THUNDER BAY – The Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop is pleased to announce the winners of the 13th Annual Writing Contest. First, second and third place prizes were awarded in three categories, and were given out at NOWW’s Literary Awards Party and Fundraising Event on Saturday, May 21, 2011.
First place for poetry was awarded to Roy Blomstrom, with his group of poems, “Quartet,” with second place going to Rebekah Skochinski and third place to Sue Blott. All three are from Thunder Bay, ON. The poetry prize, sponsored by Lakehead University, was presented to the winners by Dr. Gillian Siddal, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, and the winning entry was read at the event by Daniel Klein.
In the scriptwriting category, both first place and third place were awarded to John Pringle of Atikokan, ON. Second place was awarded to Jack Shedden of Thunder Bay, ON. The winning script, The Goodness Inside of You, was given a staged reading at the event with the help of Daniel Klein, Mike Bryan, Ken Horton and Vic Germaniuk.
First place for fiction was awarded to Deb DeBakker of Thunder Bay, ON for her story, “Blasto,” with second place going to John Pringle of Atikokan, ON and third place to Bonnie Tittaferrante of Thunder Bay, ON. The winning story was read at the event by Holly Haggerty.
The event also saw NOWW present The Sheila Burnford Builders Award to Barb Matousek and Wendy MacDonald of Sioux Lookout, ON, for their work with the Sioux Lookout Literacy Committee. As well, the Elizabeth Kouhi Award was presented to Cathy MacDonald on behalf of her husband, Thunder Bay’s Bill MacDonald, for his contribution to the literature of Northwestern Ontario.