Molson Prize

Template:Short description Template:No footnotes The Thomas Henry Pentland Molson Prize for the Arts is awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts. Two prizes are awarded annually to distinguished individuals. One prize is awarded in the arts, one in the social sciences and humanities. The prizes are $50,000 each, and intended to encourage continuing contribution to the cultural and intellectual heritage of Canada.

Endowment

Funded by an endowment from the Molson Foundation, the prizes are administered by the Canada Council for the Arts in cooperation with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Laureates are chosen by a peer assessment committee appointed jointly by the Canada Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Eligibility

Candidates must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. To be nominated, candidates must have made a substantial and distinguished contribution over a significant period of time. In the words of the deed of gift, the prizes are intended "to encourage Canadians of outstanding achievement in the fields of the Arts, the Humanities or the Social Sciences to make further contribution to the cultural or intellectual heritage of Canada". The terms of reference are interpreted as follows:

• outstanding achievement must have already been amply demonstrated
• further contribution implies that the laureates should still be very active and productive.

In other words, the prize is not intended as an "end of service" reward or as recognition for one great accomplishment. Past assessment committees have been quite consistent in choosing laureates who are close to the top of an outstanding career. Corporations and other organizations are excluded from consideration, as are posthumous awards. No individual may be awarded the prize more than once. The prizes are accessible to qualified persons from Aboriginal Peoples and diverse cultural and regional communities. Members of the board of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council are not eligible to be considered for this prize during the course of their terms as members nor for six months following the end of their term.

Nomination process

Candidates may not apply for the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes on their own behalf. They must be nominated by three individuals or three organizations, or a combination of individuals and organizations. Nominations are sought from persons and organizations that have the interest and capacity to nominate appropriate individuals. Nominators may submit one letter signed by the three nominating individuals or organizations, or submit three separate letters of nomination. Nominators are responsible for gathering and providing relevant documentation to the Canada Council.

Selection procedure

The two laureates are chosen by a single, multidisciplinary peer assessment committee co-chaired by the Chairman of the Canada Council for the Arts and the President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Members are chosen to ensure fair representation of gender, the two official languages, the various regions and cultures of Canada, and the various types of artistic and scholarly disciplines. Committee members are among the most accomplished individuals in their respective fields and, ideally, have interests that extend beyond the confines of a single discipline.

List of recipients

Year	Laureate<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2024		Shirley Cheechoo
		Christina Sharpe
2023		Joséphine Bacon
		Françoise Baylis
2022		Cecilia M. Benoit, sociologist
		H. Nigel Thomas, author, poet
2021		M. NourbeSe Philip<ref name="Winners2021">Template:Cite web</ref>
		Gordon J. G. Asmundson<ref name="Winners2021" />
2020		Mary Kerr, production designer<ref name="Winners2020">Template:Cite web</ref>
		David Lyon<ref name="Winners2020" />
2019		Alexina Louie<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		John Borrows<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2018		Diane Schoemperlen
		Lynne Viola
2017		Lawrence Hill<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		Kent Roach<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2016		Marie-Claire Blais
		John McGarry
2015		M. G. Vassanji<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		Constance Backhouse
2014		John Arcand
		Jean Grondin
2013		Richard Wagamese<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		Ann Dale
2012		Dáirine Ní Mheadhra<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>
		Keren Rice<ref name=":0" />
2011		Herménégilde Chiasson
		Peter Victor
2010		Édouard Lock
		Linda Hutcheon
2009		Ian Wallace
		Leonard Wayne Sumner
2008		Sheila Fischman
		Angus McLaren
2007		Alex Pauk
		Paul Thagard
2006		Nicole Brossard
		Henry Mintzberg
2005		Iain Baxter
		Ramsay Cook
2004		Maria Campbell
		Richard Tremblay
2003		Walter Boudreau
		Janice Gross Stein
2002		Christopher Newton
		Margaret Lock
2001	Not awarded
2000		Jacques Poulin
		Ian Hacking
1999		Kiugak Ashoona
		Tom Courchene
1998		Jeanne Lamon
		Michael Trebilcock<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1997		Mary Pratt
		Guy Rocher
1996		Mavis Gallant
		Pierre Maranda
1995		Gerald Ferguson
		Donald Akenson
1994		Michel Tremblay
		Martin Friedland
1993		R. Murray Schafer
		Juliet McMaster
1992		Douglas Cardinal
		Fernand Dumont
1991		Denys Arcand
		Charles Taylor
1990		Alice Munro
		Jean-Jacques Nattiez<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1989		Vera Frenkel
		Fernande Saint-Martin
1988		Robertson Davies
		Terence Michael Penelhum<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
1987		Yvette Brind'Amour
		Marc-Adélard Tremblay<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1986		J. Mavor Moore<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		William Dray
1985		Gaston Miron
	File:Melzack Ronald.jpg	Ronald Melzack
1984		Marcel Dubé<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		James G. Eayrs
1983		Brian Macdonald<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
		Francess Halpenny<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1982		Alan Cairns
	File:Louis-Edmond Hamelin 2014-04-10.jpg	Louis-Edmond Hamelin
		Jack McClelland
	File:Gilles Vigneault Chantauvent Natashquan 1989.jpg	Gilles Vigneault
1981	File:Margaret Atwood 2015.jpg	Margaret Atwood
		Marcel Trudel<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
		John Weinzweig<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1980		Michel Brault<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
		Lois Marshall<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
		Robert Weaver
1979		Jean Duceppe
		Betty Oliphant
	File:Michael Snow.jpg	Michael Snow
1978		Gabrielle Roy<ref>Template:Cite DCB</ref>
		Jack Shadbolt
		George Story
1977		John Hirsch
		Bill Reid
		Jean-Louis Roux
1976		Orford String Quartet
		Denise Pelletier
		Jon Vickers
1975		Alex Colville
		Pierre Dansereau
		Margaret Laurence
1974		W. A. C. H Dobson
		Celia Franca
		Jean Paul Lemieux
1973		John James Deutsch
		Alfred Pellan
		George Woodcock
1972		Maureen Forrester
		Rina Lasnier<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
		Norman McLaren
1971		Northrop Frye<ref name="NFCbio">Northrop Frye Template:Webarchive at Victoria College, University of Toronto. Retrieved on: November 30, 2008.</ref>
		Duncan Macpherson
		Yves Thériault
1970		Jean-Paul Audet
		Morley Callaghan
		Arnold Spohr
1969		Glenn Gould
		Jean Le Moyne
1968		Arthur Erickson
		Anne HébertTemplate:Cn
		Marshall McLuhan
1967		Georges-Henri Lévesque
		Hugh MacLennan
1965-66		Jean Gascon
		Frank Scott<ref name="Canadian Poetry Online">"F.R. Scott: Biography Template:Webarchive," Canadian Poetry Online, University of Toronto. Web, March 21, 2011.</ref>
1964		Donald Creighton<ref>Template:Cite DCB</ref>
		Alain Grandbois

External links

• List of award recipients (see "Cumulative list of winners")