UBC Okanagan’s annual fiction writing competition is now open and participants will have the opportunity to get their work published along with winning a cash prize.
The Short Story Contest, now in its 23rd year, has helped new writers emerge in the Okanagan.
Previous winners have been published with Penguin Random House, Arsenal Pulp Press and NeWest Press as well as being featured in various magazines and journals across the world.
“Competitions like the Okanagan Short Story Contest are where a lot of writers get their start,” says Nancy Holmes, creative writing professor in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.
“We are always impressed with the calibre of entries we receive and we are excited to see what this year’s submissions will bring.”
This year’s contest judge is acclaimed Canadian author and English professor at Okanagan College Frances Greenslade.
Shelter, a 2012 novel written by Greenslade was named one of UK’s Waterstones 11 most promising debut novels that year and was nominated for both an Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award and the BC Book Prize Ethel Wilson Award.
The contest is open to fiction writers in the Southern Interior – east of Hope, west of the Alberta border, north of the U.S. border and south of Williams Lake.
Submissions are being accepted now until March 1 at midnight.
Entries must be between 1,000 and 4,000 words and a writer is welcome to submit as many entries as they wish. Each entry is subject to a $15 entry fee with no entry fee for high school students.
All proceeds raised will go towards UBC Okanagan’s creative writing scholarships.
Cash prizes are available for the top three stories – $1,000, $400 and $200. The first prize winner also gets a one-week retreat at the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre in Kelowna.
The top short story written by a high school student will receive $200.
The winners of the Short Story Contest will be announced during a virtual event this spring.
