The Star’s short story contest celebrates 40th anniversary
“The biggest short story contest” may read as though it is an oxymoron, but it is what the Toronto Star Short Story Contest has become.
Launched for the first time in 1978, the contest is now entering its 40th year. In its first year, hundreds of writers, amateur and professional, reached out to show the Star that they had the chops to win first prize.
Forty years on, the Star now sees up to 2,000 entries every year
Now, it’s the largest contest of its kind in Canada, and one of the largest in North America.
Last year’s winning story was “Cardinal,” written by Nina Dragicevic. One of 1,200 entrants, Dragicevic composed an intimate piece that explored a dialogue between two brothers.
She called her win “surreal,” and said that it was “easily the best thing that happened to me last year.”
She said entering the contest was her 2017 new year’s resolution.
“I promised my husband I would start writing creatively and he offered to walk the dogs first thing in the morning — that’s why I had the time. So instead of walking the dogs for an hour, I wrote for an hour.”
This year’s contest runs until 5 p.m. on Feb. 28.
The winner will receive $5,000 and a creative writing course from the Humber School for Writers.
The second-place winner will take home a $2,000 prize, while third place will be awarded $1,000.
The winner can choose a 30-week creative writing correspondence program, valued at $3,000, at Humber, or a weeklong summer work- shop, worth $1,000, at the college’s Lakeshore campus in Toronto.
Stories can be about any topic the entrant chooses, as long as it’s original, unpublished and amounts to less than 2,500 words. Entries are limited to one per person.
Dragicevic, who has continued to work on her freelance writing and editing since her win, had a few words of advice for those thinking of entering this year: “Lock yourself in a room without interruptions. No husbands, no dogs, no internet. Make strong coffee.”
To enter, visit thestar.com/shortstory. The winners will be announced in April. Those stories are published in the Toronto Star and thestar.com. With files from Alexandra Jones