2010 Award Winner

"PFLEGESPULUNG" WINS WRITERS' UNION OF CANADA'S 11th ANNUAL POSTCARD STORY COMPETITION

The Writers' Union of Canada is pleased to announce that Francine Dick has won the eleventh annual Postcard Story Competition, for the best story under 250 words, with her piece "Pflegespulung." The author will receive a $500 cash prize. In addition, the story will be published in Write: The Magazine of The Writers' Union of Canada.
The Union initiated its inaugural Postcard Story Competition in 1999 to discover, encourage, and promote writers of fiction and nonfiction in this form. This year, sixteen Union members donated their time and expertise to read 610 outstanding submissions and distill them into a longlist of 107 stories. These stories went on to a second round of twenty-one readers who selected the finalists to pass on to the 2010 jury: Michael Crummey, Bruce Hunter and Susan Musgrave.

WINNER:
"Pflegespulung” by Francine Dick

The Jury noted that “‘Pflegespulung’ takes an odd incident in the life of a couple and manages to provide a complete and compelling sketch of an entire relationship. Funny, quirky and entirely believable.”

Francine Dick was born in Toronto, Canada, where she still lives. Her play, As Large As Alone premiered at the New Ideas Festival in Toronto in 2006 and was presented at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska in 2008 as well as the Great Plains Theatre Conference in Omaha, Nebraska in 2009. Living In Permafrost was presented at the 2010 Last Frontier Theatre Conference. Other plays include Down Memory Lane (She Speaks, International Centre for Women Playwrights, 2007) and On the Street (Nuit Blanche, Toronto, 2007). Wedding Night In Canada will be part of the Toronto Fringe Festival 2010. The Inner Core, a collection of short stories, was published under the name of Miriam Wright. A single mom of three amazing kids and a strong community activist, Francine believes in giving back as much as we receive.

FINALISTS:
Michelle Barker "What You Don't See"
Mary Chang "Belly Button on a Skateboard" &
"Little Girls and Flying Fudgsicles"
Erin Chapman "Walls"
Nancy Kay Clark "Tell Mary"
Ellen Flookes "Nighthawks"
Lynn Furs "Driving Standard"
Pamela Kent "Anywhere She Wants"
Jillian MacDonald "Dinner for Three"
Sandra McLean "Duplicity"
Teresa J. Wouters "The Eleventh Hour"

READERS FOR THE COMPETITION:
Marlene Anderson, Ann Birch, Edward Brown, Mary Frances Coady, Beverley Daurio, Ann Farrell, Catherine Jenkins, Monica Kulling, Simon Leigh, Anne Logan, Fatima Mesquita, Faruk Myrtaj, Mahtab Narsimhan, Jim Smith, Royston Tester, Sylvia Warsh, Cheryl Antao-Xavier, Thelma Barer-Stein, Yvonne Blackwood, Heather Browne, Bradd Burningham, Brian Day, Soraya Erian, Lian Goodall, Nancy Graham, Lynn Harrigan, Marthe Jocelyn, Dannabang Kuwabong, Nicole Markotic, Bruce Meyer, Rich Meyrick, Michael Mortensen, Sheila Pennington, Rene Schmidt, Elaine Slater, Margie Taylor, and Jim Trautman.

FINAL JURY
Michael Crummey, Bruce Hunter and Susan Musgrave

The Writers' Union of Canada is our country's national organization representing professional authors of books. Founded in 1973, the Union is dedicated to fostering writing in Canada, and promoting the rights, freedoms, and economic well being of all writers. For more information, please visit www.writersunion.ca.

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For additional information:
Fan Li, Projects Coordinator
The Writers’ Union of Canada
416.703.8982 Ext. 226
fli@writersunion.ca

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