UNews - The Bridge Prize

Bridge Prize national short story competition selects jury for 2026 cycle, submissions now being accepted

trevor.kenney — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:31:50 +0000

Submissions are now open for the 2026 version of Canada’s largest literary prize for post-secondary students — the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Bridge Prize — and the main jury has been selected.

Now entering its fourth competitive cycle, the reputation of the cross-Canada short story competition continues to grow, garnering attention from some of Canada’s most accomplished authors. Among those is Ian Williams, the author of seven acclaimed books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, and whose book, Reproduction, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2019. He headlines a stellar main jury that includes representation from across the country.

The remainder of the jury consists of Sharon Bala (Newfoundland & Labrador), Ivan Coyote (Yukon), Alice Kuipers (Saskatchewan), Idman Nur Omar (Alberta) and David Robertson (Manitoba).

“The 2026 competition features some of Canada’s most accomplished writers and thinkers,” says Dr. Harold Jansen, ULethbridge librarian and dean of the School of Liberal Education, which presents the Bridge Prize. “These established and emerging writers represent a cross-section of Canada as well as genres of writing. We are grateful to our outstanding national and local jury members and to Munro’s Books of Victoria for their support of the next generation of writers in Canada.”

The success of the event has led to an increase in prize money for the 2026 cycle and a new structure for the competition. For the first time, the top story written by an undergraduate student and the top story written by a graduate student will each receive $5,000. As well, one finalist in each category will earn $1,000 and each of the four winners and finalists will be awarded $200 gift cards from lead sponsor Munro’s Books.

“Writing is alive and well in Canada and with each awarding of the Bridge Prize we see stronger and stronger submissions,” adds Jansen. “It truly has become a national literary competition, with each province represented by really outstanding young writers.”

Initiated by ULethbridge alumnus Terry whitehead (BA ’94) with support of the School of Liberal Education, the first prizes were awarded in 2020. Entry is open to all students attending colleges and universities in Canada, with a fee of $20 per submission. Entrants can submit as many stories as they like. To date, over 1,000 stories have been submitted and over $30,000 in prize money has been distributed.

Submissions are now being accepted until Jan. 26, 2026. For more information, visit the Bridge Prize web page.

Following are short biographies of the 2026 jurors.

Sharon Bala

Sharon Bala’s best-selling debut novel, The Boat People, won the 2020 Newfoundland & Labrador Book Award and the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, was short listed for several awards, and is in translation in four languages. She won the Writers’ Trust/ McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize in 2017. Her short fiction has been published in: Best Canadian Stories 2024, The Journey Prize 29, Hazlitt, Grain, PRISM international, The New Quarterly, Maisonneuve, and elsewhere. Sharon is a member of The Port Authority, a St. John’s writing group.

Ivan Coyote

Ivan Coyote is a writer, storyteller and performer. Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, they are the author of thirteen books, the creator of four films, seven stage shows, and three albums that combine storytelling with music. Coyote’s books have won the ReLit Award, the B.C. Book Prize for Writing That Provokes, been named a Stonewall Honour Book, been longlisted for Canada Reads, been shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize for non-fiction, and the Governor General’s Award for non-fiction twice.

Alice Kuipers

Alice Kuipers is the bestselling, award-winning author of five novels, a memoir for teenager Carley Allison, Always Smile, and six books for younger readers. She’s also a bestselling ghost author, experienced in writing adult memoir and self-help. Alice’s work is published in 36 countries, and she’s taught thousands of people online and in person. Now, she’s Head of Coaching at The Novelry, and she shares writing secrets over on Confessions & Coffee, her weekly publication. Her newest book, Spark, is a guide for anyone wanting to write their own book for young readers.

Idman Nur Omar

Idman Nur Omar was born in Rome and immigrated to Canada in 1991. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Guelph and an MA in English Literature from Concordia ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Montreal. The Private Apartments, her first book, was a finalist for the 2024 Alberta Literary Awards, a finalist for the 2023 Writers’ Union of Canada Danuta Gleed Literary Award and included in Brittle Paper’s 100 Notable African Books of 2023. She lives in Calgary.

David Robertson

David A. Robertson is a two-time Governor General's Literary Award winner and has won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the Writer's Union of Canada Freedom to Read award. He has received several other accolades for his work as a writer for children and adults, podcaster, public speaker and social advocate. He was honoured with a Doctor of Letters by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manitoba in 2023 for outstanding contributions to the arts and distinguished achievements. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and lives in Winnipeg.

