NMA winners crowd shortlists for BC Book Prizes
The shortlists for the 29th annual BC Book Prizes were announced today, with five finalists in each category for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s book, illustrated children’s book, and best BC book.
Carol Shaben, whose non-fiction book about Canada’s bush pilot industry (Into the Abyss) was partly based on her investigative article published in The Walrus that won two National Magazine Awards, is one of the finalists for non-fiction.
National Magazine Award-winning poets Evelyn Lau (A Grain of Rice) and Patricia Young (Night-Eater) are both nominated in the poetry category.
Anne Fleming (Gay Dwarves of America) and Bill Gaston (The World) are former NMA winners nominated for their works of fiction.
Read the complete shortlists for the BC Book Prizes here. The winners will be announced at the 29th annual Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prizes Gala on Saturday, May 4, 2013, at Government House in Victoria, BC.
Visit the NMA Archives to read the award-winning stories by these and other great writers.
Your Guide to Winter/Spring 2013 Magazine Writing Contests
[This post has been updated] Do these long, dark, cold Canadian winters leave you shivering with creative unrest?
If winter teases out your inner Mowat, Mordechai or Munro, you’re probably searching for a creative outlet in the form of a Canadian magazine writing contest, such as these great offerings from some of Canada’s best literary periodicals and competitions.
CBC Canada Writes Creative Non-Fiction Prize
Section: Non-fiction (1200-1500 words)
Deadline: February 1, 2013
Prize: $6000 + publication in enRoute + Banff Centre residency (1st); $1000 each to 4 runners up
Entry Fee: $25
Details:
http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/literaryprizes/nonfiction/index.html
Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest
Section: Very short fiction or non-fiction (500 words)
Deadline: February 1, 2013
Prize: $500 (1st); $250 (2nd); $150 (3rd); publication
Entry Fee: $20; includes subscription
Details: http://www.geist.com/articles/postcard-contest/
Arc Poetry Magazine Poem of the Year Contest
Section: Poetry
Deadline: February 1, 2013
Prize: $5000
Entry Fee: $32; includes subscription
Details: http://arcpoetry.ca/2012/11/29/poem-of-the-year-contest-2/
The New Quarterly Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest
Section: Poetry
Deadline: February 28, 2013
Prize: $1000 + publication (1st); other prizes for runners up
Entry Fee: $40 (for first 2 poems; $5 each for additional); includes subscription
Details: http://www.tnq.ca/contests
Writers Union of Canada Short Prose Competition
Section: Non-fiction
Deadline: March 1, 2013
Prize: $2500 + assistance with publication
Entry Fee: $29
Details: http://www.writersunion.ca/short-prose
The New Quarterly Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest
Section: Non-fiction
Deadline: March 28, 2013
Prize: $1000 + publication
Entry Fee: $40; includes subscription
Details: http://www.tnq.ca/contests
Narrative Magazine Winter 2013 Short Story Contest
Sections: Non-fiction and Fiction
Deadline: March 31, 2013
Prize: $2,500 (1st); $1000 (2nd); $500 (3rd); $100 (finalist)
Entry Fee: $22; includes 3 months access to Narrative Backstage
Details: http://narrativemagazine.com/node/194590
Notes: Entries may be short fiction or literary nonfiction, including essays, memoirs, or any other form of unpublished manuscript, with a word limit of 15,000. All are judged in the same pool.
