September 30, 2009. Congratulations go to Brenda Leifso for Daughters of Men, David O'Meara for Noble Gas, Penny Black, and Monty Reid for The Luskville Reductions, for their nominations for the 2009 Lampman-Scott Award. This is a sweep for Brick Books, which published all three of the nominated titles!

Daughters of Men is the first book of poetry from Leifso. It explores the secrets of a childhood in rural Alberta in an honest and exquisite manner. O'Meara continues with an on-going theme of departure and arrival in Noble Gas, Penny Black. The idea of being between places creates a psychological, emotional space that allows for reassessment of self. Reid's collection of poems in The Luskville Reductions records a year in the life of a small Quebec town and marriages that dissolve there. While about loss, the poems also explore change and the state of becoming this loss allows.

The Lampman-Scott Award honours an author living in the National Capital Region who has published an outstanding book of English-language poetry within the previous calendar year. The award honours Archibald Lampman and Duncan Campbell Scott. The winner will be announced October 20, 2009 at the Ottawa Books Awards celebration at the Library and Archives Canada.