Ian Williams

Ian Williams is the author of seven acclaimed books of fiction, poetry and nonfiction. His previous book, Disorientation, was selected as a best book of the year by the Boston Globe. His novel, Reproduction, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2019 and was published in Canada, the US, the UK and Italy. His poetry collection, Word Problems won the Raymond Souster Award from the League of Canadian Poets. His previous collection, Personals, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award. His short story collection, Not Anyone’s Anything, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for the best first collection of short fiction in Canada. He is a trustee for the Griffin Poetry Prize. Ian completed his PhD at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto. In the fall of 2024, Ian delivered the cross-Canada 2024 CBC Massey Lectures, What I Mean to Say, about rehabilitating conversations.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria graduate student pens 2024 Bridge Prize short story contest winning entry

trevor.kenney — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:23:05 +0000

Jeremy Audet is, at heart, a storyteller — and now he is an award-winning author. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria graduate student’s short story, The Lobster, was selected as the best of the 187 entries for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s nationwide Bridge Prize short story contest.

Jeremy Audet earned the top prize of $7,500, the largest cash prize for student writing in Canada.

The win earned Audet the top prize of $7,500, the largest cash prize for student writing in Canada, and validated a process that was years in the making. Audet, a wildland firefighter in British Columbia, described the emotions he experienced when he learned he’d won the competition.

"When I received the call telling me I was being awarded the Bridge Prize, I was standing in an airfield in the Northern Rockies, waiting to be deployed to a new wildfire. As we spoke, helicopters and trucks came and went, a column of dark smoke thickened in the distance, and thousands of people nearby were being forced from their homes,” he said. “There was joy and relief in my heart, knowing that a story I had spent years working on had received such warm praise. I'm immensely grateful to the Bridge Prize organizers, Terry Whitehead and Dr. Shelly Wismath, the brilliant jurors, and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge for recognizing the strength of storytelling.”

Audet’s story was described as “dense and contemplative; the rhythm is tidal . . . the story is simultaneously speculative, contemporary, and historical. The writer has great talent, feeling and artistry,” commented Bridge Prize juror and Quebec author Madeleine Thien.

As the winner, Audet was able to work with Sirarose Wilensky, editor with House of Anansi Press, on The Lobster, which is now featured on the Bridge Prize website.

The biennial competition, established in 2020, is the only national writing competition of its kind in Canada and featured submissions from students in nine provinces. Only students attending colleges and universities in Canada can apply, with $12,000 in cash prizes awarded. The winner and three finalists also receive a $200 gift card courtesy of Munro’s Books of Victoria. New this year, the contest also recognized the best story written by an undergraduate student and the best written by a student at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

“Congratulations to Jeremy, the three finalists, and our new award winners for their compelling short stories,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, retired dean of the School of Liberal Education and Bridge Prize administrator. “Once again, our local and main juries praised the high quality of writing, diverse styles and imaginative storytelling. The future of Canadian fiction is in very good hands.”

Other finalists, who were each awarded $1,000, included:

Susan Sechrist from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia and her story Ecphrasis.

“Memorable characters and concepts in an efficient and innovative vignette structure. Had a collage-like feel, or mosaic-like, with the smaller daubs of colour creating the larger picture. Elegant and skillful,” concluded juror George Murray.

Ayda Niknami, also from UBC, created The Martyr’s Mother, which was described as, “Imaginative, fast-paced, interesting, visual. The Martyr’s Mother is commendable for being highly imaginative capturing the readers imagination. It was interesting and very visual,” said juror Michelle Good.

Camille Pavlenko, from UBC and a ULethbridge alumna, was the third finalist with her story A Disease of the Hollow Organs.

“The writing is inviting, open and imaginative, with characters interacting and intertwining beautifully like a well-orchestrated dance,” commented juror Danny Ramadan. “The metaphors were delightful, and the command of the plot was strong and capable.”

A new prize recognizing the top undergraduate story honour went to Caitlyn Harding of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of the Fraser Valley. Her piece, If Normandie Avenue Could Talk, also won her $1,000.

Indie MacGarva earned $500 as the best story from ULethbridge writers with Alice Is There.

The cycle now begins for the 2026 Bridge Prize with the competition’s Main Jury to be announced in November. Submissions for the event open in January 2025.

Bridge Prize short story competition continuing to attract country’s most talented post-secondary writers

trevor.kenney — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 17:22:34 +0000

A total of 184 submissions from 36 universities and colleges across nine provinces have been received for the 2024 Bridge Prize post-secondary short story fiction writing competition.

The biennial competition, the largest literary cash prize event for post-secondary students in Canada, is open to both undergraduate and graduate students who are a registered student at the time of the submission deadline. This year’s submissions include representation from some of Canada’s biggest post-secondary schools, such as McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto, as well as smaller universities and colleges across the nation.

