The Toronto Star and Toronto Public Library have launched our annual short-story contest, the largest in Canada.
Long story short: the Toronto Star and Toronto Public Library are looking for people with a tale to tell.
The annual Toronto Star 2016 Short Story Contest launched Saturday, and is considered the largest such competition in Canada and one of North America’s most lucrative.
The writer of the best original story under 2,500 words will receive $5,000 plus tuition for the 30-week creative-writing correspondence program at the Humber School for Writers, valued at $5,000. First and second runners-up will receive $2,000 and $1,000.
In 2013, computer animator Fred Ni won for his relationship tale “A Profile of an Online Dating Site,” and the following year the contest was won by Brendan Bowles, a University of Toronto sessional lecturer in the engineering communication program.
Last year, hairstylist-by-day Carmelinda Scian won for “A Dragonfly Dashed by My Face,” a semi-autobiographical tale of a young girl growing up in the sometimes-harsh environment of 1960s Portugal.
“We know there are thousands of stories waiting to be told, and we wish all this year’s entrants the best of luck,” said judge Vickery Bowles, city librarian at the Toronto Public Library, which co-presents the contest with the Star and the Humber School for Writers.
Created in 1978 and now in its 38th year, the contest draws approximately 2,000 entries annually from across Ontario.
Submissions are due by February 29.
The short list will be determined by a Humber School for Writers panel, with the winner selected by a group of judges including award-winning author Pasha Malla, Toronto Star books editor Deborah Dundas, the Star’s former theatre critic Richard Ouzounian and Bowles.
To enter, visit thestar.com/shortstory, opens a new window. Winners will be announced in April. Their stories will be published in the Star.
About The Toronto Star:
The Toronto Star, founded in 1892, is read in print and online (thestar.com) by 2.8 million readers every week. The Toronto Star is a division of Star Media Group, which includes Toronto.com, Torstar Syndication Services, Eye Weekly, Sway Magazine and The Canadian Immigrant. Star Media Group also includes the jointly owned Metro free daily newspapers in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Halifax, and the Chinese language newspaper Sing Tao. Star Media Group is a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, which is a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation.
About Toronto Public Library:
Toronto Public Library is one of the world's busiest urban public library systems. Every year, 19 million people visit our branches in neighbourhoods across the city and borrow 32 million items. To learn more about Toronto Public Library, visit torontopubliclibrary.ca or call Answerline at 416-393-7131. To get the most current updates on what's happening at the library, follow us on Twitter @torontolibrary.
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Media Contacts:
Bob Hepburn, Director, Community Relations and Communications, Toronto Star
(416) 869-4947; bhepburn@thestar.ca
Tina Srebotnjak, Manager, Cultural & Special Event Programming, Toronto Public Library
(416) 393-7098 media@torontopubliclibrary.ca