Okanagan Short Story Contest Shortlist announced

UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS) is pleased to share the finalists of the 2020 Okanagan Short Story Contest.

The Okanagan Short Story Contest awards the best new short stories by writers in the Southern Interior of British Columbia: east of Hope, west of the Alberta border, north of the US border and south of Williams Lake. Past winners have gone on to publish with Penguin Random House, Arsenal Pulp Press, and NeWest Press, as well as numerous magazines and journals nationally and internationally.

A total of 87 stories were submitted to the adult category, and 36 stories were submitted from all over the region for the high school category, with six of those shortlisted.

“The high school stories were outstanding and I am so glad I don’t have to decide who is going to take home the prize!” says Creative Writing professor, Nancy Holmes.

Shortlisted authors: adult category

  • Michelle Alfaro, All of It
  • Faye Arcand, Bird in the Rafters
  • Shawn Bird, Dead Man on the Porch
  • Harlee Code, The Drowning
  • Carlo Da Ros, For You, Annette
  • Alexandra Davison, Weekday at the Magic City
  • Nils Donnelly, Hotplate
  • Heide Rose Garnett, Paul’s Tomb
  • MacKenzie Smyth, Artificial Sweetener
  • Jorie Soames, One on Each Side
  • Carol Zuckerman, Trout

Shortlisted entries: high school category

  • Trinity Blacklock, Beneath the Waves
  • Carla Deetlefs, A Weed Among Blossoms
  • Bethany Pardoe, Rat King (2018 winner)
  • Sarah Prentice, World Alone
  • Sonia Rosenberger, Girlish
  • Chanel Sergeant, Slipcover

FCCS is offering cash prizes to the top three stories—$1,000, $400 and $200; the first prize winner also wins a one-week retreat at The Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre in Kelowna.  For the third year in a row, the top short story by a high-school student in the region receives $200 prize.  Co-sponsors are FCCS, Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation, and the Central Okanagan Foundation.