“The Bridge Prize continues to grow in popularity as a meaningful national prize recognizing excellence in short story writing at the post-secondary level,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s School of Liberal Education. Wismath was dean of the school when the Bridge Prize initiative was launched with the support of lead donor Terry Whitehead (BA ’94), ULethbridge’s current Chancellor.

“Since its inception in 2020, over 1,000 short stories have been written and submitted, which suggests students are excited by the short story genre as a form of storytelling.”

Over the next four months, a local jury, comprised of 28 volunteers from ULethbridge and local cultural communities, will evaluate the 184 entries. Each story will be read by a minimum of four jurors. The author’s identity and school are not shared with jury members. The local jury will identify up to 10 short stories that will be elevated to the main jury who will read and adjudicate over the summer.

Dr. Shelly Wismath says students continue to show their enthusiasm for the short story form.

The main jury is comprised of established authors from across Canada. A winner will be determined by late July, and the winning author will work with a professional editor to arrive at the final version. The winning author and three finalists will be announced in September and the winning short story will be published on the Bridge Prize website.

“The Bridge Prize and the students who participate benefit from the support of our jurors who value the work of the next generation of storytellers in Canada,” adds Wismath. “We are grateful for the ongoing commitment from our local and main jurors, and to our sponsor, Munro’s Books of Victoria, for their continued support.”

The winner of the Bridge Prize receives $7,500 and three finalists each receive $1,000 and a $200 gift card from Munro’s Books. A $500 award goes to the top story written by a ULethbridge student. The winning author also receives a bronze sculpture, created by artist and sculptor, Niall Donaghy, of the ULethbridge Faculty of Fine Arts. More than $11,000 is awarded each competition, and since its inception, over 1,000 student stories have been submitted and $22,000 in prize money awarded.

2024 Main Jurors

Michelle Good (Saskatchewan) — author of Five Little Indians (winner of Canada Reads and Amazon First Novel; Giller Prize finalist in 2022)

Nicholas Herring (PEI) — author of Some Hellish (winner of Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize)

Sheena Kamal (Quebec) — Award-wining crime fiction writer and young adult novelist

George Murray (Newfoundland and Labrador) — Poet and author. Former Poet Laureate for St. John’s

Danny Ramadan (British Columbia) — Activist and author of The Foghorn Echoes and several children’s books. Finalist in the 2020 Bridge Prize

Madeleine Thien (Quebec) — Novelist and short story author. Winner of the Giller Prize and Governor General’s Award for the novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing

Main jury identified for 2024 Bridge Prize national short story competition

trevor.kenney — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 16:21:49 +0000

The main jury for Canada’s largest literary prize for post-secondary students has been chosen — and it features influential literary voices from across the country.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s biennial Bridge Prize short story competition, presented by the School of Liberal Education, is now entering its third competitive cycle. Following highly successful competitions in 2020 and 2022 that have established the Bridge Prize as a significant national literary event, the 2024 edition has attracted another esteemed group of jurors.

“It’s exciting to announce another stellar national jury who will adjudicate the 2024 installment of the Bridge Prize,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, dean of the School of Liberal Education. “The main jury includes award-winning authors of international renown and new and emerging literary voices representing different literary genres and regions across Canada. This is truly a national literary endeavour, and we are grateful for the jurors’ commitment to supporting post-secondary students and the next generation of Canadian literary artists.”

The jury consists of Michelle Good (Saskatchewan), Nicholas Herring (Prince Edward Island), Sheena Kamal (Quebec), George Murray (Newfoundland & Labrador), Danny Ramadan (British Columbia) and Madeleine Thien (Quebec).

The Bridge Prize, initiated by ULethbridge alumnus Terry Whitehead (BA ’94), has elicited more than 500 short story entries over the first two competitions. The first prize winner earns $7,500, while three additional finalists garner $1,000 apiece, making it the largest cash prize for any student writing competition in Canada. Munro’s Books, based in Victoria, B.C., is the returning major sponsor, and hands out $200 gift cards to all four winners. The winner also has their short story edited by Shirarose Wilensky, an editor with the House of Anansi Press.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto graduate student Chido Muchemwa won the 2022 Bridge Prize and was recently awarded a scholarship from the prestigious Miles Morland Foundation in the United Kingdom. The grant supports first-time novelists as they embark on writing their first novel. In addition, Muchemwa is presently in discussions with a Canadian publisher to publish a collection of her short stories.

"Winning the Bridge Prize gave me the confidence to pursue opportunities that I had previously felt I wasn’t ready for yet. I am so grateful to the Bridge Prize for taking student writers seriously and I encourage anyone eligible to apply. It really could be you,” says Muchemwa.

