Vancouver Island Mayworks will be holding its annual Writing on Work contest and if you work and you write, you should enter. Each year the WoW contest has grown in both quantity and quality and we expect even bigger and better things this year.
The subject matter is work, any kind of work. We are looking for pieces told from the point of view of a worker, or a story about a group of workers but we are open to any approach. It could be about hard physical work, or it could be about cyber-work, or about a workplace in the 1880s, or about the beauty and pain of work, as long as –
• It is a maximum of 2,500 words
• It can be fiction, both prose or poetry, or nonfiction
• It has not been previously published
Process
Our panel of judges will read all the entries and shortlist those down to six stories or poems. The six writers or poets will then have an opportunity to read their work at a public reading on June 17 at Zocalo Café in Courtenay. All shortlisted works will be published in a chapbook available at the June 17 reading.
There will be two prizes of $300 each. One, the juried prize, will be awarded by the panel of judges. The other, the People’s Choice, will be voted on by the audience attending the June 17 reading. You are eligible to win both prizes.
The deadline for submission of entries is May 17. Please mail them to 480 2nd St., Courtenay, B.C. V9N 1C1 or email to bcharlton@shaw.ca. The shortlist will be announced on June 1. You do not have to be present at the reading to submit your work. The work will remain your property except for its inclusion in the chapbook. For any other questions please contact Mayworks at 250-334-3624.