Established in 1993 in honour of the Union’s 20th anniversary, the Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers aims to discover, encourage, and promote new writers of short prose in order to provide opportunity and exposure to developing writers.
A $2,500 prize is awarded to a Canadian writer for the best piece of unpublished prose of up to 2,500 words in the English language. The Union submits the winning entry and those of the eleven other finalists to three Canadian magazines for consideration. In addition, the winning and finalist entries receive feedback on their submissions.
The 30th Annual Short Prose Competition Winner:
“Please Don’t Do This To Me,” Erin Soros, North Vancouver, BC
Finalists:
- “The Madness East of St. George,” Jeff Cottrill, Toronto, ON
- “Cigarettes and Iguanodons,” Chance Freihaut, Calgary, AB
- “Fine Lines,” Sarah Gilbert, Montreal, QC
- “Refresh,” Susan Goldberg, Thunder Bay, ON
- “There's a Short Story About My Father I'm Planning to Write,” Geoff Inverarity, Vancouver, BC
- “The Arms of Village,” Trent Lewin, Waterloo, ON
- “We Celebrate The Rain,” Fareh Malik, Whitby, ON
- “Games People Play,” Rowan McCandless, Winnipeg, MB
- “The Golden Hour,” Adelle Purdham, Peterborough, ON
- “Parasite,” Deepa Rajagopalan, Ariss, ON
- “Lucky Ducks,” Madeleine Ritzker, Vancouver, BC
Final Jury:
Doretta Lau, Tāriq Malik, Ann Shortell
Short Prose Competition Winners
- 2023: Erin Soros
- 2022: Christina Brobby
- 2021: Mirabelle Chiderah Harris-Eze
- 2020: Lisa McLean
- 2019: Sheilagh Guy Murphy
- 2018: Jo Hatherly
- 2017: Barbara Black
- 2016: Deepam Wadds
- 2015: Pamela van der Woude
- 2014: Jill Sexsmith
- 2013: Chloe Hogan-Weihmann
- 2011: Amy Stuart
- 2010: Heather Tucker
- 2009: Zoe Stikeman
- 2008: Julie Booker
- 2007: John Blackmore
- 2006: Anna Johnston
- 2005: Eleanor Verbicky-Todd
- 2004: Natasha Lawrence
- 2003: Jocelyne Figueiredo
- 2001: Janice McCachen
- 1999: Tanya Ambrose
- 1998: Lewis DeSoto
- 1997: Paul Glennon
- 1996: Melanie Little
- 1995: Shauna Singh Baldwin
- 2023: Erin Soros
- 2022: Christina Brobby
- 2021: Mirabelle Chiderah Harris-Eze
- 2020: Lisa McLean
- 2019: Sheilagh Guy Murphy
- 2018: Jo Hatherly
- 2017: Barbara Black
- 2016: Deepam Wadds
- 2015: Pamela van der Woude
- 2014: Jill Sexsmith
- 2013: Chloe Hogan-Weihmann
- 2011: Amy Stuart
- 2010: Heather Tucker
- 2009: Zoe Stikeman
- 2008: Julie Booker
- 2007: John Blackmore
- 2006: Anna Johnston
- 2005: Eleanor Verbicky-Todd
- 2004: Natasha Lawrence
- 2003: Jocelyne Figueiredo
- 2001: Janice McCachen
- 1999: Tanya Ambrose
- 1998: Lewis DeSoto
- 1997: Paul Glennon
- 1996: Melanie Little
- 1995: Shauna Singh Baldwin