Maisonneuve Genre Fiction Contest: Fables & Parables
Sections: Short fiction (1200 words)
Deadline: March 31, 2013
Prize: $300 + publication (1st prize); $100 + publication (each of 2 runners up)
Entry Fee: $25 (includes subscription)
Details: http://maisonneuve.org/contest/maisonneuves-genre-fiction-contest-fables-and-para/
Grain magazine Short Grain Writing Contest
Sections: Fiction; Poetry
Deadline: April 1, 2013 April 8, 2013
Prize: $1000 (1st); $750 (2nd); $500 (3rd)
Entry Fee: $35; includes subscription
Details: http://www.grainmagazine.ca/contest.html
Event magazine Creative Non-Fiction Contest
Section: Non-fiction
Deadline: April 15, 2013
Prize: $1500 in total cash prizes
Entry Fee: $34.95; includes subscription
Details: http://eventmags.com/contest-3/
Quebec Writing Competition
Section: Fiction or Non-fiction
Deadline: May 1, 2013
Prize: $1500, publication in Maisonneuve magazine, broadcast on CBC (1st); $1000 (2nd); $300 reader’s choice award
Entry Fee: $15
Details: https://qwf.submittable.com/submit
The New Quarterly Peter Hinchcliffe Fiction Award
Section: Fiction
Deadline: May 28, 2013
Prize: $1000 + publication
Entry Fee: $40; includes subscription
Details: http://www.tnq.ca/contests
Did we miss one? Send us a note or grab us on Twitter @MagAwards.
Find more awards, prizes and contests for magazine journalism on the Industry Resources page of the National Magazine Awards Foundation website, or check out the Awards and Contests pages of this blog, including:
Your Guide to Summer Magazine Writing Contests
Your Guide to Fall Magazine Writing Contests
Keep writing. Keep reading. Love magazines!
Deadline approaches for the Writers’ Trust Emerging Poet Award
January 30 is the deadline for submissions to the 2013 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers, presented by the Writers’ Trust of Canada.
The Poetry Prize is awarded to a young (under 35) Canadian poet, previously published in a magazine or anthology, but unpublished in book form.
The grand prize includes $5000, while two honourable mentions will receive $1000.
Submissions must consist of a manuscript of unpublished poetry, 5-10 pages in length.
Full details at the Writers’ Trust of Canada website. Deadline January 30, 2013.
Great Books for the Holidays, all by NMA Winners
“Monkey Ranch” by Julie Bruck won the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry
While stuffing stockings and gift baskets with magazine subscriptions (Buy 2, Get 1 Free!; don’t forget Maisonneuve, Canada’s magazine of the year) may be your first priority this holiday season, we present our second annual holiday book guide to tempt you with yet more literary treats. (And perhaps our first annual guide may still be of interest.)
All of these books are by National Magazine Award finalists and winners.
Non-Fiction
- Into the Abyss, by Carol Shaben
- A Geography of Blood, by Candace Savage
- The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary, by Andrew Westoll
- Eating Dirt, by Charlotte Gill
- What We Talk About When We Talk About War, by Noah Richler
- The Measure of a Man, by JJ Lee
- The Devil’s Curve, by Arno Kopecky
- Bad Animals: A Father’s Accidental Education in Autism, by Joel Yanofsky
Fiction
- Dr. Brinkley’s Tower, by Robert Hough
- Everybody has Everything, by Katrina Onstad
- People Park, by Pasha Malla
- Dibidalen, by Seán Virgo
- The Reasonable Ogre, by Mike Barnes
- The Headmaster’s Wager, by Vincent Lam
- My Life Among the Apes, by Cary Fagan
- The Sweet Girl, by Annabel Lyon
Poetry
- Monkey Ranch, by Julie Bruck
- L’il Bastard, by David McGuimpsey
- The New Measures, by A.F. Moritz
- The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane, by Patrick Lane
Illustration
- Virginia Wolf, by Isabelle Arsenault
eBooks
- Blindsided, by Russell Smith
- And They Danced by the Light of the Moon, by Heather O’Neill
- Finding Karla, by Paula Todd
- Noisemakers, by Grace O’Connell
- Summer of the Flesh Eater, by Zsuzsi Gartner
- 1999, by Pasha Malla
- I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth, by Margaret Atwood
Did we miss any 2012 books by NMA winners? Drop a comment or tweet at us.
Related posts:
Booking up for Winter: Great Reads by NMA Winners
National Magazine Awards > Books
NMA Winner Patrick Lane to judge Freefall Writing Contest
Patrick Lane
Two-time National Magazine Award-winning author and poet Patrick Lane will serve as the guest judge for the 2012 FreeFall Magazine annual prose and poetry writing contest.
