Ninth annual Writing in the Margins winners

We’re very pleased to announce the winners and honourable mentions of our ninth annual Writing in the Margins contest!

Congratulations to our winners:

• Creative non-fiction winner Shanthiya Baheerathan for "Of lovers and land"
• Poetry winner Jody Chan for "unhaunted"
• Photography winner Heather Magusin for "Flux"

You can find the winners in the March/April print issue of Briarpatch, and online today.

This year’s honourable mentions go to

• Creative non-fiction runner-up Marie-Michelle Melotte for "Troubled waters"
• Poetry runner-up Daniel Sarah Karasik for "movement"
• Photography runner-up James Ip for "Scarborough, my home"

Our best hometown entry is Austin Ahenakew’s poem, "Reserved for the Beast."

Honourable mentions and the best hometown entry are published online.

We’re excited to share these powerful essays, poems, and photos with our readers. Congratulations to all!

Thank you to our judges, Joshua Whitehead, El Jones, and Nadya Kwandibens, for lending their expertise to select the winners and honourable mentions this year. And thank you to all of the entrants for sharing your stories, poems, and photos. There are precious few contests dedicated specifically to writing and art that addresses social and environmental justice, and we were humbled and inspired by the fierce, beautiful, and hopeful submissions we received.

Briarpatch will be accepting entries for the tenth Writing in the Margins contest in September 2020.

This contest was made possible thanks to our sponsors – Talon Books and Fernwood Publishing – and a grant from the Regina Public Interest Research Group (RPIRG).