Two winners tied for the 2013 bpNichol Chapbook Award, announced at Meet the Presses collective’s Indie Literary Market in Toronto this weekend. The winners are: Sandra Allard for Naturally Speaking, published by Toronto’s espresso/paperplates press; and Gil McElroy for Ordinary Time: The Merton Lake Propers, published by baseline press of London, Ontario.

Alland is an interdisciplinary artist and writer who has published five works of poetry. Her performance art and videos have been exhibited internationally, including at London’s Tate Modern.

McElroy’s poems have been published in numerous periodicals, self-published chapbooks, and anthologies. He is also a curator and art critic whose writing has been published in three anthologies.

The winners will receive $1,000 each, donated anonymously, and the publishers will receive $250 each through donations from writers Jim Smith and Brian Dedora.

The other finalists for the prize are:

• thirteen poems for releasing love by joanne thorwaldson (leaf press)
• An OK Organ Man by Fenn Stewart (above/ground)
• fruit machine by Shannon Maguire (Ferno House)
• 21st century monsters by ryan fitzpatrick (Red Nettle Press)

The prize is administered by Meet the Presses, a volunteer literary collective devoted to organizing public events showcasing works produced by independent publishers of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. The collective consists of Gary Barwin, Paul Dutton, Ally Fleming, Beth Follett, Hazel Millar, Leigh Nash, Nicholas Power, and Stuart Ross.