The 2021-2022 Writing Competition Winners

April 25, 2022--The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB) has announced the winners of its annual New Brunswick Writing Competition. The winners will be celebrated at a literary soiree on Friday evening, June 3, at St. Thomas University, as part of WFNB’s annual WordSpring writing festival, this year to be held in Fredericton.

The program celebrates eight categories of unpublished writing, including the inaugural Jane LeBlanc Screenwriting Award, for unpublished short film script. Seven more categories of novel, short story, single poem, poetry manuscript, books for and by young people, and narrative non-fiction all display a diverse spectrum of writing talent in the province.

The finalists are as follows:

The David Adams Richards Prize for Fiction
Judge: Thomas Moore.

First Place – Heather Gunn (Shediac, NB), Her Wilco Years

Second Place – Vanessa Hawkins (St. George, NB) Dante's Inferno: Canto X

Third Place – Richard Toth (Riverview, NB),

Easy Up and Down

Douglas Kyle Memorial Prize

Judge: Hugh MacDonald

First Place— Andrew Campbell (Riverview, NB),

Nail House: 10048  

Second Place—Eva Allen (Moncton, NB),The Gift  

Third Place—Pat Post (Fredericton, NB) , The Defaulters 

Honourable Mentions:

Neil Sampson (Durham Bridge, NB), House on Water Street 

Sandra Bunting (Burnt Church, NB), Dali's Elephant

Angela Joynes (Columbia, Tennessee), Bandana Girls 

The Alfred G. Bailey Prize for Poetry Manuscript

Judge: Trevor Corkum

First Prize:

Amy Murphy (Fredericton, NB ) Cliffs and Piles

Second Prize: Phillip Crymble (Fredericton, NB), The Rowan Berries of Winter

Third Prize: Jane Tims (Rusagonis, NB), persist, perish, escape

Honourable Mention:

Bryn Harris (Grand Manan, NB), The Anthem of the White-Throated Sparrow

The Dawn Watson Memorial Prize for Single Poem

Judge: Leigh Faulkner

First Place: Edyn Clowater (Fredericton, NB), The Story Never Told

Second Place: Shaun Cunningham (Sackville, NB) Grid Road, Saskatchewan

Third Place:

Shari Andrews (New Maryland, NB), Her Open Mouth

Honourable Mention: Shari Andrews (New Maryland, NB) Snow on Evergreen

Honourable Mention: Frederick Mundle (Moncton, NB)

One Sighting

The Accreon Books for Young People Prize

Judge: Orysia Dawydiak

First place-- Betty Sleep (Coles Island, NB), The Caterpillar That Roared

Second place-- Brandi Estey-Burtt (Zealand, NB), The Art of Repetition

Third place--Odette Barr (Petit-Cap, NB), Becoming Canadian

Honourable Mention--Nola Hicks (Midgic, NB), Reach for the Rain

The Sheree Fitch Prize for Teen Writers

Judge: Lana Button

First Place—Meaghan Whittier (Saint John, NB), Through a Child’s Eyes

Second Place—Tori Garnett (Saint John, NB), Teenage Years

Third Place—Caleb Bulmer (Moncton), The Main Act

Honourable Mention— Simon Hatfield (Saint John, NB), A Desperately Needed Change

The Narrative Non-Fiction Prize

Judge: Sandra Phinney

First place: Trenton Pomeroy (Rothesay, NB), The Dances We Do With Our Children

Second place: Deborah Carr (Hillsborough, NB), Ashes to Ashes

Third place: Duncan Matheson (Fredericton, NB), On The Overnight Train from London

The Jane LeBlanc Screenwriting Award

Judge: Tracey Lavigne

First Place: Sue Rose (Sackville, NB), The Getaway Tree

Second Place—Gordon Mihan (Fredericton, NB) Happy Campers

Honourable Mention— Jeremy Bouchard (Moncton, NB), Two Angels

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