Submissions for the 2024 competition open January 23, 2023, and will close January 22, 2024. For more information, visit The Bridge Prize web page.

Following are short biographies of the jurors for the 2024 competition.

Michelle Good

Michelle Good is a Cree writer and member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. After working for Indigenous organizations for 25 years, she obtained a law degree and advocated for residential school survivors. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia while managing her own law firm. Her poems, short stories and essays have been published in magazines and anthologies across Canada, and her poetry was included on two lists of the best Canadian poetry in 2016 and 2017. Five Little Indians, her first novel, won the HarperCollins/UBC Best New Fiction Prize, the Amazon First Novel Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Award, the Evergreen Award, the City of Vancouver Book of the Year Award and Canada Reads 2022. It was also longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a finalist for the Writer’s Trust Award, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and the Jim Deva Prize for Writing that Provokes.

Nicholas Herring

Nicholas Herring is a carpenter and writer whose work has appeared in The Puritan and The Fiddlehead. He graduated from St. Jerome’s ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Ontario with an Honours in English Literature and attended the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto where he completed a Master of Arts in Creative Writing. He received the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize in 2022 for his debut novel, Some Hellish. Herring lives in Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island.

Sheena Kamal

Sheena Kamal is the author of four novels. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts (HBA) in Political Science from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto and was awarded a TD Canada Trust scholarship for community leadership and activism around the issue of homelessness. Her debut novel, The Lost Ones (US)/Eyes Like Mine (UK), won the 2018 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, a Strand Magazine Critics Award and Macavity Award for Best First Novel. It has been sold in 15 countries and was a Globe and Mail Bestseller, a Time Magazine Recommended Read, an iBooks Best Book, a Bustle Best Book and a Powell's Pick. Her debut YA novel, Fight Like a Girl, was shortlisted for the White Pine Award. Kamal lives in Montreal.

George Murray

George Murray is the author of 10 books, including seven books of poetry, two best-selling books of aphorisms and a book for children — his latest being Problematica: New and Selected Poems, 1995 – 2020. His work has been widely anthologized and published in magazines, journals and newspapers all over Canada, as well as internationally, including: The Drunken Boat, Granta, Iowa Review, Jacket, London Magazine, Mid-American Review, New American Writing, New Welsh Review, The Puritan, Radical Society and The Walrus. Raised in rural Ontario, Murray currently lives in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Danny Ramadan

Danny Ramadan is a Syrian-Canadian author and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, longlisted for Canada Reads and named a Best Book of the Year by the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. Danny’s children’s book, Salma the Syrian Chef, won the Nautilus Book Award, The Middle East Book Award and was named a Best Book by both Kirkus and School Library Journal. His latest novel, The Foghorn Echoes, was released in 2022. His upcoming memoir, Crooked Teeth, will be released by Penguin Random House in 2024. Danny has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. In 2020, he was a finalist for the inaugural Bridge Prize award for his short story On the Miraculous Return of Khalid from the Dead. Ramadan lives in Vancouver.

Madeleine Thien

Madeliene Thien was born in Vancouver. She is the author of four books of fiction, including Dogs at the Perimeter and Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which received the 2016 Giller Prize and The Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction. Her books have been shortlisted for The Booker Prize, The Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The Folio Prize, longlisted for a Carnegie Medal and translated into more than 25 languages. Madeleine’s essays and stories can be found in The New Yorker, Granta, Brick, The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement and The New York Review of Books. She has taught literature and fiction in Canada, China, Germany, Nigeria, the United States, Zimbabwe, Singapore and Japan and currently teaches writing and literature at the City ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of New York.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto student captures ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Bridge Prize short story contest

trevor.kenney — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 22:11:28 +0000

Seeking to rediscover her voice, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto student Chido Muchemwa entered The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Bridge Prize short story contest on a whim and produced the grand prize-winning submission. Her story, If It Wasn’t for the Nights, was deemed the best of 187 entries from throughout the country and earned her the $7,500 first-place award, the largest cash prize for student writing in Canada.

Bridge Prize winner Chido Muchemwa

“When I submitted to the Bridge Prize, I never thought I would win. I did it impulsively because I felt I needed to do something to convince myself that I was indeed still a writer,” says Muchemwa, a Zimbabwean writer currently living in Canada and PhD candidate in the Faculty of Information at the U of T. “My father died in 2020, and I felt like words abandoned me.”

Muchemwa was joined by three other finalists as award winners for the biennial event. The Bridge Prize was established in 2019 by the ULethbridge School of Liberal Education and Vancouver-based alumnus and donor Terry Whitehead (BA ’94). It is Canada’s only national short story competition open exclusively to post-secondary graduate and undergraduate students studying at Canadian universities and colleges.

