Creative Writing Contest
Thank you to all who participated in this year’s Creative Writing Contest. Your stories were compelling and inspiring. Congratulations to the deserving winners!
Read the top 3 winning entries here:
First Prize: ‘Reflecing Glass’ by Mike Reilly
Second Prize: ‘I Am’ by Henrick Sales
Third Prize: ‘A Dear John Letter to My Drug Addiction’, by Kerri Anne
Creative Writing Contest 2011 Closing Report
Another year of Ve’ahavta’s Creative Writing Contest has come to an end. I would like to thank each and every person who was part of this very special landmark 10 years of giving people a voice; a voice that has often been silenced.
As a former Creative Writing Contest Winner is was my joy and pleasure to be the Coordinator. I can remember getting the call about winning the contest just over 5 years ago and how I felt. It was just as joyous to be the one making the call to the winner this year.
This year we received just over 200 submissions, which is the most that we have ever received in one year. The calibre of the entries was exceptional and I can certainly tell you that it was a tight race for our Grand Prize Winners.
This year’s Judging Process was a two step process, for the first time in the history of the Contest the highest scoring pieces went to 3 Judges for 3 different perspectives after the First Round of Judging. Our final round Judges were Ron MacLean from Hockey Night in Canada, Dr. Gabor Mate – Physician and Best Selling Author of “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts” and Joe Fiorito – Columnist for the Toronto Star who writes about the minute underbelly of Toronto highlighting issues of poverty, inequality and substandard living. I would also like to send a very special thank you to all our first round judges who gave of their time to hear the passionate stories of those struggling in our society.
On June 12, we held our Coffee House Ceremony at Congregation Habonim. We had a small intimate crowd of about 60 who joined us for the event. The event was filled with love and togetherness as our writers shared their experiences and received their prizes.
I am pleased to announce that this year’s Grand Prize Winner of $2000 Cash is Matt Robbins. Matt wrote a piece titled Reflecting Glass about the experiences he had when he became mentally ill and hospitalized. Matt shared a small portion of his story of living in an institution. Our grand prize is sponsored by Kernels Popcorn. We would like to thank Scott Staiman from Kernels for his ongoing support and commitment to this contest. Scott Staiman has been providing the Grand Prize for Creative Writing Contest since it’s inception, we would like to thank Scott for his ongoing support, dedication and belief in this contest, we share this very special landmark with Scott and all those at Kernels. Mazel Tov!
Our Second Prize Winner of the Technology Bundle (Laptop, Digital Camera and 12 Months of Mobile Internet Service) was awarded to Henrick Sales. Henrick wrote a poem titled “I am”. During the Coffee House he read his poem with such passion and expression that many sat back in awe, just mesmerized with his every word. Our Second Prize is sponsored by the Greisman Family, and we would like to thank them for connecting someone to the world through this amazing gift. The Greisman Family have sponsored the Technology Bundle for the past 2 years.
This year’s Third Prize Winner of $1000 Cash was Kerri Anne Moore for her piece titled “a Dear John Letter to my Addiction”. Kerri Anne was not able to join us as she lives in Vancouver. When I spoke to Kerri Anne on the phone when she won the prize she told me that she just celebrated a year clean and sober. Congratulations to Kerri Anne. The University of British Columbia is offering Kerri Anne a free writing course at UBC this summer. The Cash prize was sponsored by the Arbess Family who has also been sponsoring the contest for the past 2 years.
At this time we would like to thank all our sponsors for providing donations for cash prizes and the Coffee House Ceremony. These sponsors include Whitegold Financial Services, Camp Manitou, Sarah Heller, Mayer Rosensweig, and the Canadian Jewish News. Your support to the contest was much appreciated.
Other prizes included the Judges Picks Awards. The winners are as follows in their respective categories:
- Courage – for the personal narrative “My Story” by Samantha St. Louis
- Hope – for the short story “The Power of Love” by Jennifer Turner
- Inspiration – for the poem “As the Water Rises” by Justin Burgraeeve
- Survival – for the memoire “Shinga’s Story” by Jason Boucher
We also gave three Honorary Mentions as follows:
1)”Avenue of Lost Souls” by Kara Penteluke
2)”A Chance at Freedom” by Jessica Haring
3) “I Made Kronkite at Six” by Jay Lawrence St. Germain
For everyone involved from the workshop volunteers to the Judges, from our sponsors to the office staff at Ve’ahavta, from the workers who spread the word about the contest to the people who posted the flyer, thank you one and all.
