2024 Victoria Writers’ Society Writing Contest

Fiction, Creative Non-fiction, Poetry
Open to residents from Vancouver Island and its surrounding islands

The 2024 VWS contest winners:

Fiction (Judge Pauline Holdstock):

1st Place: Meg Todd, The Line

2nd Place: Kristan Saefkow, Sightlines

3rd Place: R. Paul Faubert, Come Home

3rd Place: Suzanne Malone, Slingshot

Creative Non-Fiction (Judge Briony Penn)

1st Place: Claire E. Addey-Jibb, From the Ashes

2nd Place: Chihiro Jayne Ebara, The Dent in the Burial Mound

3rd Place: Kim Harrison, At Genoa Bay

Poetry (Judge Arleen Paré)

1st Place: Hope West, for a moment of everything

2nd Place: Nicole Johannson, Ocean Heart

3rd Place: Nicole Johannson, 9:23 pm

 

Next contest will open in Spring of 2025. 

For those who submitted to the 2024 contest but did not win, keep on writing. To quote Jodi Picoult “You may not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page”. Be sure to take advantage of a VWS Critique Group or participate in one of the many writing workshops offered online and in person in our writing community.

Submissions:

  • Send your submissions as an attachment in an email to contest@victoriawriters.ca 
  • We ONLY accept electronic submissions as an email attachment (word or pdf).
  • This attachment MUST NOT contain your name or any other identifying features as all judging is blind, but should have title of piece on each page.
  • In the subject line of the email, write the genre you are entering. (Fiction, Creative Non-fiction or Poetry). You may submit to all three genre categories, but only two submissions can be made per genre. Each submission must be accompanied by a separate entry fee.

You must include in the body of your submission email:

  • The title and genre of your piece.
  • Word count for prose / line count for poetry.
  • Your name, phone number and email address and place of residence.
  • A short bio of yourself (max. 50 words).
  • Please indicate your payment method (e-transfer (preferred) or cheque).
  • Please indicate whether or not you are a VWS member.

Eligibility:

  • The contest is open to residents of Vancouver Island and its surrounding islands.
  • Work previously published or currently under consideration for publication elsewhere is not eligible to enter this competition. Winning pieces will be published by the Victoria Writers’ Society.

Entry fees:

  • $25.00 per entry for VWS members per submission
  • $30.00 per entry for non-members per submission
  • Entry fee may be paid by e-transfer (preferred) or mailed cheque 
  • Send e-transfer to: treasurer@victoriawriters.ca
  • Send cheque to: Victoria Writers Society, P.O. Box 8311, Victoria BC V8W 3R9

Format:

  • Entries should be in Times-New Roman 12 Pt. 
  • Stories to be double-spaced.
  • Poetry to be single spaced.
  • Title of work should appear at top of each page.
  • Word or .pdf files accepted

Word/line count:

  • Must be shown at top left-hand corner of first page of each submission.
  • 2,500 words maximum for fiction and creative non-fiction.
  • 100 lines for poetry.

Winners:

  • Winners only will be notified by 15 August and will be invited to read their winning works at the September VWS General meeting.
  • The winning works will be published by the Victoria Writers’ Society.
  • Authors and photographers retain copyright after publication.

STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
Contact the contest co-ordinator at: contest@victoriawriters.ca

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