Each of the other three finalists, Lily Scriven (York ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ), Eliza Ives (��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of New Brunswick), Fernando Tarini (��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary), earned $1,000 prizes, while each winning author also earned $200 gift cards from major sponsor Munro’s Books. Waubgeshig Rice, who is also a juror for the 2022 Giller Prize, served on the Bridge Prize jury and is enthused about the quality of writing from the post-secondary generation.

“Serving on the Bridge Prize jury has been a major career highlight,” says Rice. “The stories submitted provided me a thorough glimpse of the exceptional talent among emerging writers in Canada today. I was captivated by the craft and content in each of the submissions, and I look forward to reading more from these gifted authors in the future!”

Muchemwa’s work was praised by juror Lisa Moore.

“The language is transparent, unadorned, and concise — an elegant piece of writing. The story is jampacked with nuanced moments, calibrations of tension and a kind of uneasy epiphany — not sentimental but ephemeral and beautifully satisfying,” she says.

For Muchemwa, whose work has appeared in Lolwe, Augur, Catapult, Baltimore Review and Bacopa Literary Review, the act of putting her ideas into a story again was cathartic.

“If It Wasn’t for the Nights is the only new story that I have been able to write since 2020,” she says. “The Bridge Prize is a much-needed confidence boost, and a reminder that the process doesn’t have to be perfect to produce good, meaningful stories.”

Muchemwa has an MFA in Creative Writing from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Wyoming in 2014 and has been shortlisted twice for the Short Story Day Africa Prize and placed second in the Humber Literary Review’s 2020 Emerging Writers Fiction Contest and in the 2022 Prism International Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction.

Eliza Ives wrote Office Story, which was noted by juror Joan Thomas as being, “Sly and witty, it captures the soul-destroying daily realities of life in a contemporary bureaucracy. The dialogue is terrific. So expertly done — Office Story reads like a published work.”

Juror Sam Wiebe was impressed by Lily Scriven’s Women in the Morning Light.

“Thoughtful and elegantly written, clever but not flippant, with resonant themes of art, history, and female perspective,” says Wiebe. “An enviably smooth prose style.”

Fernando Tarini’s Durian Days was praised for its “Clever angle, refreshing take on grief and youth,” by juror Francesca Ekwuyasi.

About the Bridge Prize

• Established in 2019 and first awarded in 2020, a new competition will run every second year.

• Total prize money for the Bridge Prize is $10,500, with $7,500 to the winner and $1,000 each to three finalists.

• 187 stories from students attending 48 post-secondary institutions in nine provinces across Canada were entered for 2022.

• An initial group of 30 local jurors, comprised of campus and community-based ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and cultural leaders, read all 187 stories. Each story was read by a minimum of three jurors, after which the field was narrowed to the top 70. Every local juror then read each of the 70 stories before 10 were sent on to the main jury.

• The six-person main jury was comprised of authors, artists and educators Francesca Ekwuyasi, Lisa Moore, Waubgeshig Rice, Bill Richardson, Joan Thomas and Sam Wiebe.

• For more, visit the Bridge Prize web page.

Bridge Prize contest draws entries from across Canada

caroline.zentner — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 20:27:16 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Bridge Prize, Canada’s largest literary prize for post-secondary students, has once again received an overwhelming number of entries.

When the deadline for entries closed at midnight on Jan. 24, 186 manuscripts from 49 post-secondary institutions across nine provinces had been received.

Dr. Shelly Wismath

“The Bridge Prize is meant to inspire and motivate the next generation of literary artists in Canada,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, dean of the U of L’s School of Liberal Education. “To have received nearly 200 submissions indicates we have plenty of aspiring literary artists in our midst. We look forward to announcing our winners in early fall.”

The Bridge Prize is a biennial short-story, fiction writing competition launched in March 2019 by the School of Liberal Education. The contest is open to any student registered in a Canadian post-secondary institution at the time of the submission deadline. The prize is designed to celebrate excellence in the literary arts, nurture aspiring writers and support the transition from student writing to professional literary art.

“We are very pleased with the number of submissions we have received for this second iteration of the Bridge Prize,” says U of L alumnus Terry Whitehead (BA ’94), founder and lead donor of the competition. “It’s heartening to know we have such an enthusiastic group of budding creative writers in our post-secondary institutions.”

One thing is sure, the panel of judges have quite a task ahead. The 2022 Bridge Prize Main Jury includes some of Canada’s most beloved authors and emerging writers — Joan Thomas, Bill Richardson, Lisa Moore, Waubgeshig Rice, Francesca Ekwuyasi and Sam Wiebe.

