STEPHEN LEACOCK ASSOCIATES
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For the past three years, the Leacock Medal has lacked a major sponsor, and the prizes for those years have been funded out of reserves. Those reserves are now running low, and are barely sufficient to fund the awards for 2021.
Consequently, the board of Stephen Leacock Associates has decided to launch a multi-pronged fundraising campaign to obtain both short-term and long-term funding.
The initial thrust will be a crowd-funding campaign that launches today on the FundRazr platform at fundrazr.com/Leacock_Medal.
While we pursue longer-term financing through sponsorship and grants, the aim of the FundRazr campaign is to shore up our finances in the short term.
Our ultimate aim is to achieve self-financing for the Medal by building up the endowment fund that was established last year by generous donations from local benefactors.
The FundRazr campaign will reach out to the literary community, publishers, authors and the general public to spread the word about the difficulties we are in, and to encourage donations to keep the medal alive beyond 2021.
The board members are confident that with the help of the literary community and the public the Leacock Medal will survive for many more years.
The Leacock Medal is named in memory of Stephen Leacock; humourist, author, economist and lecturer.
More information about the Leacock Medal is available on the Leacock Associates’ website at leacock.ca, on the Leacock Medal Facebook page, and on Twitter @LeacockMedal.
ABOUT THE LEACOCK ASSOCIATES
Established in 1947, the Board of Stephen Leacock Associates, a volunteer organization, works to preserve the literary legacy of Stephen Leacock, administer the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour award and encourage the growth of Canadian humour writing.
The prestigious Memorial Medal, accompanied by a $15,000 prize, is awarded annually for the best in Canadian literary humour. The award has attained an international reputation and is the only one of its kind for Canadian humour writing.
Membership is open to the public.
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