The competition is open to submissions in poetry and short fiction, with $1100 in prize money to be awarded, including $300 to the winners in each category.
The deadline for entries is December 31, 2012.
Patrick Lane won 2 National Magazine Awards for his poetry in Border Crossings and Canadian Forum, and the most recent of his 20 books of fiction, non-fiction, literary criticism and poetry is titled The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane (Harbour Publishing).
Check out other magazine writing contests from our ongoing series.
Related post: Poetry and Pain, as told by NMA Winner Patrick Lane
8 former NMA Winners land on GG Awards shortlists
The shortlists for the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Awards–with categories in both English and French for Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Non-fiction, Children’s Text, Children’s Illustration, and Translation–have been announced by Canada Council for the Arts, and eight former National Magazine Award winners have garnered nominations.
In Fiction, former NMA winners Robert Hough (Dr. Brinkley’s Tower) and Vincent Lam (The Headmaster’s Wager) are among the 5 finalists.
In Poetry, two-time National Magazine Award winner Julie Bruck (Monkey Ranch) and former NMA finalists A.F. Moritz (The New Measures) and David McGimpsey (L’il Bastard) made the GG shortlist.
In Non-fiction, two-time NMA winner Noah Richler (What We Talk About When We Talk About War) and former nominee Ross King (Leonardo and the Last Supper) were named GG finalists.
And in Children’s Illustration, former National Magazine Award winner Isabelle Arsenault received a GG nomination for Virginia Wolf.
Check out all the GG Awards finalists.
Visit the National Magazine Awards archive to view the works of these great writers and artists.
The winners of the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Awards will be announced on November 13 at the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec in Montreal. His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, will present the winners with their awards, which include a cash prize of $25,000, at a gala at Rideau Hall on November 28.
Your Guide to Fall Magazine Writing Contests
[This post has been updated]
Autumn, for many, is a fertile time of mind. Anticipating that, many of Canada’s great literary magazines and organizations are hosting creative writing contests for emerging journalists and literary artists.
Building on our Guide to Summer Writing Contests we present those competitions open to the general public coming up this fall. We also carry an exhaustive list of awards, contests, funding and other opportunities in the Professional Resources section of our website. If we missed one, let us know.
The Walrus | CIC International Long-Form Competition
Sections: Non-fiction
Deadline: October 26, 2012
Prize: $7500 + publication
Entry Fee: None
Details: http://www.opencanada.org/competition/
Notes: Entrants submit a detailed pitch for an investigative story with an international focus; the winner will work with a Walrus editor to develop and publish the piece.
CBC Canada Writes Short Story Prize
Sections: Short fiction
Deadline: November 1, 2012
Prize: $6000 + publication in enRoute + Banff centre residency (winner); $1000 to each of 4 runners-up
Entry Fee: $25
Details: http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/literaryprizes/shortstory/
Notes: CBC Canada Writes also hosts Creative Non-fiction and Poetry competitions with deadlines in 2013. Details to come.
