2023 Place and Home Contest Results
Congratulations to the winners of the Dreamers 2023 Stories of Migration, Sense of Place and Home Contest!
We were once again impressed by the exceptional quality of the entries we received this year. Our team faced a challenging decision, but after careful consideration, we have awarded 1 first place prize and 5 honourable mentions. We want to extend our warmest congratulations to all who submitted their work, and we’re excited to see what you’ll create in the future!
Thank you to our judge, Phil McNichol, long-time newspaper reporter, award winning columnist, and author of the popular blog, Finding Hope Ness. Here’s what Phil had to say about our winning story by Dorothy Henderson:
“Worthy of Alice Munro. -a ‘wow'”
And now, without further delay, we are thrilled to announce the winning entries!
First Place:
The Mislaid Words of Gladys Prose
Fiction by Dorothy Henderson:
“Gladys didn’t talk about this to anyone, certainly not her husband. After all, her words were as private to her as the sweet, soft spots of her body. Her inner voice was her companion, her comfort, her delight, although she confessed to herself that the words that bubbled up inside her had sometimes been a puzzlement and a frustration, too. Why was it so difficult to find the exact words needed to describe a beauty that leaves you breathless?”
Honorable Mentions:
Steerage (War Bride)
Fiction by Jean Buie
“How many have I witnessed so far? Too many. Just last evening, a baby, three months perhaps, wrapped in a shawl and thrown overboard. The blind soldier holding back his wife who tried to follow.”
The Last of Something
Fiction by Deac Etherington
“They smelled the pasture before they saw it. Fertilizer vaguely like mothballs in the fresh-furrowed ground over which a layer of humid air shimmered. Their destination was the adobe barn at the edge of the pasture. The roof had long since collapsed and the walls were melting back into the ground in a leisurely way. This was where they were supposed to hand over the group.”
The Namesake and the Unnamed
Nonfiction by Nagma Kapoor
“My parents arranged marriage is akin to the couple in the film on the surface. In my mind, these are glimpses into what their moments of getting to know each other might’ve been like. The first time she laughed at a bad joke, their first fight, how it must’ve been like to grow to love each other away from their homes.”
Left Home Torn
Poem by Natalie Meisner
“No more long lines to keep tight, traps to pull
hooks to set just right, just a bleached-out photo
where my own wicked grin, plays on the lips
of a man the sea swallowed before I ever met”
A Bed as a Nest
Poem by Jarrett Ziemer
“A female common yellowthroat is a forager
picking pedals for insects for moths, wasps,
butterflies in her belly,
that only dissipate in the rain
of cough syrup and smoke and Jack Daniels”
Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who entered the contest!
Our 2024 Sense of Place and Home Contest is now open for submissions! Submit your stories of migration and/or your sense of place, of home or lack of, for your chance to win! Submissions are due by January 31.
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