Each submission will first be evaluated by a local jury that will select the top 10 entries to be forwarded to the main jury by May 30. The main jury will then select a winner and three finalists in August, with the winners to be announced in September.

Sponsors of the Bridge Prize include The Walrus and Munro’s Books in Victoria, B.C. The winner receives $7,500 and three finalists will be awarded $1,000. All four winners will also receive a $200 gift card courtesy of Munro’s Books.

Submissions now being accepted for 2022 Bridge Prize literary competition

trevor.kenney — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 19:14:55 +0000

Canada’s richest post-secondary writing prize is accepting submissions for its 2022 competition. The Bridge Prize short story writing competition is now open to all undergraduate and graduate students attending Canadian post-secondary schools — with more than $10,000 in prizes available to the winner and three finalists.

“Our inaugural competition was so overwhelmingly positive, we’re really excited to engage another group of writers in the process,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, dean of the School of Liberal Education, which launched the competition with support of Vancouver-based U of L alumnus Terry Whitehead (BA ’94) as lead donor.

The 2020 Bridge Prize debuted by attracting 340 manuscripts, representing 61 post-secondary institutions from nine provinces – a truly national competition.

“It definitely exceeded our expectations and also validated what we suspected all along, that there are exceptional writers throughout our country who are looking for avenues to express themselves and showcase their creativity,” adds Wismath. “With the prestigious jury we have compiled for the 2022 competition, the reputation of the Bridge Prize has grown tremendously and we expect to see a cross-country representation of aspiring writers take part once again.”

The pan-Canadian jury for the 2022 competition consists of Joan Thomas, Bill Richardson, Lisa Moore, Waubgeshig Rice, Frencesca Ekwuyasi and Sam Wiebe. The top prize for the winning entry is $7,500 with three additional finalists each receiving $1,000. Each winning author will also receive a $200 gift card courtesy of Munro’s Books. The Walrus is another major sponsor.

Submissions are now open and will be accepted until January 22, 2022. Each submission carries a $20 fee. Full competition guidelines are available on the Bridge Prize web page.

Bridge Prize Main Jury finalized for 2022 national literary competition

trevor.kenney — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 16:59:08 +0000

The Bridge Prize, Canada’s largest literary prize for post-secondary students, has finalized its jury for the 2022 competition — and it features some of the country’s most accomplished authors.

“We are delighted to announce that our 2022 Bridge Prize Main Jury includes some of Canada’s most beloved authors and emerging writers,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, dean of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s School of Liberal Education. “The jury includes award-winning authors who have won significant literary prizes across multiple genres of fiction.”

The jury consists of Joan Thomas, Bill Richardson, Lisa Moore, Waubgeshig Rice, Frencesca Ekwuyasi and Sam Wiebe.

“We are especially pleased that the 2022 jury is truly pan-Canadian, with authors based in five different provinces from coast to coast,” adds Wismath. “We are grateful for their time, expertise and commitment to supporting the next generation of writers in Canada.”

The Bridge Prize is a biennial short story writing competition established in 2019 by the School of Liberal Education. The competition is open to any student attending a post-secondary institution in Canada. Sara de Waal, a graduate student at University of British Columbia, won the first Bridge Prize, including $7,500 for her story Cecilia and Richard. A total of 340 stories representing 61 post-secondary institutions were entered in the inaugural competition.

“We are excited to announce our two partners, The Walrus and Munro’s Books of Victoria, are returning to sponsor the 2022 Bridge Prize,” says Terry Whitehead (BA ’94), Bridge Prize founder. “We are grateful for their ongoing support and their commitment to inspiring students to pursue their passion for writing.”

Submissions for the 2022 competition open March 30, 2021 and will close January 22, 2022. For more information on the Bridge Prize and to view the inaugural winning entries, visit: go.uleth.ca/thebridgeprize.

Following are short biographies of the jurors for the 2022 competition.

Joan Thomas

Joan Thomas’s 2019 novel, Five Wives, won the Governor General’s Award for fiction. Joan is the author of three previous novels: The Opening Sky, Curiosity, and Reading by Lightning. Her work has won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and the McNally Robinson Prize, and has been nominated for the Giller Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and a previous Governor General’s Award. In 2014, she was the recipient of the Writers’ Trust Engel/Findley Prize for a writer in mid-career. She lives in Winnipeg.

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson lives in Vancouver and in southwest Manitoba in the rural municipality of Louise. He writes for children and adults. I Saw Three Ships: West End Stories, was published by Talonbooks in 2019. Forthcoming from Running the Goat Books and Broadsides is Hare B&B, with illustrations by Bill Pechet. He is a past winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for Bachelor Brothers’ Bed and Breakfast.

