Celebrating the
SHORT WORKS PRIZE
CONGRATULATIONS
to all Award Recipients and Honourable Mentions!
PUBLISHED
The Alvin A. Lee Award for Creative Non-Fiction:
Laura Sergeant: The Familiar (A Cure for Bewilderment)
“I wonder who I’ve been. Was I too casual with it all? Did I love fiercely enough? are three of many lines in ‘The Familiar’ that stopped me in my tracks. A piece written with economy and precision crafted to pull emotion out of the deepest places. Unique memories told so that anyone can relate. This story drew me in and still hasn’t let me out..” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Jen Jones: Grit
“Brilliant description. So much said in so few words. ‘Grit’ took me back to childhood, testing everything including my parents with all my senses. Studying in detail what would, years later, become distant in my mind while remaining below my feet.” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
John Mokrycke: Sweet Anticipation
“A nicely wrapped story of a life in Hamilton told by an architect and dreamer. This person made a difference with passion and perseverance. And the writer is not yet finished envisioning a better Hamilton.” – Juror comment
– JUROR: Jeff Griffiths
The Judy Marsales Real Estate Ltd. Award for Poetry:
Chelsea Rainford: Turning Day Poem
“The poem is well-crafted, carrying on its mature cadence like a stream that quietly takes on a subtle form along the course of its rhythmic path. Images of nature are hints, breadcrumbs to lead us so close to it and to the inevitable, illuming and autumnal end. Sets a pensive mood.” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Laura Sergeant: in these times
“The poet’s voice rings true, awakened to the current challenges of our days. From the montage of overwhelming images, a sense of gratitude comes through, unravelling the small personal things that matter just as much to inspire us to go on, to survive the chaos that surrounds us. Intensity intersperses with calm and pleasure. Dramatic.” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
George Down: The Wind Too Often
“The poet protests that the voice he wants to hear is shushed by the cacophony of the multitude and vanity of the day. Maybe to discover words of truth and wisdom we need to ‘suss’ out the codes of poetry.” – Juror comment
– JUROR: Jennifer Tan
The Hamilton Public Library
Freda Waldon Award for Fiction:
Lynne Sargent: The Forest is a Dancer
“Ingenious imagery of the forest and the heartbreak of climate change, expressed in beautiful language of dance and movement.”
– Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Selena Middleton (writing as Eileen Gunnell Lee): You Cannot Return to the Burning Glade
“A heart-breaking tale of grief that skillfully uses the lexicon of nature to express uncertainty.” – Juror comment
JUROR: Margaret Nowaczyk
UNPUBLISHED:
OFF-THE-RADAR
The Redeemer University Award for Fiction:
Elizabeth Obermeyer: Dog Walkers and Murderers
“Every thriller needs a good build up and the author definitely succeeds here! All the more impressive for the tightly woven elements that completed all the who what and whys in such a short space. Great tension and a strong story.” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Leah Hart: She Laughed and Calmed the Silence
“Really a lot of great juxtapositions here, both literal and psychological. It’s a kind of meet-cute meets palliative care which is perhaps the largest contrast but the author handles it all. ‘I smelled Lysol and hash browns, and illness.’ Well done!” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Everett Vander Horst: Clear Cut Love
“Touching on a number of life themes Clear Cut Love is a very well organized story.” – Juror comment
JUROR: Denyse Terry
Hamilton Arts & Letters Award for Poetry:
Charles Bryan: Turtle Island
“There’s a big story here, and it’s very well told and edited. The encapsulation works. “I don’t know where they told them to go…I will remember them as soldiers…and kin.” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Luke Tenhage: To Playboi Carti (@Meh)
“To Playboi Carti (@Meh) I love this title! A lot of fun wordplay here that pulls the reader into the sweeping themes. Nicely tied up as well!.” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Alexander Hollenberg: Orchids on March 1, 2021
“Like the 19th century orchid hunters who died in the Columbia River, there is an absence in this poem, something there and not there. Haunting.” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Robert Gombos: This Day is For You
“Sprout and squiggle – what a striking take on seedlings, and more.” – Juror comment
JUROR: Denyse Terry
Hamilton Arts & Letters Award for Creative Non-Fiction:
Paige Maylott: Mayflies
“There are so many fantastic elements to this descriptive short story. A strong voice, a distinctive sentence structure. Lines that fly in a variety of ways. I really enjoyed this!.” – Juror comment
HONOURABLE MENTION:
Xavier Diaz Sanchez: Recollections of a video game collection
“Although I know little about video games this was such a pleasure to read. Truly purposeful prose with omygoodness so many very long sentences that worked so very well. Smart and deft!” – Juror comment
JUROR: Denyse Terry
The Rotary Club of Hamilton AM Young Writers Awards:
Julia Middleton: Broken (Poetry)
Madison Barlow: in the body that used to be yours (Poetry)
Nat Begley: We never die in theory (Poetry)
Ella Hamilton: Things That Weren’t Meant to Be (Poetry)
Vanessa Koens: The Opposites (Fiction)
Sarah Walker: Growing Bodies (Fiction)
Sawyer Berkelaar: Nomad (Fiction)
Grace Constable: Bars (Fiction)
YOUTH HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Abbey Hanson: The Present (Poetry)
Cecilia DiTrapini: Alzheimer’s (Poetry)
Natalia Sawatsky: Windows (Poetry)
Janielle Lim: Jonah and the Big Backpack (Fiction)
Safiya Saskin: New Normal (Fiction)
Samantha Potts: Laurie’s Party (Fiction)
Mikayla Smylie: The World Kinda Ended and Now I Gotta Deal With It (Fiction)
– JUROR: Hamilton Arts & Letters magazine
The Gillett Reminiscence Awards for Memoir Writing:
Jennette Lukasik: FREEDOM
Judy Mendelson: Bake-ah, Bake-ah
– Remembering the Open Window Bakery
Kathy Wolsey: Walking, Dogs, and the neighbourhood
Shannon Chartrand: Walk a Mile in my Shoes
“That these memoir writers have stories to tell is no surprise. They have witnessed events large and small over time. What might be a surprise to some is how well they tell their stories, crafting the words to invite, engage, and transport the reader to that shared space of intimate exchange; a space where we might know one another.” – Juror comment
– JUROR: Paul Lisson
Congratulations to all who have been
Recognized with a Short Works Prize this year!
