And the winners are....

Announcing the winners and finalists of our 2009 "Lost & Found" writing competition:

First Prize: Barbara Wild (Vancouver) “Poem for Allan”
Second prize: Judith Millar, (Nanaimo) “The Ring”
Third Prize: Madeleine Nattrass (Lantzville) “Lost and Found”

Honourable mentions:

Vicki Drybrough (Port Alberni) “Shipwreck”
Irene Livingston (Vancouver) “ Sobriety Found and Lost”

Other Finalists:

Pat Ajello (Vancouver) "Departure by Moonlight; Helen Baker (North Vancouver) “the time between”; Patricia Evans, (Vancouver) “The Hawthorne Tree; Katherine Fawcett (Pemberton) “Plain Carelessness”; “ Really Actually, Physically”; Clarissa Green (Vancouver) “Behind”; Wendy Hacking (Pender Island) “One Way or the Other”; James Hvezda (Richmond) “The Lines We Draw”; Pamela Kent, (Aldergrove) “ Lost and Found”; Alan E. Longworth (Okanagan Falls) “Chicken Demise”; Franci Louann (New Westminster) “Much is forgotten, even your name”, “Talking About the Weather”; Robin Susanto (Vancouver) “A Love Supreme (tribute to John Coltrane)”; Mildred Tremblay (Nanaimo) “A Day in Late June”, “Meditation on Insomnia”, “ Goodbye Orion”;
Julia van Gorder (Vancouver) “Underground Company”, “Antic Fair”; Nancy Walker (Burnaby) “A Parade of Things, January” , “A Found Belonging”; Jane Wangersky (New Westminster) “ Lost, Found, (Dog, Sketchbook)“; Joanna M. Weston (Shawnigan Lake) “Mad North-North West”, "Tide-Line”; Barbara Wild (Vancouver) “ Brief Stop at a Certain Prairie Town”, “After a Fall”; Caroline Wong (Burnaby)” Encounter”.

Our competition judge, B.C. poet, writer and editor Susan McCaslin, writes, "The submissions on the theme of things lost and found led me into some surprising and revelatory corners of my own life and were a pleasure to read. I was impressed by the diversity of forms and styles, as well as the variety of themes, from the sublime to the tragic-comic. I read through the entries multiple times, as various pieces clamoured for my attention. Losing and finding winners was in the end quite a task because of the number of serious contenders. In the end, after multiple readings, and reading the pieces aloud, the following configuration arose like the co-arising of forms in Buddhism. On a different day, in different weather, I might perhaps have chosen differently, but I am happy with the conjoined music these pieces make when laid out together. Congratulations to the winners and to all those who took the time and care to submit!"

At 7:30 PM on Tuesday, September 15th, at the James Street Café (3819 Canada Way, Burnaby, one block east of Boundary at Smith) Spoken INK presents its Fall Kick-off and Awards Night ’09, celebrating the winners of this year’s Burnaby Writers’ Society “Lost and Found” contest.

At September’s awards evening, the winning entries will be read and then we’ll open up the floor to our finalists. Special guest Susan McCaslin, our contest judge, will be on hand to offer her comments on the winning entries.

Spoken INK is the public reading series brought to you by the Burnaby Writers’ Society. Our open mic café happens every third Tuesday (September to June) and sign-up time is 7:30 PM at the James Street Café, just one short block east of Boundary Road on Canada Way at Smith (NE corner) in Burnaby. Come for a coffee & dessert -- stay for a listen! For more information, contact bwscafe@gmail.com .