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For those curious about the shape of the local culture from multiple avenues, the short list of the 2026 Edmonton Arts Prizes is a must-read.
Music, film, visual arts and books around here are annually considered and celebrated project by project, with even the two runners-up in each of four categories awarded $5000 a pop – keeping in mind numerous local theatre prizes are handed out elsewhere at the annual Sterlings in the summer.
But among the EAP’s dozen nominees, one per category will take home a $15,000 prize on May 4 at Metro Cinema where you’re invited to attend for free, p.s.
Getting into it, let’s start with the City of Edmonton Film Prize.
Adam Scorgie’s mental-health-focused documentary biopic Tootoo – also up for a Canadian Screen Award – is nominated alongside Colin Waugh’s tree-nerd doc The Secret Long Tree Society and local comedian Simon Glassman’s experimental, SCTV-inspired horror Buffet Infinity, which got the director as special jury mention when it premiered at Fantasia Fest in Montreal last summer.
All three films are playing NorthwestFilmFest at Metro Cinema, incidentally: The Secret Long Tree Society 1 p.m. Saturday, Tootoo 9 p.m. Saturday, with Buffet Infinity closing the fest 9 p.m. Tuesday – $10 tickets available at northwestfest.ca .
Next up we have the City of Edmonton Music Prize!
This year’s nominees are Canadian-raised Burundi hip hop artist ARDN for Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow, Bigstone Cree Nation Juno nominee Cikwes for the soulful Nehiyaw Iskô, and Joe Nolan’s soaring and heartfelt Luv in the New World.
The Eldon + Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize, meanwhile, has a sweet list of shortlisted artists, including Piney’s Playground mastermind AJA Louden for his gorgeous tapestry Enoch’s Fireweed up at Mitchell Art Gallery, Elsa Robinson’s storytelling The Garden show at Art Gallery of St. Albert and the Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet painting, when chokecherries are ready on top the hill.
Certainly not least, the Robert Kroetsch – City of Edmonton Book Prize wraps up our 12 auspicious shortlisters.
Previous Giller nominee Conor Kerr’s Métis poetic novella Beaver Hills Forever is a love letter to Edmonton according to the author.
Exploring life with Crohn’s disease in poetry, former bookseller Jason Purcell’s Crohnic is also up for the Kroetsch, as is Jennifer Bowering Delisle’s Stock, a poetry collection taking its delight and strangeness from stock photography.
The prize program is brought about by Edmonton Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Edmonton and community partners Alberta Media Production Industries Association, Alberta Music, Audreys Books, CARFAC Alberta, Edmonton Community Foundation and Writers’ Guild of Alberta.
While registration for the 6:30 p.m. May 4 ceremony at Metro isn’t mandatory, they’d love to plan, so please RSVP at edmontonarts.ca .
See you there, and congrats to everyone mentioned!
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