Winner of the 2023 Okanagan Short Story Contest will be announced at a special event next week. Photo by Yannick Pulver on Unsplash.
What: Wrap-up event for Okanagan Short Story Content
Who: Fiction writers across BC’s Southern Interior
When: Thursday, April 6, at 7 pm
Where: The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, 421 Cawston Ave., Kelowna
Drum roll, please.
The winners of the 2023 Okanagan Short Story Contest are about to be announced.
UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS) has published the finalists of the annual fiction writing contest.
The Okanagan Short Story Contest recognizes the best new short stories by emerging fiction writers in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, explains FCCS Professor Nancy Holmes. Past winners have gone on to publish with Penguin Random House, Arsenal Pulp Press and NeWest Press, as well as numerous national and international magazines and journals.
A total of 150 short story entries were submitted for the adult category, and 54 stories for the high school category.
“Once again, the quality and quantity of the entries were amazing,” says Professor Holmes. “The Interior of BC is becoming a hotbed of great fiction.”
Shortlisted authors: Adult Category
- Nils Donnelly, Kelowna
- Carolyn Mitchell, Lake Country
- Miracle Adebayo, Kelowna
- Alison Braid, Summerland
- Glenna Turnbull, Kelowna
- Jules Vadura, Kelowna
- Faye Arcand, Okanagan Falls
- Marina Meyer, Penticton
- Trista-Lee Godfrey, Kelowna
- Madeleine van Goudoever, Kelowna
- Kristin Burns, Vernon
- Claire Miller-Harder, Lake Country
- Dene Moore, 100 Mile House
- Levi Ravsborg, Kelowna
Shortlisted authors: High School Category
- Camryn Mackiewich, Vernon
- Sybella Stehmeier, West Kelowna
- Rhiannon Spinks, Kelowna
- Acacia Cousins, West Kelowna
- Sara Gray, Kelowna
- Emma Xu, Kelowna
- Darian Detta, Cranbrook
- Vivian Bruce, Lake Country
Holmes says there are a few fun facts about a number of finalists. For example, Glenna Turnbull is a former prize winner while Kristin Burns, Faye Arcand, and Nils Donnelly—a current UBCO undergraduate student—have all been shortlisted in the past. Marina Meyer is an Okanagan College student while Miracle Adebayo and Claire Miller-Harder are current Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) students in creative writing. Finalist Kristin Burns is also a UBCO MFA alumna.
FCCS is offering cash prizes to the top three stories—$1,000, $400 and $200.The first prize winner also wins a one-week retreat at The Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre in Kelowna. The top story by a high school student receives a prize of $200. Co-sponsors of the contest are FCCS and the Central Okanagan Foundation.
The winners of the Okanagan Short Story Contest will be announced at a live event with contest judge Corinna Chong who is an acclaimed Canadian writer, editor and English professor at Okanagan College. The event will take place on Thursday, April 6 at 7 pm at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art.
To learn more, visit: fccs.ok.ubc.ca/short-story
