Left to right: Jason (Darian Detta’s brother who accepted the award on his behalf), Kristen Burns, Alison Braid, and Corinna Chong. Not pictured: Madeleine van Goudoever
Local author Corrina Chong was the judge for the 25th annual Okanagan Short Story Contest, and announced the 4 finalists at a public event held at the Alternator for Contemporary Art last week with each of the writers reading a part of their story.
The winning author, Alison Braid of Summerland, took first place for her short story “Two Day Summer”.
“Upon reading the very first sentence of “Two Day Summer,” I knew I was in the hands of an expert. Every sentence of this story is beautifully crafted, the characters are richly drawn, and the conflict is layered with delicate precision,” explains Chong.
Alison Braid’s work has been shortlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize, Arc Poetry Magazine’s Poem of the Year Contest, and The Bridport Prize in Flash Fiction. She is the author of the chapbook Little Hunches (Anstruther Press, 2020.) She holds an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is currently working to finish a collection of short stories, titled Look Both Ways & Other Stories.
Madeleine van Goudoever, placed second with “Peachy Like Nietzsche”.
Chong says this about van Goudoever’s story, “This story is the best mixture of funny and tragic, its quirky, unpredictable characters grounded in decisive, vibrant writing. The concluding paragraphs, in particular, weave its narrative threads together with remarkable poise and sensitivity.”
Madeleine van Goudoever is a former graffiti artist from Montreal, who currently resides in Kelowna. She also writes poetry.
Third place went to MFA alumna Kristin Burns for her story, “Heat”.
“This is a writer who understands their characters as complex, three-dimensional people, and also has a keen ear for crafting propulsive, rhythmic sentences and images sharp enough to cut.” Says Chong.
Kristin is a queer MFA graduate currently living back in her hometown Vernon. She’s previously won second place in the Okanagan Short Story Contest, and her short story “The Lakeweed Girl”, shortlisted in 2022, will appear in this month’s issue of Carousel Magazine along with an accompanying illustration she made.
Finally, Darian Detta took the top prize for the high school category for his story, “The Place Where None Can Grow.”
“I was struck not only by the seamless way this story integrates the Ktunaxa (too-NA-ha) language and honours indigenous oral storytelling traditions, but also by the vivid, elegantly rendered imagery—tears transforming into thousands of silk strings, samaras plucked out of the wind’s grasp by the roiling tar, yellow flowers erupting from the earth. This was a deeply atmospheric and moving story by an undeniably talented young writer,” explains Chong.
Darian Detta is a grade 11 student and aspiring author at Mount Baker Secondary School in Cranbrook. He has a soft spot for both fantasy and science fiction (though a blend of both is his first and foremost preference.)
Corinna Chong is an acclaimed Canadian writer, editor and English professor at Okanagan College. The annual contest, organized by the Creative Writing program in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS), is a writing competition open to fiction writers in British Columbia’s Southern Interior. Writers submit their stories, which are then read, anonymously, by faculty, and the shortlisted stories are sent to a guest judge to choose the winners in the adult and high school categories.
The first-place writer received $1,000 plus a one-week retreat at The Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre in Kelowna; second-place winner received $400 and third-place received $200. The top high school student received a $200 prize. Co-sponsors of the contest are FCCS and the Central Okanagan Foundation.