Great opportunity for writers to showcase their talent, win prizes
The 14th Annual Okanagan Short Story Contest is now accepting stories from writers in the Okanagan region. Award-winning author Karen Connelly (The Lizard Cage) will select the best three stories to be awarded cash prizes in Spring 2012.
The contest invites all Southern Interior writers from east of Hope, west of the Alberta boundary, north of the U.S. border and south of Williams Lake to submit their original unpublished works of fiction. The deadline for submissions is Friday, December 15, 2011.
“When I first came to the Okanagan,” says writer Jake Kennedy, “the Okanagan Short Story Contest reading was the first literary event I attended. For me, first of all, it was so thrilling to know that such a contest existed. And then — as I listened to the shortlisted authors read their works – it was just plain exciting to recognize how much literary talent we had in the Okanagan Valley.”
Katie Callaghan, a creative writing student at UBC’s Okanagan campus, agrees.
“I was shortlisted for the contest last year and attended the award ceremony,” she says, “but I had no idea before that that there was such a vibrant writing community outside the university. There are so many talented writers living in the Okanagan that contests like this one really open your eyes to how vital writing is and to how truly communal it can be.”
Cash prizes are offered for the best adult short fiction from the Southern Interior. Stories ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 words are eligible; all entries must be original, unpublished works of fiction, submitted on 8 ½” by 11” plain white paper, double-spaced and typed. There is no limit on the number of entries, but a $15 entry fee is required with each.
Mail entries to:
Okanagan Short Fiction Contest
c/o Irma Ronkkonen, CRWR Support
Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies
The University of British Columbia
FINE ARTS 162 – 3333 University Way
Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7
Winners will receive cash prizes of $500 for first prize, $200 for second and $100 for third. Winners are asked to participate in a public reading with contest judge Karen Connelly, on Thursday February 2, 2012.
The Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC in the Okanagan, Okanagan College, CBC Radio One and the Central Okanagan Foundation are proud sponsors of the Okanagan Short Story Contest.
For more information and a list of the rules, visit the website: www.okstorycontest.org
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