THUNDER BAY – Writers from across the region and around the world shared the literary stage, shining a spotlight on literary talent here at home and from afar.
The Northwestern Ontario Writer’s Workshop held its annual Literary Awards Party on Saturday where the winners of its 2017 International Writing Contest were announced.
“The judges were all incredibly impressed with the quality of the entries they received,” said contest committee chair, Jodene Wylie. “Each judge received the top six entries as selected by screeners and they were blown away. Jane Urquhart, one of our judges, commented that all of our writers should be proud and commended us for the fine work we produce here in the north.”
This year’s first place winners included Kirsti Salmi in the short fiction category, Cindy Matthews in creative non-fiction, John Pringle for his speculative fiction novel excerpt, Robert Y. Lem for poetry, and Kevin Baker won the Bill MacDonald Prize for Prose.
Entries were received from across Canada and the world, with winners writing from Manitoba, Southern Ontario, and the United States. According to Wylie, this year’s contest was one of the most successful in NOWW’s history, bringing in more submissions this year than the last two years combined.
“We are honoured and humbled by the number of submissions we received in all categories,” said Wylie. “I have no doubt that a large part of our success is due to the caliber of our judges.”
This year the judges included Ann-Marie MacDonald, Jane Urquhart, Stephen Kimber, Jayne Barnard, and Liz Howard.
The gala event also awarded Joan Baril with the Kouhi Award, recognizing outstanding contributions to the literature of Northwestern Ontario.
“On behalf of NOWW, I’d like to thank everyone who submitted this year,” Wylie said. “It’s never too early to start writing for next year’s contest.”
A full list of all contest winners is available on the Northwestern Ontario Writer’s Workshop website.
