In an essay originally published in his magazine Front & Centre and republished on The Danforth Review, Ottawa writer and Black Bile Press editor Matthew Firth calls for the end of literary prizes and contests of all stripes, citing the usual missing-the-forest-for-the-trees argument. But why include it in In Other Media? First, it’s important to be reminded of the view that politics, money, overabundance, and the literary scene’s incestuousness call the relevance of prizes into question. Second, Firth makes all kinds of colourful statements, comparing literary awards to the prizes given for the sporting endeavours of six-year-olds, calling the big prizes “particularly sickening,” and deeming the whole system “a perpetual circle of self-congratulation more closely resembling a circle jerk than anything else.”

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Click here for the full essay on The Danforth Review