The Writers' Collective

The Winnipeg Free Press and the Writers’ Collective of Manitoba are pleased to announce the winners of the 2013 Short Fiction Contests. This year’s series of contests included: the Short Fiction Contest—adult, senior student and junior student categories; the Marie Barton Postcard Story Contest, and; (new this year) the Eileen D. Pruden Award for Historical Fiction. A total of 158 entries were received.

 

“We were thrilled to see this year’s contest entries at near triple the number of what we’ve had in past years,” says Hilary Friesen, Board President of The Writers’ Collective. “This means more writers are putting pen to paper, telling their stories. We’re delighted to read and to celebrate them.”

 

Short Fiction Contest

Adult

First Place – A White Castle by Elin Thordarson. Prize: $200

Second Place – The Cat by Rachel Morgan. Prize: $150

Third Place – The Changing of the Guard by Linda Lafontaine. Prize: $100

Honourable Mention – Vortex by Roger Rochester

Honourable Mention – Colour Your World by Paul Friesen

 

Senior Student

First Place – No Sound Out by Vance Walkey. Prize: $150

Second Place – 24309 by Kayla McLachlan. Prize: $75

Third Place – Exquisite by Jessie Major. Prize: $50

Honourable Mention – Light as Air by Kaylee Comber

Honourable Mention – Open Arms by Bryanne Dewitt

 

Junior Student

First Place – To Have or to Keep by Evan MacNeil. Prize: $150

Second Place – Digging Deeper by Jonah Dewitt. Prize: $75

Third Place – Prize: Devil’s Love by Amy Fernando. Prize: $50

Honourable Mention – Neverland by Sage Fronda

 

Human Spirit Award

(from senior and junior student categories)

Bloom by Nassia Balaktsis. Prize $100

 

Marie Barton Postcard Story Contest

First Place – Pine Bluff Church Camp by Grace Warkentin. Prize: $100

Second Place – Once Upon the Summer of 1942 by Jenna Woyatawich. Prize: $50

Third Place – The Blue Scarf by Linda LaFontaine. Prize: $25

Honourable Mention – The Perfect Gift by Jennifer Beasley

 

Eileen D Pruden Award for Historical Fiction

First Place – Out of the Frying Pan by Donna Gamache. Prize: $150

Second Place – Millicent Montgomery and the Spanish Flue Epidemic by Geoff Nuytten. Prize: $75

Third Place – If Today Will Not, Tomorrow May by Wayne Chan. Prize: $50

Honourable Mention – Hide by Tracy Proutt

Honourable Mention – June 18, 1972 by C. McKenna

 

In addition to the cash prizes, all winning entrants receive a one-year membership in the Writers’ Collective of Manitoba, and will be published in a future edition of the Collective Consciousness magazine (set for relaunch later this year).

 

The Writers’ Collective of Manitoba would like to thank Gerald Flood and the Winnipeg Free Press; judges Maurice Mierau, Carolyn Gray, Susan Rocan and Gabriele Goldstone; the estate of Eileen D. Pruden; the Winnipeg Public Library, and; Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism.

 

Hilary Friesen