2025 Place and Home Contest Results
Congratulations to the winners of the Dreamers 2025 Stories of Migration, Sense of Place and Home Contest!
This year’s entries moved us. So many of them spoke with honesty, precision, and heart, making it no easy task to choose just one winner. In the end, we selected a first place winner and one honourable mention—each piece offering something distinct and memorable.
Thank you to everyone who entered. Whether your work appears here or not, we’re grateful for the trust you placed in us by sharing your words, and we can’t wait to see what you write next.
A special thank you to our contest judge, Phil McNichol—long-time newspaper reporter, award-winning columnist, and author of the blog Finding Hope Ness—for lending his time and thoughtful attention to each piece.
And now, without further delay, we’re excited to share this year’s winning entries.
First Place:
The Vanishing Sky
Fiction by Douglas Pereira
“Vani didn’t know how much longer they walked. She only looked up at the stars, there were even fewer than before. Her mittens were wet. She rubbed them together, trying to keep warm, but the cold was inside now, gnawing at her fingers. She remembered her bed back home, a thin foam mattress that made her itch all over. Sometimes the power would go out and she’d be frightened of the night. But her mother would lie down beside her and sing a lullaby until she drifted off into sleep. She wouldn’t mind any of it now.”
Honorable Mention:
My Mother’s Eyes
Nonfiction by Ruth Patterson
“I pick up this morning’s newspaper and read another article about displaced Ukrainians, whose lives have been upended by a war instigated by Russia. There is something about the accompanying photos that looks familiar. Those hopeful eyes—for a new life in a peaceful country. Those sad eyes—for everything they have left behInd.”
Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who entered the contest!
Our 2026 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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Meanwhile, at Dreamers…
Enter the Dreamers Flash Contest – Due Sept. 30
Submit a fiction or nonfiction story of between 300 and 1000 words for your chance to win! The winner will receive $150 CAD and a copy of the Dreamers magazine.
Dreamers Magazine Issue 20 Now Available
We’re pleased to announce the release of Issue 20 of the Dreamers Magazine, featuring our Place & Home winners. Get your copy now!