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Marguerite R. Dow Canadian Heritage Award

A prize up to $1000 is awarded competitively to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident registered in any undergraduate or graduate program at Western who submits, in English or French, any personal and recent work of creative writing, in any genre or length, on a theme of Canadian Heritage, that has not so far been published or entered in any other competition. The number and value will vary at the discretion of the selection committee based on funds available.

Established through the generosity of Marguerite R. Dow, Professor Emerita, The University of Western Ontario, who taught English and Drama in the Faculty of Education from 1965 to 1985.

Warmest congratulations to Gurnoor Sandhu (Faculty of Science) who has been awarded the 2026 Marguerite R. Dow Canadian Heritage Award for their submission, "After the Plow Passes."

The adjudicators note that Gurnoor’s powerful poem uses a quintessentially Canadian experience, watching a snowplow block your driveway, to explore themes of community and belonging. Focusing on the poet’s father, who rose early to clear a path to make a morning commute possible, the final scene of the poem vividly depicts a typical snowfall, not a storm, but "Just enough to make everything slower." The image of an immigrant man recently fired from his own job shovelling before sunrise so that neighbours can get on with their own lives reminds us of the effort necessary to endure in what is sometimes an inhospitable environment.

Thank you to Professors Jane Toswell and Richard Moll, who adjudicated the award this year.

Contest Rules

1. Entries must be submitted no later than 8:30 a.m. on Monday, February 2, 2026.
2. Participants must be full-time students registered in any undergraduate (baccalaureate) or graduate program on Main campus at Western University.
3. Previous first-prize winners are not eligible.
4. Entries to be submitted by email in PDF format to: uenglish@uwo.ca. Do not share files via SharePoint or other file-sharing links.
5. Submission must include a separate cover page marked Marguerite R. Dow Canadian Heritage Award with the following information:
   • your name
   • student number (NO SPACES)
   • email address
   • permanent mailing address
   • telephone number
   • contest name: Marguerite R. Dow Canadian Heritage Award
6. Include the cover page within the same document/pdf file as the creative work (one file in total to be submitted).
7. Do not include any personally identifiable information on the creative work itself.
8. Include the title of the submission on the creative work.
9. Submissions will be coded by a contest organizer who is not a judge.
10. Participants must submit, in English or French, any personal and recent work of creative writing, in any genre or length, on a theme of Canadian Heritage.
11. If submitting in French, please include an English translation.
12. The theme may focus on any subject (such as place, relationships, history, circumstances, etc.).
13. You should submit work that has not hitherto been published or entered in any other competition.
14. One entry per person.
15. One of the following would be a suitable submission:
    • a poem, or a brief series of linked poems
    • a one-act play, or scenes from a longer work
    • a short story or novella, or selections from a longer work of fiction
16. The winner will be notified by email by the end of April 2026.
17. The results will be posted on the Department of English and Writing Studies website and social media channels.

Inquiries

uenglish@uwo.ca