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Prairie Fire's Annual Writing Contests for 2013

Wednesday, Apr 10, 2013 at 6:44pm

Prairie Fire Press and McNally Robinson Booksellers are delighted to present the 2013 Annual Writing Contests with $6,000 in prizes!

Entries are now being accepted for the Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award, Short Fiction, and Creative Non-Fiction Contests. Although the deadline is November 30 (postmarked), you may submit anytime.

By entering the Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award Contest you not only have a chance to win $1,250 in cash, but also a jeweller-cast replica of poet Bliss Carman's ring, an invitation to THIN AIR (produced by the Winnipeg International Writers Festival), dinner with the staff of Prairie Fire, and publication in Prairie Fire magazine.

With your contest submission you'll receive a one-year subscription to Prairie Fire, so if would like to start reading Prairie Fire as soon as possible, you can send in your entry today!

Find more details after the jump...


Entries by email are not accepted. Prairie Fire is working on having this option available in future.

Prizes are awarded in each of the three categories and winning entries are published in Prairie Fire:

1st prize $1,250
2nd prize $500
3rd prize $250


The 2013 Judges are:

Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award

Sue Goyette lives has published three books of poems, The True Names of Birds, Undone and outskirts (Brick Books) and a novel, Lures (HarperCollins, 2002). Her fourth collection, Ocean, is forthcoming from Gaspereau Press in 2013. Her poetry has nominated for the Governor General's Award, the Pat Lowther, Gerald Lampert, Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction, Dartmouth Book and the Acorn-Plantos Awards. She won the 2008 CBC Literary Prize for Poetry, the 2010 Earle Birney Prize, the 2011 Bliss Carman Award, the 2012 Pat Lowther Award and the 2012 Atlantic Poetry Prize. Her poetry has appeared on the Toronto subway system, in wedding vows and spray-painted on a sidewalk somewhere in Saint John, New Brunswick. Sue teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Dalhousie University in Halifax and works part-time at the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia.

Short Fiction Contest

Mike Barnes has published eight books of poetry, short fiction, novels, and a memoir. His stories have appeared three times in The Journey Prize Anthology and twice in Best Canadian Stories. A story first published in Prairie Fire won the Silver Medal at the National Magazine Awards and his short fiction collection Aquarium won the Danuta Gleed Award. After publishing his memoir of mental illness, The Lily Pond: A Memoir of Madness, Memory, Myth and Metamorphosis, he gave a series of public talks on mental health issues, three of which (in audio-visual, audio and text formats) are freely available online. His latest book is the illustrated book of fairy tales The Reasonable Ogre: Tales for the Sick and Well.

Creative Non-fiction Contest

Sharon Butala has published three short-story collections, six novels and seven works of nonfiction. The Perfection of the Morning: An Apprenticeship in Nature, the first of the latter, was short-listed for a Governor General's Award and was on the Canadian bestseller list for a year. Her work has appeared in some thirty-five anthologies, and she has had five plays produced (one of which, Rodeo Life, has been published). Among her many awards are the Marian Engel Award for women writers in mid-career (1998), two honorary doctorates, Officer in the Order of Canada (2004), and the Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence (2012).


CONTEST RULES:

  • Entry fee: $32. This entitles you to a one-year (4 issues) subscription to Prairie Fire magazine. Make cheque or money order payable to Prairie Fire and enclose with your entry.
  • One fiction entry consists of one story, maximum 10,000 words.
  • One poetry entry consists of 1, 2, or 3 poems, maximum 150 lines.
  • One creative non-fiction entry consists of one article, maximum 5,000 words.
  • Deadline for all contest entries: November 30, 2013.
  • Do not identify yourself on your entry. Enclose a cover sheet with your name, address, telephone number, the title(s) of your piece(s) and word count (prose) or line count (poetry). On occasion, Prairie Fire Press makes subscriber names and addresses available to external organizations. If you do not wish to receive such mailings, please state this clearly on your cover sheet.
  • Your entry must be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" white paper and clipped, not stapled. Prose must be double-spaced. No faxed or e-mailed submissions, please.
  • Entries will not be returned. If you wish to be informed of contest results, include a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
  • Each piece must be original, unpublished, not submitted elsewhere for publication or broadcast, nor accepted elsewhere for publication or broadcast, nor entered simultaneously in any other contest or competition for which it is also eligible to win a prize.
  • You may enter as often as you like; only your first entry in each category will be eligible for a subscription.
  • Winning pieces will be published in Prairie Fire magazine, with authors paid for publication.

Send entries to:
Prairie Fire Contests
423-100 Arthur St.
Winnipeg, MB R3B 1H3

If you have any questions, please email Prairie Fire at [email protected].

For all the details of the contest, visit Prairie Fire's website.

Categories: buzz, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Contests and Giveaways

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