Winners:

• 1981 Elizabeth Allan, The Shored Up House
• 1982 Abraham Boyarsky, Schielber and Edna Alford, A Sleep Full of Dreams
• 1983 Diana Hartog, Matinee Light
• 1984 Sandra Birdsell, Night Travellers and Jean McKay, Gone to Grass
• 1985 Paulette Jiles, Celestial Navigation
• 1986 Joan Fern Shaw, Raspberry Vinegar
• 1987 Rosemary Sullivan, The Space a Name Makes
• 1988 Di Brandt, Questions I Asked My Mother
• 1989 Sarah Klassen, Journey to Yalta
• 1990 Steven Heighton, Stalin's Carnival
• 1991 Diana Brebner, Radiant Life Forms
• 1992 Joanne Arnott, Wiles of Girlhood
• 1993 Elisabeth Harvor, Fortress of Chairs and Roberta Rees, Eyes Like Pigeons
• 1994 Barbara Klar, The Night You Called Me a Shadow and Illya Tourtidis, Mad Magellan's Tale
• 1995 Keith Maillard, Dementia Americana
• 1996 Maureen Hynes, Rough Skin
• 1997 Marilyn Dumont, A Really Good Brown Girl
• 1998 Mark Sinnett, The Landing
• 1999 Stephanie Bolster, White Stone: The Alice Poems
• 2000 Shawna Lemay, All the God-Sized Fruit
• 2001 Anne Simpson, Light Falls Through You