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 YearLaureate2024 Shirley Cheechoo Christina Sharpe2023 Joséphine Bacon Françoise Baylis2022 Cecilia M. Benoit, sociologist H. Nigel Thomas, author, poet2021 M. NourbeSe Philip Gordon J. G. Asmundson2020 Mary Kerr, production designer David Lyon2019 Alexina LouieJohn Borrows2018Diane SchoemperlenLynne Viola2017Lawrence HillKent Roach2016 Marie-Claire Blais John McGarry2015 M. G. Vassanji Constance Backhouse2014 John Arcand Jean Grondin2013 Richard Wagamese Ann Dale2012 Dáirine Ní Mheadhra Keren Rice2011 Herménégilde Chiasson Peter Victor2010 Édouard Lock Linda Hutcheon2009 Ian Wallace Leonard Wayne Sumner2008 Sheila Fischman Angus McLaren2007 Alex Pauk Paul Thagard2006 Nicole Brossard Henry Mintzberg2005Iain Baxter Ramsay Cook2004 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 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 1989 Vera Frenkel Fernande Saint-Martin 1988 Robertson Davies Terence Michael Penelhum 1987 Yvette Brind'Amour Marc-Adélard Tremblay 1986 J. Mavor Moore William Dray 1985 Gaston Miron Ronald Melzack 1984 Marcel Dubé James G. Eayrs 1983 Brian Macdonald Francess Halpenny 1982 Alan Cairns Louis-Edmond Hamelin Jack McClelland Gilles Vigneault 1981 Margaret Atwood Marcel Trudel John Weinzweig 1980 Michel Brault Lois Marshall Robert Weaver 1979 Jean Duceppe Betty Oliphant Michael Snow 1978 Gabrielle Roy 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 Norman McLaren 1971 Northrop FryeNorthrop Frye at Victoria College, University of Toronto. Retrieved on: November 30, 2008.Duncan Macpherson Yves Thériault 1970 Jean-Paul Audet Morley Callaghan Arnold Spohr 1969 Glenn Gould Jean Le Moyne 1968 Arthur Erickson Anne Hébert Marshall McLuhan 1967 Georges-Henri Lévesque Hugh MacLennan 1965-66 Jean Gascon Frank Scott"F.R. Scott: Biography ," Canadian Poetry Online, University of Toronto. Web, March 21, 2011. 1964 Donald Creighton Alain Grandbois
References
External links List of award recipients (see "Cumulative list of winners")