Announcing our 25th Contest Winners!

The Fiddlehead is pleased to present the winners of our 25th annual literary competition!

Brent van Staalduinen has won the short fiction prize for his story "Skinks." Contest judge Naomi K. Lewis says of the story, "The author aptly demonstrates how a child’s need for love clouds the flaws of the adults in his life, and how he clings to innocence even in the moments when it’s falling away from him." Van Staalduinen receives $2000 + publication payment of $40/page. The two honourable mentions are Sarah L. Taggart for "The Way It Is In A Place Like This" and Cathy Kozak for her story "Dirty Girls of Paradise." Both receive $250 + publication payment of $40/page.

In the poetry category, Michael Eden Reynolds takes the top prize of $2000 + $40/page for his poem "False Dichotomy or Monocot." Poetry judge Lorna Crozier liked the poem for its surprises. She says, "the poem’s logic held together but I couldn’t predict where the writer would take me, from one sentence to the next. I delighted in the quirkiness and originality, both of which felt warranted, deserved, and not merely clever. I kept smiling as the poem unfolded another fresh image or idea. And I appreciated the highly serious rubbing shoulders with the absurd. It takes a really fine poet to pull that off." Fellow judge Brecken Hancock adds that the poem "dizzies with surreal biology, elastic timelines, and the consequences of mortality on spiritual belief. Its cheeky, disorienting narrative invites unwinding, compelling the reader to revisit its lines again and again." The two honourable mentions go to Alison Goodwin for "Consumed" and Jeff Parent for "Made By Robots." Both authors receive $250 + $40/page. 

The Fiddlehead would like to once again thank our contest judges. Thank you Naomi K. Lewis (Short Fiction), and thank you Rae Armantrout, Lorna Crozier, and Brecken Hancock (Poetry)!