The Malahat Review Open Season Awards
Sections: Fiction; Poetry; Creative non-fiction
Deadline: November 1, 2012
Prize: $1000 to the winner in each section + publication
Entry Fee: $35 (includes subscription)
Details: http://web.uvic.ca/malahat/contests/open_season/info.html
Amprosia | WCDR Prose Competition
Sections: Creative non-fiction
Deadline: November 1, 2012
Prize: $1000 (1st); $400 (2nd); $200 (3rd); publication in anthology
Entry Fee: $20
Details: http://wcdr.ca/wcdr/2012-amprosia-the-wcdr-prose-competition/
Writers Union of Canada Short Prose Competition
Sections: Fiction; Non-fiction
Deadline: November 3, 2012
Prize: $2500; assistance with publication
Entry Fee: $29
Details: http://www.writersunion.ca/short-prose
PRISM International Creative Writing Contests
Sections: Literary non-fiction; Short fiction; Poetry
Deadline: November 28, 2012 (non-fiction); January 25, 2013 (fiction & poetry)
Prize: $1500 (1st); $300 (2nd); $200 (3rd); publication in magazine
Entry Fee: $35 (includes subscription)
Details: http://prismmagazine.ca/contests/
Prairie Fire Creative Writing Contests
Sections: Creative non-fiction; Short fiction; Poetry
Deadline: November 30, 2012
Prize: $1250 (1st); $500 (2nd); $250 (3rd); publication in magazine
Entry Fee: $32 (includes subscription)
Details: http://prairiefire.ca/contests.html
Briarpatch Creative Writing Contest
Sections: Creative non-fiction
Deadline: December 1, 2012
Prize: $750 in total prizes
Entry Fee: $25 (includes subscription)
Details: http://briarpatchmagazine.com/announcements/view/creative-writing-contest
The Fiddlehead 22nd annual Literary Contest
Sections: Poetry; Fiction
Deadline: December 1, 2012
Prize: $2000 (winner); $200 each for 2 runners-up; publication in magazine
Entry Fee: $30 (includes subscription)
Details: http://www.thefiddlehead.ca/FHcontest.html
FreeFall magazine Poetry and Prose Contest
Sections: Poetry; Fiction
Deadline: December 31, 2012
Prize: $300 (winner); $150 (2nd); $75 (3rd); publication
Entry Fee: $21 (includes subscription)
Details: http://www.freefallmagazine.ca/contest.html
Alberta Literary Awards
Sections: Travel Writing (unpublished); Essays (unpublished); Short Fiction (published); Non-fiction (published); plus book awards
Deadline: December 31, 2012
Prize: $700 (winner in each section)
Entry Fee: $25
Details: http://www.writersguild.ab.ca/Alberta-Literary-Awards.asp
Other contests on the horizon for 2013:
The New Quarterly literary contests
CBC Canada Writes non-fiction & poetry contests
Grain magazine Short Grain writing contests
Event magazine non-fiction contest
Writers Union of Canada various contests
Geist magazine various contests
Arc Poetry Magazine various contests
Know of other literary contests coming up this fall/winter? Leave a comment on this blog or holler at us: staff [at] magazine-awards.com or twitter.com/natmagawards.
Alberta to Get Literary this weekend
The Alberta Magazine Publishers Association is bringing the best of local literary journalism to Calgary’s Olympic Plaza (or Central Library, in the event of rain) this Sunday, August 26, with readings by some of the West’s best prose and poetry artists.
The event will be hosted by Kris Demeanor, former winner of the National Magazine Award for Best New Magazine Writer,* now the poet laureat of the City of Calgary.
Participating authors include National Magazine Award finalists Marcello di Cintio, Fred Stenson and Naomi K. Lewis, and others.
Visit the AMPA for more information.
*Read “Get a Real Job” by Kris Demeanor in unlimited, 2008 winner of Best New Magazine Writer at the National Magazine Awards. Visit the NMA Archives to read full-text articles by hundreds of finalists and winners.
Summer Reading Series 6: Profound Poetry
Hannah Arendt
“Poetry, whose material is language, is perhaps the most human and least worldly of the arts, the one in which the end product remains closest to the thought that inspired it.”
– Hannah Arendt
As our Summer Reading Series continues with a selection of poetry, we prefer not to linger too long by way of introduction. As A. E. Housman wrote, “Even when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may be inadvisable to draw it out… Perfect understanding will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure.” We tend to agree. Better to let the poets speak for poetry and let the poems speak for themselves.
The following winners in the category of Poetry, and many others, can be found in the National Magazine Awards archive (magazine-awards.com/archive)
1. “Pa” and “Bq” by Matthew Holmes, Arc (2011 Gold winner in Poetry)
Though we do not always need perfect understanding before (or even after) the reading of a poem, an author’s insight into the creative process is often as delightful as the poem itself. Holmes offers a welcome hint or two in a thought-provoking introduction, followed by the award-winning pair of poems from his project, “The failing of purity”:
how water bends before letting your finger in, how
rain is coming (the flower says), how
rain is coming, how
luck falls, like salt thrown by a god, it falls not. [Read more]
2. “St. Anthony’s Fire” and “The Perfect Fatherhood” by Shane Neilson, The Fiddlehead, (2011 Silver winner in Poetry)
In these fluid configurations, Neilson muses about two profoundly manifest contemplations of the heart: the ironies inherent in god, and the mysteries of parenthood in its wondrous responsibility for another life.
