The Toronto Star free Short Story Contest ~ $8,000 in prizes

 

Winners of the 2011 Toronto Star short story contest:
Richelle Kosar (one of Brian Henry's students),
Erik Martinez and Samantha Craggs

  The Toronto Star’s 2012 Short Story Contest – one of the largest in North America – is now open for entries.

The contest, which is now in its 34th year and is open to all Ontario residents aged 16 and older, attracted nearly 2,100 entries last year.

The winner of the contest will receive a grand prize of $5,000 plus the tuition fee for the 30-week creative writing correspondence program at the Humber School for Writers (normally overpriced at $3,000). In addition, the second-place winner will receive a prize of $2,000 and the third-place winner will receive $1,000.

For the third consecutive year, the Toronto Public Library is a partner with the Star in presenting the contest. “The library is very pleased to join the Star in encouraging writers of this wonderful literary form. We know there are thousands of stories waiting to be told, and we wish all this year’s entrants the best of luck,” said Jane Pyper, city librarian of the Toronto Public Library.

The Humber School for Writers is also a partner in the contest.

The judges for the 2012 contest are Jessica Westhead, author of the short story collection And Also Sharks; Jane Pyper, city librarian of the Toronto Public Library; Richard Ouzounian, theatre critic for the Toronto Star and author of six books; and Dianne Rinehart, the Star’s books editor.

The winners will be announced in April during the library’s Keep Toronto Reading Festival. Their stories will be published in the Toronto Star.

Deadline for submitting entries is Feb. 26, 2012.
Stories must be written in English and must not exceed 2,500 words.
No entry fee. For full contest rules, see here.

For information about all the annual writing contests in Canada, order the Canadian Writers' Contest Calendar. Just $23.50 including shipping. For details email brianhenry@sympatico.ca. More about the Contest Calendar here.

See Brian Henry's schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.