Joshua Whitehead at the 2019 IVA Gala (Justine Crawford)

The finalists were announced on May 14 for the third annual Indigenous Voices Awards. The winners of the IVAs (pronounced EYE-VAHz) will be announced in a “virtual gala” on June 21 as part of National Indigenous Day, the organization announced in a press release. Details are to be announced at a later date on the organization’s website.

A total of $30,000 will be split among the eight prizes, with $2,000 for winners of the four unpublished, Indigenous language, and alternative format categories and $5,000 for winners of the four prose and poetry categories. The jury consists of Jordan Abel, Jeannette Armstrong, Joanne Arnott, Francis Langevin, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley, Pierrot Ross-Tremblay, and Richard Van Camp. The full list of finalists follows.

Published prose in French

• Shuni — Ce que tu dois savoir, Julie, Naomi Fontaine (Mémoire d’encrier)
• Aquariums, D. Kurtness (L’instant même)

Published prose in English

• In My Own Moccasins, Helen Knott (University of Regina Press)
• ʔbédayine, Kaitlyn Purcell (Metatron Press)
• From the Ashes, Jesse Thistle (Simon & Schuster)

Published poetry in French

• Bréviaire du matricule 082, Maya Cousineau-Mollen (Éditions Hannenorak)
• Chauffer le dehors, Marie-Andrée Gill (La peuplade)

Published poetry in English

• I Am Still Too Much, Brandi Bird (Rahila’s Ghost)
• On/Me, Francine Cunningham (Caitlin Press)
• Kiskajeyi—I am Ready, Michelle Sylliboy (Rebel Mountain Press)
• Disintegrate / Disassociate, Arielle Twist (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Works in an Indigenous language

• Injichaag: My Soul in Story, Rene Meshake (University of Manitoba Press)
• Dakwäkãda Warriors, Cole Pauls (Conundrum)

Unpublished prose in English

• Excerpts from “Half-Bads in White Regalia,” Cody Caetano
• “Forest Fires and Falling Stars,” Treena Chambers
• “Gatzi Naka,” Steven Hall

Unpublished poetry in English

• “Willow A Quartet,” David Agecoutay
• “A Memory of Mary,” Corri Daniels
• “Two Little Foxes, Buttertown Beach, I Will Never be Happier,” Keely Shirt

Works in an alternative format

• Elizabeth Dances Pow-wow, Elaine McArthur (Independently published)
• Phyllis’s Orange Shirt, Phyllis Webstad (Medicine Wheel Education)