Adjudicators
Deciding which stories will leave their mark!
David McAdam
David A. McAdam is a Jamaican-Canadian educator, poet, and community advocate with over 30 years of experience. A finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History, he’s also earned multiple literary awards from the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission.
Louise Ells
Born and raised in Northeastern Ontario, Louise has worked as everything from a chef to a submarine co-pilot before earning her PhD in Creative Writing at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. She now teaches in both England and Canada, and is the author of Notes Towards Recovery and Lies I Told My Sister.
Matthew Bucemi
Matt is an Assistant Professor of Book Publishing at York University, where he leads the Publishing stream. With a PhD in English from Cornell and an impressive career spanning publishing houses, media studios, and creative agencies—including his role as the founding Managing Editor at Sutherland House Books.