Robbed of touch with peripheral neuropathies and the visible sores, the manna from heaven contaminated with Claviceps purpurea, whole civilizations monster-movied, disease being the measure of purity in a lost, misbegotten heaven… [Read more]
3. “Paradise, Later Years” by Marion Quednau, Malahat Review (2009 Gold winner in Poetry)
In this playful and insightful work, Quednau composes a rhythmic meditation on the nature of our relationship with nature and, ultimately, with ourselves:
I’ve taught them everything I know: that greed is largely forgivable grandstanding, and making a small ruckus is good, might still change the world, and thirst when it hits you, despite an abundance of water and wine for some, and nothing dripping down the spout for all the rest, is merely stoppered-up desire, and what makes humans so different from that lobster not going at all gently is that we can have what we want – scary thought. [Read more]
Read these stories and more at the National Magazine Awards archive: magazine-awards.com/archive.
Previous editions of our Summer Reading Series: Travel | Essays | Sports & Rec | Fiction | Personal Journalism
Magazine Events this Weekend in Vancouver & Calgary
Tip o’ the hat to the Canadian Magazines Canadiens blog for the alert to a pair of interesting events this weekend:
Mag Scene on Main, August 16-18 in Vancouver: 3 days of interactive events by local artists and literary magazines in businesses and cultural spaces around Main Street. Participating magazines: Color, Discorder, Fillip, Geist, OCW Magazine, Poetry is Dead, Prism, Ricepaper, Room, subTerrain and The Vancouver Observer. Supported by Magazine Association of British Columbia.
The People’s Poetry Festival, August 17-19 in Calgary: Showcasing local and aspiring poets and spoken word artists, this 3-day festival uses public and private space around Kensington to share a love of poetry with all audiences. Readings, workshops and other random acts of poetry. Supported by Alberta Magazine Publishers Association.
Your Guide to Summer Magazine Writing Contests
Summer is here and so are the writing contests. Quite a number of great magazines are hosting contests, awards and other opportunities for writers new and seasoned. Naturally, the chance of winning should not be your sole motivation; just by entering you’ll acquaint yourself with (and probably get a subscription to) a great magazine, plus you’ll enjoy the satisfaction of having put your hard work, creativity and talent out into the world.
Matrix Magazine: LitPop Awards
Sections: Poetry; Fiction; Creative Nonfiction
Deadline: July 1, 2012
Prize: Round-trip ticket and accommodation to POP Montreal Festival in September; publication in Matrix
Entry Fee: $25
Details: http://www.matrixmagazine.org/litpop/
This Magazine: Great Canadian Literary Hunt
Sections: Fiction; Poetry; Creative Nonfiction
Deadline: July 31, 2012
Prize: $750 plus publication for winners; prize packs for second and third place
Entry Fee: $25 (includes subscription)
Details: http://this.org/contribute/great-canadian-literary-hunt/
Also: This Mag editor talks about Creative Nonfiction and the workshops included with this year’s GCLH.
