2026 Zaccheus Jackson Nyce Memorial Award Nominations Open

Nominations for recipients of the 2026 Zaccheus Jackson Nyce Memorial Award are now open.

We encourage you to nominate someone who fits the criteria for the award (below), with particular consideration for a person who doesn’t ask for, or receive much recognition or praise, but deserves it. We recognize the great sacrifices Zaccheus made to bring poetry to communities who needed it, and we wish to carry forward that legacy.

 

ABOUT THE AWARD:

The Zaccheus Jackson Nyce Memorial Award was created to recognize community leaders who have gone over and above in the pursuit of honouring the national Spoken Word Community. Zaccheus was a prolific artist that went out of his way to help people feel welcome.

Some of the qualities attributed to Zaccheus that we look for include a person who:

  • Is real AF.
  • Happily celebrates others and is the loudest person in the room doing so.
  • Mentors and guides peers and youth.
  • Makes the world safer for other people.

and a person who demonstrates:

  • A welcoming spirit that reaches out to community members known and unknown.
  • Courage on and off the stage.
  • A ferocious energy that graciously steers through adversity and transforms it into something beautiful and useful.
  • A commitment to build community even when that work is challenging.
  • Good sportsmanship

Past recipients include: Erin Dingle, Johnny MacRae, Rusty Priske, Nang K’uulas, Sonya Littlejohn, Jeremy Loveday, RC Weslowski, Taran Kootenayoo, Johnny Trinh, Jillian Christmas, Spillious, and Angelic Goldsky.

 

NOMINATIONS & SELECTION

Nominations open for 4 weeks and close at 11:59 (PST) on March 15, 2026.

Starting in 2026, Nominations are valid for the year that entry is received. Past nominees who were unsuccessful are invited to be nominated again. Up to 2 recipients can be named each year. However, most years, it is 1 recipient.

Nominees will be adjudicated by a selection committee that may include past recipients, members of the Vancouver Poetry House Board and Leadership, members of the spoken word community at large, representatives of the Jackson Nyce family, and poets who knew and worked personally with Zaccheus. The The selection committee will make a recommendation in March 2026, that is then approved by Vancouver Poetry House, for a recipient or recipients to be honored at the Verses gathering in April, in Vancouver, BC. If applicable and within capacity, Vancouver Poetry House will cover travel expenses for the recipient(s) to receive the award at the Verses Festival of Words in Vancouver, BC, in April/May 2026.

To nominate someone for the award, please fill out the Google Form here: https://forms.gle/vo9BM97ae3Du9Suz8