Daniela Mange is the winner of the 2025 Janice Colbert Poetry Award
Created by award-winning poet Janice Colbert in 2012, the Janice Colbert Poetry Award honours SCS learners who have created a piece of poetry that moves us.
Janice, who is an SCS Creative Writing Certificate earner, helps us celebrate the journey towards creative discovery through her generous award. This annual honour is valued at $1,000, plus two finalist awards of $500 each.
This year’s first prize has been awarded to Daniela Mange, with finalist prizes going to Kryslyne-Mai Ancheta, and Nihal Sherif.
First prize: Daniela Mange
Daniela Mange is a poet born in Patagonia, Argentina. She holds degrees in Accounting and Economic Development and enjoys supporting communities. She studies poetry at the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies. Daniela lives in Stratford, Ontario with her husband and her two children.
"Daniela Mange's subtly powerful poems command a range of poetic forms with confidence and quiet strength. They meld ideas with their poetic form seamlessly and embody a strong control of metaphor using fresh language, moving the poems in unexpected directions while still feeling cohesive. At turns surprising and moving, insightful and complex, these accomplished poems invite rewarding rereadings. This is a unique, promising voice from which we're sure to read more." - Jennifer LoveGrove, poet
Finalists: Kryslyne-Mai Ancheta and Nihal Sherif
Kryslyne-Mai Ancheta (she/her/siya) is Filipina-Canadian artist of many seasonings based in Tkaronto, Canada. She is a member of Salaysay, that focuses on supporting Filipinx writers in Tkaronto and is mentored by Therese Estacion through Diaspora Dialogues. As a recovering perfectionist, Kryslyne has found poetry to be a medium that both aids in helping to understand herself and the world surrounding.
“With deftness and striking control, Kryslyne-Mai Ancheta’s poems explore themes of identity, family, belonging, and the legacies of colonization with a refreshing and distinctive voice. Through powerful imagery and a keen ear for sound, her work resonates on the page and crackles when spoken aloud. These poems are a stunning act of bridging—between worlds, histories, and ways of seeing.” - Delani Valin, poet
Nihal Sherif is an Arab-Canadian settler ally who lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario, on the unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin Nation. She rediscovered poetry after enrolling in the Creative Writing Certificate Program at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (SCS) during the pandemic. Nihal enjoys playing with form and content as part of her poetic journey. Her lived experience and AuDHD quirkiness infuse her random acts of poetry. She has attended the poetry streams of the 2022 Sage Hill Emerging Writers Workshop and the 2023 Summer Writing Workshop at Humber College. Her poetry has been published in Bywords and Syncopation Literary Journal. Nihal is working on completing her final project for the SCS Creative Writing Certificate.
“Engaging with a variety of literary and artistic lineages, Nihal Sherif’s poems are full of rich imagery that surprises the reader at every turn, like the “downbeat of minor chords” or “a black’nd river of fragile selves.” Observant, political, and sharp, the poet explores fully the breadth of what is possible in poetry.” - Manahil Bandukwala, poet
Ready to develop your poetic talent? Learn about our Poetry: Introduction courses being offered this year.