Start writing: Star’s short story contest begins
A first prize of $5,000, writing school tuition among prizes in 36th annual event
The New Year marks the launch of the 36th Toronto Star Short Story Contest, among the largest in Canada and one of the top competitions in North America.
With a first prize of $5,000 plus tuition for the 30-week creative writ- ing correspondence program at the Humber School for Writers valued at $3,000, it’s also one of the most lucrative in the country. Story writers should be sharpening their pencils or at least cleaning their keyboards as they prepare for the contest which starts Saturday. Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. Feb. 28. Second prize is $2,000 while third is $1,000. Open to Ontario residents 16 and older, submissions can be on any topic, but must be previously unpublished and not exceed 2,500 words. There’s a limit of one entry per person. Last year’s winner, Toronto writer Fred Ni, author of “A Profile for an Online Dating Site,” offered encouragement and some tips for writers: “These short stories are short. Write one emotional breath, no more,” he wrote in an email. Ni also advised writers to look on the bright side. “The majority of short stories are dark and sombre — not sure why,” he wrote. “Maybe to display sensitivity? “I can understand that but if you want to stand out, write something hopeful, happy, even. I know it’s harder to write something positive but dare to be different from the rest of the literary crowd. In general, smile and pretend you’re happy.” Launched in partnership with the Toronto Public Library and Humber School for Writers, the competition follows on the heels of a Nobel Prize for Literature awarded to Canadian short story writer Alice Munro. For Jane Pyper, the public library’s city librarian and one of the judges who will help select the winners, “it’s even more fitting that we encourage aspiring short story writers. Good luck to everyone who enters.”
Other judges include award-winning Toronto author Heather Birrell, the Star’s books editor and writer Dianne Rinehart, as well as author and Star theatre critic Richard Ouzounian.
Winners will be announced in April during the library’s annual Keep Toronto Reading festival. Stories will be published in the Star. For full contest rules visit thestar.com/contests.