Washington.

Her most recent, The Road In Is Not the Same Road Out, was published last year in Canada by Anansi and in the U.S. by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and is shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award. A volume of selected and new poems, The Living Option, was published in the U.K. in 2013. She has given readings across Canada, the U.S., and the U.K., as well as in Ireland, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, and her work has been translated into French, German, Korean, and Dutch. A former writer-in-residence for the universities of Alberta, New Brunswick, and St. Andrews, Scotland, she’s taught writing and led workshops for writing programs across Canada, and is currently an associate director for the Banff Centre’s Writing Studio. She lives in Toronto, and is at work on a new poetry manuscript she hesitates to describe for fear of jinxing it.