The first winner of the Karim Ouellet Scholarship, created in 2021 in memory of the one who left us too soon, is the singer-songwriter Vincent Dufour, aka Valence.
Valence, who just released the album La nuit s'aclove, received a $7,500 scholarship.
“It is of course a great privilege to be a recipient of the Karim Ouellet Scholarship,” he said in a press release.
“Karim stood out for his vocal artistry, particularly his ability to mix the intimate and the universal. His work, unified because it is permeated by human truths and paradoxes, testifies to the deep sensitivity and humanism of this great artist who knew how to show a true path for the singer-songwriters of Quebec City.”
He is also granted a paid appearance at the Grand Théâtre de Québec and an hourly quota at the communications company De La Létourneau.
From left to right in the photo taken during the Karim Ouellet scholarship award ceremony: Olivier Beaulieu and Denys Deslauriers (Solotech), Carole Ouellet (Karim's mother), Christian Noël (Grand Théâtre de Québec), Valence, Catherine Vallières -Roland and Claude Lavoie (Quebec City) and Claude Bégin and Élyse Bégin (friends of Karim). Photo by Stéphane Bourgeois, provided by De La Létourneau