The winners of the Okanagan Short Story Contest will be announced at a special event next week. Photo by Yannick Pulver on Unsplash.
What: Okanagan Short Story Contest awards presentation
Who: Fiction writers across BC’s southern interior
When: Wednesday, April 15 at 7 pm
Where: The Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, 421 Cawston Ave., Kelowna
The winners of this year’s Okanagan Short Story Contest will be recognized at a special event on April 15.
The contest is co-sponsored by UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies and the Central Okanagan Foundation. It awards the best new short stories by fiction writers in BC’s southern interior.
The 28th annual contest wrapped up last month with 88 entries in the adult category and 59 high school entries. Those were then narrowed down to shortlists by Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies instructors and fourth-year creative writing students.
Joanna Cockerline, a local author and UBCO creative writing lecturer, judged the final submissions. She will announce the winners at next week’s public event.
“It’s so exciting to see the diverse talents emerging out of the Okanagan,” says Cockerline. “With so many unique voices, perspectives and styles, it was difficult to narrow the shortlist and pick the winners—which is a wonderful challenge to have.”
Shortlisted authors: adult category
- Choices by Anne Marie Wells
- The Ongoing Conflict by Tyler Finley
- Snakeskin by Clare Thiessen
- Awake at Night, the Water Jar by Alison Braid-Fernandez
- Holy Boys by Ashley Taktsang
- Burning Bush by Katya Kirschmann
- This Too by Amy McLay Paterson
- Bat Country, Old Pool by Sam Oliver
- Tassy by Maya Schwartz
- The Pin on My Lapel by Nicholas Livingstone
Shortlisted authors: high school category
- Remember by Octavia Dixon-Lawless
- The Yelling Affect by Alyson Marsh
- Of the Soon-to-be Traitor Emilio Jay by William Hodge
- How it Hurts to be Invisible by Ember Nevlud
- The Peal by Yuvraj Singh
- Like Snow by Arien Mykytyshyn
- To Raise a Raven by Rory Macpherson
- The Call of the Water by Genevieve Delaney
- Did You Get the Fridge Fixed? by Gwyneth Jones
- Enter Daniel Kurtis by Gwyneth Jones
- Calle Catorce by Olivia De Paz
Several of this year’s shortlisted writers are no strangers to the contest.
Alison Braid-Fernandez is a past contest winner. Tyler Finley is a UBCO alumnus and employee who has been a finalist in the past. Clare Thiessen, owner and operator of broke press in Vernon, and Rory Macpherson have also been shortlisted in the past.
The contest offers cash prizes to the top three stories—$1,000, $400 and $200. The top story by a high school student also receives a cash prize of $200.
All contest proceeds will go to administrative costs and scholarships for students in UBCO’s creative writing program and for Indigenous students through Indspire.
The winner will be revealed Wednesday, April 15, at a special event at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art. The event is free and open to the public.
To learn more about the contest and previous winners, visit fccs.ok.ubc.ca/short-story