Lisa Moore

Lisa Moore was born and raised in St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada and currently teaches creative writing at Memorial ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. She has written three collections of short stories, Degrees of Nakedness and Open, and Something for Everyone, and three novels, Alligator, February and Caught, and a young adult novel called Flannery.

Alligator and Caught, and her short story collection Open were nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her novel February was long listed for the Man Booker Prize and won CBC Canada Reads in 2013.

Waubgeshig Rice

Waubgeshig Rice is an author and journalist from Wasauksing First Nation on Georgian Bay. He has written three fiction titles, and his short stories and essays have been published in numerous anthologies. His most recent novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, was published in 2018 and became a national bestseller. He graduated from Ryerson ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s journalism program in 2002 and spent the bulk of his journalism career at CBC. He lives in Sudbury, Ontario with his wife and two sons.

Francesca Ekwuyasi

Francesca Ekwuyasi is a writer and multidisciplinary artist from Lagos, Nigeria. Her work explores themes of faith, family, queerness, consumption, loneliness, and belonging. Francesca's writing has been published in THIS Magazine, Winter Tangerine Review, Brittle Paper, Transition Magazine, the Malahat Review, Visual Art News, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and GUTS Magazine. Her story Ọrun is Heaven was longlisted for the 2019 Journey Prize and her debut novel, Butter Honey Pig Bread for the 2020 Scotia Bank Giller Prize. She currently lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Sam Wiebe

Sam Wiebe is the award-winning author of the Wakeland novels, one of the most authentic and acclaimed detective series in Canada, including Invisible Dead (“the definitive Vancouver crime novel”) and Cut You Down (“successfully brings Raymond Chandler into the 21st century”). Wiebe’s other books include Never Going Back, Last of the Independents, and the Vancouver Noir anthology, which he edited. Wiebe’s work has won the Crime Writers of Canada award and the Kobo Emerging Writers prize, and been shortlisted for the Edgar, Hammett, Shamus, and City of Vancouver book prizes. His original film/tv projects have been optioned, and his short stories have appeared in ThugLit, Spinetingler, and subTerrain, as well as anthologies by Houghton-Mifflin and Image Comics.

UBC graduate student wins inaugural Bridge Prize national short story writing competition

trevor.kenney — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 15:22:41 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia (UBC) graduate student Sara de Waal is the inaugural winner of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Bridge Prize national short story writing competition, earning a $7,500 first-place award from a pool of 340 story submissions.

Winning author Sara de Waal

Her touching and poignant tale, Cecilia and Richard, won the favour of the jury panel and elicited praise for its construction and detail.

“The most carefully constructed story we received, beautiful deployment of metaphor, especially when we’re told that the father has no energy for metaphor. This is a language story, filled with effective detail, colours painting words and consequences," adds juror Aritha Van Herk, an Alberta-based author.

The Bridge Prize was established in 2019 by the U of L’s School of Liberal Education and Vancouver-based alumnus and donor Terry Whitehead (BA ’94). It is Canada’s only national short story competition open exclusively to post-secondary graduate and undergraduate students studying at Canadian universities and colleges. It’s $10,500 in prize money make it the richest student writing competition in Canada and among the largest for any short story competition in the country.

In addition to de Waal’s work, three finalists received $1,000 for their entries. Ahmad Danny Ramadan, also of UBC, was recognized for The Miraculous Return of Khaled from the Dead; Evan Neilsen, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary, for Harriet; and James Cawkwell, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, for his work Tadpole.

“Congratulations to Sara and the finalists for their creative and memorable stories,” says Whitehead. “A special thank you to our local jury and main jury for their energy, time and enthusiasm to support the next generation of Canadian literary talent. The support of The Walrus and Munro’s Books was so instrumental in generating awareness and excitement of the Bridge Prize. We look forward to a long partnership.”

De Waal is a writer and teacher from Abbotsford, B.C who will graduate from UBC’s Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing in November. Her first picture book, 48 Grasshopper Estates, is projected for release through Annick Press in April 2021. When she’s not busy writing, de Waal works as a primary music and art teacher where her students constantly inspire her to keep making art.

“When I began my Master of Fine Arts degree at UBC, I resigned from teaching music and returned to my high school job on a dairy farm, hoping all those early hours in the milking parlour would provide more time for daydreaming up stories — and they did,” she says. “The job also allowed me, on occasion, to help with the birthing of calves. Every time a calf took its first steps, I thought, I’ve never seen anything as beautiful or as unsteady. When I entered the Bridge Prize, I had just begun my last term as a creative writing student, and I felt similarly about most of my work: half in love with it, half afraid it would fall flat on its face. The contest was very much a first-steps experience for me, and I was both surprised and delighted to see Cecilia and Richard stand on its own outside the safety of my imagination. Though I’ve now resumed the tricky balance of writing while teaching, the Bridge Prize has given me the motivation and confidence to continue nudging my stories out into the world.”

