Karen Hofmann, an English instructor at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, has won first prize in the 2007 Okanagan Short Fiction Contest for her short story "The Canoe."

Hofmann's story won in a field of 151 entries from throughout the Southern Interior. Second prize goes to Leah Todd of Kelowna for her story "Cedarwood Apartments," and third prize goes to UBC Okanagan student Hugh Anderson of Kelowna, for his story "Trick or Treat."

The annual contest, sponsored by UBC Okanagan, Okanagan College and the Central Okanagan Foundation, expanded beyond the Okanagan this year to include all areas west of the Alberta border, south of William's Lake, east of Hope and north of the U.S. border.

This year's judge was Caroline Adderson, the Vancouver fiction writer who just weeks ago won the prestigious Marian Engel Award. Her latest short story collection is Pleased to Meet You< /i>.

According to Adderson, Hofmann's story "is a subtle and surprising portrait of a marriage, tinged with dread, yet compassionately rendered in flawless prose."

"Opening up the contest to the entire Southern Interior was a great idea," says Nancy Holmes, Creative Writing professor at UBC Okanagan and one of the organizers. "The competition was fierce and the quality was extremely high."

Stories from the following writers were also shortlisted and sent on for final judging: Jane-Marie James of Kelowna (a finalist last year as well), Chris McMahen of Armstrong (who was a winner last year), Alfrieda Elden of Greenwood, Susan Fenner of Vernon, Denise King of Revelstoke, Bill Macpherson of Nelson, Jon Pelletier of Summerland, and Colleen Tracy of Kelowna.

An awards night and public reading will be held during Kelowna's Life and Arts Festival. Caroline Adderson will read and present the winners with their prizes. The winners will also read excerpts from their winning stories. The event will take place on Saturday, May 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the historic Laurel Building, 1304 Ellis Street in Kelowna.

First-prize winner will receive $500, second $200, and third $100. Winners and finalists will also receive chapbooks of the winning stories. As usual, excerpts from the winning stories will be read on CBC Radio One this summer.

APRIL 26 2007--The Okanagan Short Story Contest Short List is Announced

The 2007 Okanagan Short Story contest short list is announced today. Eleven stories out of 151 from throughout the southern Interior were sent to our judge, Caroline Adderson of Vancouver.

The Finalists: The finalists are Hugh Anderson of Kelowna, Alfrieda Elden of Greenwood, Susan Fenner of Vernon, Karen Hofmann of Kamloops, Jane-Marie James of Kelowna, Denise King of Revelstoke, Bill Macpherson of Nelson, Chris McMahen of Armstrong, Jon Pelletier of Summerland, Leah Todd of Kelowna and Colleen Tracy of Kelowna.

The Judge: Adderson, recently the winner of the Rogers Trust Fiction Prize for her recent collection of short stories, Pleased to Meet You, is the author of two internationally published novels, A History of Forgetting and Sitting Practice, and a widely anthologized previous collection of stories Bad Imaginings. Her work has won her two Ethel Wilson Fiction Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards as well as numerous nominations including The Governor General's Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. In addition to fiction, Adderson has written for film and CBC radio. She lives in Vancouver. See information about her at her publisher's website:

http://www.thomas-allen.com/ThomasAllenPublishers/catalogue/0-88762-220-8.htm

And the Winners Are…. The winners will be officially announced at the award ceremony and presented with their prizes by Caroline Adderson. This will take place on Saturday, May 12th from 6 - 8 PM at the historic Laurel Building, 1304 Ellis Street, Kelowna, BC, V1Y 1Z8. The awards event will take place as a feature of the Life and Arts Festival which is held May 11- 13th in Kelowna's Cultural District. See the website to the festival:

http://www.lifeandarts.com/index.php

APRIL 16 2007

Last year's third prize winner, Gord Gresenthwaite, has just won first prize in the prestigious Prism International short story contest! Congratulations to Gord!

• January 2, 2007

  The Okanagan Short Story Contest is expanding its boundaries! Formerly, only writers from the Okanagan Valley were eligible but now, thanks to our sponsors, we are opening up the contest to anyone living in B.C.'s Southern Interior, within the listening area of CBC Radio One from Kelowna. This includes all residents west of the Alberta border, William's Lake and south, east of Hope and north of the US border.

• December 20th, 2006

  Former prize winner, Darcie Hossack of Kelowna, has just had her Okanagan Short Story Contest winning entry, "Ashes," published in Half in the Sun, an anthology of Mennonite writing in BC. Check the link below:

  http://www.ronsdalepress.com/catalogue/halfsun.html