Three Campbell Riverites received honourable Mentions in the 2019 Islands Short Fiction Contest awards presented at a ceremony on April 27 in Nanaimo.
Co-sponsored by the Nanaimo Arts Council, the Vancouver Island Regional Library, and the Vancouver Island University Department of Creative Writing and Journalism, the awards are open to writers on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. 127 entries were received this year across three categories: Adult, Youth, and Junior.
Winner of first prize in the Adult category, as chosen by judge Stephen Guppy, was Katy Weicker of Victoria for her story “Tinder Embers.” Noted Guppy: “The narrator of ‘Tinder Embers’ is the anti-heroine of an anti-romance; the author has taken the formula romance and turned it on its head.” Second-prize went to Jonathan Sean Lyster of Parksville for “Target Market,” while Dawn Stofer of Denman Island won third-prize for “Identities Reclaimed.”
Receiving Honourable Mentions were Robert Bowerman (Nanaimo) for “I’ve Got You Now,” Jim Creighton (Campbell River) for “Old Growth,” Cornelia Hoogland (Hornby Island) for “1-800-WHERE-R-YOU,” David Reichheld (Sooke) for “Let Morning Bring Me,” and Délani Valin (Nanaimo) for “Potemkin.”
In the Youth category, the first-prize winner was Charlotte Taylor of Nanaimo for “Calm Before the Storm,” of which judge Lee Losell said, “This beautifully written piece begins with a low tension that builds throughout the story until we arrive at an ending we suddenly realize was inevitable.” Second-prize was awarded to Yinan Cao (Nanaimo) for “Stray” and Jocelyn Diemer (Campbell River) received third-prize for “Burning Away.”
Honourable mentions went to Kaitlyn Ha (Nanaimo) for “Clouds” and Linnea Wiggers (Nanaimo) for “The Adventure of Arthur May.”
Of the first-prize story in the Junior category, “The Old Clock” by Thunya Dudley of Nanoose, judge Nathan McKay said, “This is a cool mix of fantastical and realistic. There’s wild stuff with elves and glow pumpkins and wishes but it’s grounded by a main character with very human motivation … . Great stuff!” The second-prize winner was Esmé Iverson (Duncan) for “The Patchwork Girl” while third-prize went to Carolynn Warren (Comox) for “The Super Cookie.”
Honourable mentions in the Junior category were awarded to Caroline Edwin (Campbell River) for “Adventures in the World,” Cadence Millsap (Nanaimo) for “The Miraculous Tales of Butterfly and Bee,” Julia Ratzlaff (Nanaimo) for “The Dove Diamond,” Tarika Stitt (Nanaimo) for “The Origin of Thought,” and Franklin Warren (Comox) for “Almiro’s Tales.”
Over $2200 in cash and prizes was awarded.
The Islands Short Fiction Contest is made possible by financial support from the Province of British Columbia, the City of Nanaimo, and Vancouver Island University. Most of the winning stories will be posted shortly on the contest website at https://isfc.ca, where past winners may also be read.