Budding writers—anyone from current high school students to mature storytellers are welcome to submit their creative non-fiction essay to TRU’s contest by Dec. 15, 2017.
This year’s theme is about uncertainty and opportunity. Writers are invited to share about a time they have taken a risk and how it has shaped their perceptions, values and goals.
Creative non-fiction allows for the display of techniques from all writing areas. This genre includes memoirs, biographies, humorous writing, personal essays and travel writing.
Contestants can be any graduate of a Canadian high school who qualifies for admission to a TRU program of their choice starting September 2018 or January 2019. Contestants must submit a self-written creative non-fiction essay of a minimum of 1,500 to a maximum of 2,500 words on the broad topic of “a time they have taken a risk.” Submissions must be completed through the online form at tru.ca/writingcontest before the deadline of 11:55 p.m. Dec. 15, 2017.
Learn more about the contest rules, information on the judging process and the electronic form.
The Human Experience theme kicked off last year’s inaugural contest. Eighteen entries were longlisted from 52 submissions by TRU’s senior editing class under the guidance of a TRU instructor.
The long listed submissions were short-listed by a panel of judges. The panel included instructor Susan Buis, who landed a spot on the 2016 CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize Longlist with her latest work What Lies in Sight of the Teller; instructor Karen Hofmann, who recently took first place in the annual UBC Okanagan writing contest and was longlisted for Best Canadian Poetry in English in 2012; and Pete Smith, a Canadian poet whose poems, reviews and essays have been published widely in the UK, the USA and Canada.
The grand-prize (first year of tuition at TRU) winner was selected from the short-list.
Bronwen Evans, a Kamloops-based home-schooled student, who graduated from high school last spring, started her dual degree in computing science and business this September at TRU.
Last year’s judges are encouraging a full understanding of the genre, proper planning in the process and lots of proof reading.
for more information:
Karen Hofmann
English and Modern Languages
Faculty of Arts
khofmann@tru.ca
250-377-6016