Most of all I would like to that those who took the words from their heart and wrote it on a piece of paper and sent it in. Year after year you are the ones that make the contest. Thank you for sharing your voice with us. We will continue to fight for your voice to be heard through our commitment of repairing the world.
Please see top 3 winning submissions attached.
Final Words from the Coordinator:
Finally I would like to express how much of an honor and privilege it was for me to have this full circle position of the Creative Writing Contest for the landmark 10 year anniversary. This project has now part of my full time position at Ve’ahavta, and I look forward to working hard to build this to a national contest. Thank you for allowing me to be part of this.
For all the writers…..Thank you for sharing your soul with me, I hope that I was able to be a small ray of hope for some of you that needed it. Change is possible, it might not be easy, but it can be done. I am proof of what picking up a pen and writing something for a contest can do. I believe in you and all you can be. Keep writing!
-Theresa Schrader
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Creative Writing Contest for the Homeless and MarginalizedAnniversary Edition – 10 Years
. Ve’ahavta is proud to host its annual Creative Writing Contest for Homeless and Marginalized. The idea is to empower the homeless and marginalized through their writing to recognize that they may have the skills to pursue education or writing and perhaps find their way off the street.When Ve’ahavta first decided to expand the reach of its 9th Annual Creative Writing Contest to the city of Vancouver, it was agreed that such an evolution was in line with the growth that Ve’ahavta has experienced over the past several years. It was quite a success. Last year we received tons of entries from both Toronto and Vancouver.This year in a special 10 year Anniversary of the Contest we are opening the contest not only to Toronto and Vancouver but expanding to Halifax , Nova Scotia. We are excited about welcoming Halifax on board this year and thank the members of the Halifax community who have so graciously worked with us to make this happen. A special thanks to Claudia Jahn at Community Action on Homelessness in Halifax for her enthusiastic response and efforts from afar.
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This year’s prizes include:
- Grand Prize -$2000 (from Kernels Popcorn)
- Second Prize – The Technology Bundle (Laptop, Digital Camera and 12 months of Internet Service)
- Third Prize – $1000
This year there will be additional Judges Picks in Inspiration, Hope, Survival, Inspiration and Courage, as well as Opportunity Awards in each city of a writing course and $100 cash.
First Round Judges
Steve Paikin – TVO’s The Agenda
Ken Martin – Frontier College
Jennefer Laidley – Income Security Income Center
Jacquie Maund – Formerly Campaign 2000, just appointed to the Government Social Assistance Review
Brian Coughlin – Corktown Productions
Eli Rubenstein – March of the Living
Shlomit Kriger – writer, and former Contest Coordinator
Bob Price – Evangel Hall Mission
Leigh Bryany – Camp Manitou Staff
Dani Klein – Camp Manitou Staff
Jasmin Zeger – Mindfulness Without Borders
Laurie Monsebraaten – Toronto Star Social Justice Reporter
Karen Goldenberg – JVS Toronto
TNT – The New Trend Staff
Judith Shore – wife of David Shore (writer of hit TV Show House)
The Staff of Ve’ahavta
Final Judges
Ron MacLean – Hockey Night in Canada
Dr. Gabor Mate – physician and best seller author of “In the Realm of Hungry Ghost” Close Encounters with Addiction
Joe Fiorito – Columnist at the Toronto Star
For more information on the 10th Annual Ve’ahavta Creative Writing Contest please contact Creative Writing Contest Coordinator Theresa Schrader at theresa.schrader@veahavta.org or call 416-964-7698 x 214.
Theresa was the Grand Prize Winner of the contest in 2005, and we are very excited to have her Coordinate this Special 10th Anniversary Edition of the Creative Writing Contest.
Read the winning entries from CWC 2010: www.veahavta.org/index.php/category/creative-writing-contest/
Creative Writing Contest Submission Form
Creative Writing Contest Flyer
Toronto Pamphlet
Download a volunteer form for the 2011 CWC.