Dr. Shelly Wismath, dean of the School of Liberal Education, says the Bridge Prize competition exceeded expectations.

“We are so pleased to congratulate Sara de Waal as the inaugural winner of the Bridge Prize. Her story stood out among stiff competition from across the country, as deeply moving and beautifully written,” says Wismath. “We are also grateful for the tremendous support the Bridge Prize has received from our sponsor and from authors and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ across Canada, in support of a new literary competition.”

Submissions for the 2022 Bridge Prize competition will be accepted beginning January 21, 2021. The main jury for the 2022 competition will be announced in November.

About the Bridge Prize

• Established in 2019 and first awarded in 2020, a new competition will run every second year.

• Total prize money for the Bridge Prize is $10,500, with $7,500 to the winner and $1,000 each to three finalists.

• 340 stories from students attending 61 post-secondary institutions in nine provinces across Canada were entered for 2020.

• An initial group of 18 local jurors, comprised of campus and community-based ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and cultural leaders, read all 340 stories. Each story was read by a minimum of three jurors, after which the field was narrowed to the top 70. Every local juror then read each of the 70 stories before 10 were sent on to the main jury.

• The five-person main jury was comprised of authors Thomas King (head juror), Charles Demers and Aritha Van Herk; Shelley Ambrose, former executive director of The Walrus magazine; and Leslie Hurtig, artistic director of the Vancouver Writers Fest.

Interest in The Bridge Prize explodes with 340 entries

trevor.kenney — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 15:41:59 +0000

Launched as one of the richest prizes for student short story fiction writing in Canada, participation in the School of Liberal Education’s inaugural Bridge Prize contest has far exceeded all expectations.

The Bridge Prize was launched in March 2019 as a student short story fiction writing competition to be awarded every second year. Shelly Wismath is the dean of the School of Liberal Education.

When the submission deadline closed at midnight on January 20, 2020, a total of 340 manuscripts were received, representing 61 post-secondary institutions from nine provinces – a truly national competition.

“We are ecstatic with the enthusiastic response from students across the country. The total number of submissions is well beyond our expectations for the first year of the Bridge Prize,” says Vancouver-based U of L alumnus Terry Whitehead (BA ’94), founder and lead donor of the competition. “At Christmas, we were at 59 submissions and quietly optimistic about reaching 100 by the deadline. To get over 300 – it is almost overwhelming.”

The Bridge Prize was launched in March 2019 as a student short story fiction writing competition to be awarded every second year. Open to any student registered in a Canadian post-secondary institution at the time of the submission deadline, its focus is to celebrate excellence in the literary arts, to nurture aspiring student writers and to support the transition between student writing and professional literary art.

“It was exciting to watch the submissions pour in as we approached the deadline, and to see the diversity of colleges and universities represented across the country,” says Dr. Shelly Wismath, dean of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s School of Liberal Education. “Having the Bridge Prize housed in the School of Liberal Education speaks to the U of L’s commitment to a broad integrated education based on engagement in the communities around us, from local to national to global. Our local jury is eager to start reading, to winnow down to a long list to send on to the main jury, and we look forward to the announcement in September 2020 of our winners.”

Each story now enters an evaluation process led by a local jury comprised of campus and community-based ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and cultural leaders who will read the stories and select a top 10 to be forwarded to the main jury by May 30. Thomas King, author and former U of L faculty member, heads the main jury. Other jurors include author and comedian, Charlie Demers, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary faculty member, Aritha van Herk, The Walrus publisher, Shelley Ambrose, and Leslie Hurtig, artistic director of Vancouver Writers Fest. They will assess the stories and arrive at a winner and three additional finalists in August. The winners will be announced in September.

The Walrus and Munro’s Books in Victoria, BC also sponsor The Bridge Prize. The winner of the competition will receive $7,500, while the three finalists will all earn $1,000. All four winners also receive a $200 gift card courtesy of Munro’s Books.

Whitehead notes that Canadian writers are renowned globally for the short fiction genre and in helping to create The Bridge Prize, he sought to create just that, a bridge for writers to explore and build towards writing full novels.

“The number of submissions confirms that the short story genre is very much alive and thriving on Canadian campuses. This bodes extremely well for the future of Canadian literature,” he says.

For more on The Bridge Prize, visit the website at go.uleth.ca/thebridgeprize.

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