CLICK HERE TO READ THE WINNING ENTRIES
on the HPL website >>>
AND MANY THANKS
to our SWP Sponsors and Community Partners!
The Short Works Prize for Writing is presented in Partnership by Hamilton Arts & Letters magazine and the Hamilton Public Library. Many thanks to McMaster University, Judy Marsales Real Estate Ltd., James Gillett, Redeemer University, The Rotary Club of Hamilton AM, the City of Hamilton, and The Hamilton Spectator!
Meet our 2021 SWP Jurors!
JEFF GRIFFITHS’ short fiction has been published in various literary journals across Canada. He teaches Creative Writing and Memoir Writing for Mohawk College’s Writing for Publication program. He has also facilitated writing groups for Older Adults for the Hamilton Public Library. He twice won the Hamilton Arts award for short fiction, was short listed for the Fiddlehead 2017 short fiction contest, and placed first for Subterrain’s 2018 short fiction contest.
JENNIFER TAN’S poems will be included in 3 forthcoming anthologies. Most recently her poetry has been published on The Wild Word website. She is a committee member of the LitLive reading series, a member of Tower Poetry Society, and a past SWP Award recipient. She finds that like gardening, painting, and running, writing is another good habit that she has acquired. She also enjoys drinking coffee and reading books written in Spanish.
MARGARET NOWACZYK’S writing has appeared in Geist, The New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, The Antigonish Review, The Dalhousie Review, Grain, and several medical literary magazines in the U.S. and Poland. She won the CNFC/Humber Literary Review contest, the Hamilton Short Works Prize, and, in translation, the Szczeklik Prize in Poland. She is the author of the best-selling Poszukiwanie Przodków (2005, 2015) and of Rodzinne Drzewo Zdrowia (2007), guidebooks on genealogy and medical family tree analysis. Her book Chasing Zebras: A Memoir of Genetics, Mental Health and Writing, has just been released by Wolsak & Wynn Publishers LTD., 2021.
Denyse Terry is a writer and editor living in Hamilton’s Corktown neighbourhood. Past publicist with the Hamilton Fringe Festival. Bill Dunphy writing in The Hamilton Spectator described Denyse’s story BOOM as a “lyric essay, with Terry finding echoes and after-images of explosions throughout her search of Hamilton’s history and her own family’s past.” Denyse is SWP’s most experienced juror and says that the many submissions to the OFF-THE-RADAR categories “are rich, varied, honest and frankly, inspiring.”
PAUL LISSON is a poet, editor, and visual artist. Hamilton Arts Award for Arts Management (2017) and for Visual Art and Writing (1997). Founding Member of the Ontario D/deaf/HoH, Disabled, Mad, Sick and Neuroatypical Poetics Collective, (OD/d/HoH/DMSNPC) 2018. Recipient of the McMaster University Rand Memorial Prize for writing and an International Merit Award for poetry from the Atlanta Review. Facilitator – the AbleHamilton Poetry Festival – among the first dis/Ability-focused poetry festivals in Canada, 2018 and 2019. Member of the League of Canadian Poets. Co-editor of Hamilton Arts & Letters magazine. Paul acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council for both his writing and visual art. (PaulLisson.com).
Covid-19
The Short Works Prize Awards Celebration will not take place at the Hamilton Public Library this year due to Covid-19.
Note to all Award Recipients and Honourable Mentions: Your SWP Award Certificate will be sent to you in the mail by the Hamilton Public Library.
Send HA&L a photo of yourself with your SWP Certificate and we’ll tweet it @ShortWorksPrize ! Email your photo to: HAL@HALmagazine.com
Follow SWP on Twitter: https://twitter.com/shortworksprize
Many thanks to ALL who participated in SWP this year!
The Short Works Prize for Hamilton-area authors was founded by Hamilton Arts & Letters magazine, Bryan Prince Bookseller, and the Hamilton Public Library in 2014.
HA&L magazine 