The Walrus: Poetry Prize
Sections: Poetry, juried prize and people’s choice prize
Deadline: July 31, 2012
Prize: $5000 and publication (juried winner); $1000 (people’s choice winner)
Entry Fee: $25 (includes subscription)
Details: http://walrusmagazine.com/poetryprize/
Antigonish Review: Great Blue Heron Poetry Prize & Sheldon Currie Fiction Contest
Sections: Poetry; Fiction
Deadline: July 31, 2012 (Fiction); August 31, 2012 (Poetry)
Prize: $600 (first); $400 (second); $200 (third); publication
Entry Fee: $25 (includes subscription)
Details: http://www.antigonishreview.com/
Malahat Review: Constance Rooke Nonfiction Prize
Sections: Creative Nonfiction
Deadline: August 1, 2012
Prize: Publication in Malahat Review; interview with winning author
Entry Fee: $35 (includes subscription)
Details: http://web.uvic.ca/malahat/contests/creative_non-fiction_prize/info.html
Also: Malahat Review has a number of writing contests throughout the year
Geist: Erasure Poetry Contest
Sections: Poetry (in an unusual way)
Deadline: August 1, 2012
Prize: $600 (first); $250 (second); $150 (third); publication in Geist; prize packs for HM
Entry Fee: $20 (includes subscription)
Details: http://www.geist.com/articles/erasure
Other contests, further on the horizon for 2012 and 2013:
PRISM International: Writing contests
Prairie Fire: Writing contests
Fiddlehead: Literary contests
WCDR Amprosia prose competition
CBC Literary Prizes
The New Quarterly: Writing contests
Grain: Writing contests
Event Magazine: Writing contests
Writers Union of Canada Awards
NMA winner John Barton to speak at Tree Reading Series
Ottawa’s ongoing Tree Reading Series will feature a reading from National Magazine Award-winning writer John Barton at its April 10 event. John is a Victoria-based poet and author who has published nine books of poetry. He won a Silver National Magazine Award in 2006 for poetry published in The Capilano Review.
The April 10 event will also feature a workshop on chapbooks, of which John has also published five.
On April 14-15, John will also be the featured poet in a two-day Master Workshop on poetry writing. The cost is $250 to participate.
About the Tree Reading Series:
Running since May 9, 1980, the Tree Reading Series (Tree) is one of Canada’s longest-running literary events and an essential part of Ottawa’s vibrant literary community. Tree is a non-profit organization that supports established and emerging writers from Ottawa and across Canada by offering a supportive public venue for writers to present their own work and to benefit from exposure to the work of other writers. In providing this service, Tree hopes to inspire and sustain the development of the literary community in Ottawa and to promote Ottawa as an important community for Canadian literary arts.
‘Words Aloud’ will feature NMA winner Steven Heighton
This year’s eighth installment of the Words Aloud festival — November 4, 5 and 6 at the Durham Arts Gallery in the autumn-colours-drenched town of Durham, Ontario — promises its eager audiences the best in Spoken Word from across Canada (and New York City).
It’s “a magical alchemy of spoken word’s full range,” say the organizers. Wow! Among the noted participants is four-time National Magazine Award winner (thrice for Fiction; once for Poetry) Steven Heighton, who is on the schedule for a Saturday evening reading and a Sunday afternoon workshop.
If you’re in the neighbourhood, drop by. Tickets are on sale now.
Poetry and Pain, as told by NMA winner Patrick Lane
“The outward pain and the inward pain. If you learn the inward pain inside you, you’ll grow as a human. Fine poetry gives us a look at the inward world.”
That’s esteemed Canadian poet and two-time National Magazine Award winner Patrick Lane, speaking to a class at the University of Toronto last week, on why we read poetry.
Mr. Lane, who won an NMA Silver in 1986 for his poetry in Canadian Forum and a Gold award in 1988 for his poetry in Border Crossings, recently published a new collection of poetry, aptly titled The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane (Harbour Publishing).
According to the article in the Toronto Observer, he also offered the students a few witty reflections on the legacy of Steve Jobs (“The person who invented the [birth control] pill… changed the course of history more than him”) and how he once delivered a baby in a logging camp (“Next thing I knew I was holding a slippery football shape in my arms”).
Former NMA winners land on Giller shortlist
Zsuzsi Gartner, who won the 2005 Silver National Magazine Award for Fiction (“Investment Results May Vary,” Vancouver Review), has been named to the shortlist for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novel, Better Living Through Plastic Explosives.
Fellow Giller nominee David Bezmozgis (tapped for his novel The Free World) also won a Silver National Magazine Award for Fiction, in 2003 for “Minyan” in Prairie Fire. Also on the Giller shortlist for his latest book The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje has twice won a Gold National Magazine Award in the Poetry category (1979 and 1981). For a complete list of nominations and wins, visit the NMA Winners Archive.
The 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize will be announced on November 8, 2011.
