THE WRITERS’ UNION OF CANADA 2006 SHORT PROSE COMPETITION FOR DEVELOPING WRITERS $2,500 PRIZE WINNER

The Union initiated the Short Prose Competition in 1993 in honour of its twentieth anniversary. The Competition aims to discover, encourage, and promote new writers of short prose. Entry is limited to writers who are not yet published in book format, in order to provide opportunity and exposure to developing writers.

This year, twenty-five Union members donated their time and expertise to read 246 submissions, distilling them to a shortlist of twelve strong entries. The final jury — Caroline Adderson (novelist and short-story writer, Governor General’s Award nominee, and Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize winner), Kathy Page (novelist and short-story writer, nominated for the 2005 Governor General's Award for Alphabet), and Andrew Pyper (best-selling author, and Arthur Ellis Award winner) — chose the following winner from the shortlist of twelve contenders.

WINNER
”Brideship” by Anna Johnston

Anna Johnston's "Brideship" is a vividly imagined story, told in language that is at once intricate and forceful, sophisticated and sensual. The author has done her work — both in the research required in rendering her historical setting, and the imagination with which she has created her gutsy characters. "Brideship" is an
ambitious and accomplished piece of fiction. (Jury)

Anna Johnston is a recent student of the University of Victoria's Writing Program and a member of The Malahat Review's editorial board. She has had fiction and poetry published in the student journals This Side of West and The Claremont Review, and her work was recently selected for a 'best of' publication of The Claremont Review. She currently works in Victoria as a researcher, where she looks forward to encountering much more material for her historical fictions.

FINALISTS
“Beading Miss O’Leary’s Wedding Gown” by Cathy Marie Buchanan
“Elephants in the Sand” by Akoulina K. Connell
“Let the Japanese Do Kamikaze” by John Bandler
”Loose Ends” by Susan Garnham
“Mel” by Sheila McClarty
“Not Quite Nancy Drew” by Pam Bustin
“Rocket-Cars, Hoppers and Heroes” by Ron MacLean
“Still Life With Flowers” by Bev Craddock
”The Gym Garden” by Andrew Binks
“The Passage” by John Blackmore
“The Slava Ladies League Christmas Pyrohy Fiasco” by John Spychka

READERS FOR THE COMPETITION
Ray Argyle, Thelma Barer-Stein, Jean Rae Baxter, Heather Birrell, Kathy Buckworth, Sue Donaldson, Betty Dyck, Sarah Ellis, Celia Godkin, Carolyn Gossage, Nancy Graham, Lynn Harrigan, Marvyne Jenoff, Ann Jamieson, Robert H. Jones, Simon Leigh, Catherine MacLeod, Michael Mirolla, Helen Pierera, Bill Schermbrucker, Debbie Spring, and Halli Villegas.