PPL Writing Contest
Submissions for this year's Writing Contest Have now closed. Check back soon for the announcement of the winners.
2023 Submission Guidelines:
Poetry
- You may submit only ONE (1) poem for consideration.
- Please do not submit anything longer than 100 lines.
Prose
- You may submit ONE (1) prose piece for consideration.
- Please do not submit anything longer than five (5) pages.
- Prose can be fiction or creative non-fiction. Please Note that we cannot accept journalistic pieces.
You may submit one piece in each category (one poem and one short story). Please submit your work as a word document (.doc or .docx) in a legible font (Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri etc.).
Please include a brief biography (100 words maximum) along with your submission; feel free to include any information you’d like to be shared!
By submitting to the Pickering Public Library’s Writing Contest, you consent to have your work temporarily featured on our website and featured on our social media sites. All writers retain the rights to their work, accepted or otherwise.
We will not accept any work that in any way inflicts harm upon marginalized groups. Do not submit work that is racist, homophobic, misogynistic, ableist, ageist, or transphobic, it will be rejected immediately.
2022 Winners
Prose
by Lindy Nikolaou
Lindy Nikolaou is a teacher, lives in Pickering and enjoys many hobbies: Writing, reading, gardening and walking along Lake Ontario. Lindy's favourite meal is a hotdog while listening to the Bee Gees.
by Carly Midgley
Carly Midgley is a writer and freelance editor with a soft spot for fairy tales and sister stories. She holds a BA in English literature from Trent University, where she was the 2014 recipient of the Timothy Findley Creative Writing Prize. When not writing, Carly can be found petting her two cats, drinking a lot of tea, and overanalyzing books and video games. For more information or to contact her, visit carlymidgley.com.
Poetry
by Charlie Wascher
Charlie Wascher is an artist and full-time Canadian. Charlie has an avid interest in novels and writing. This is the first poem Charlie has ever written, based on anxiety and recovery.
by Audrey Kovacs
Audrey Kovacs is a huge Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter fan! Audrey loves classic literature but has a huge soft spot for old comics, especially DC comics!) and loves nonsense poems.
2022 Honourable Mentions
by Danyel Bratu
Danyel Bratu is an alien spy from the star system of Alpha Centauri, collecting information on the human race to relay back to his home planet. When he isn't being 100% spy-y, he enjoys drawing and writing.
by Drew Henderson
Drew Henderson is 86-year-old great-grandfather who likes to write, paint and watch soccer. What else does an 86-year-old need?
by Bethany Brown
Bethany Brown loves writing poetry because it offers a space to play with language. She does freelance writing and editing because they involve applying the mechanics of writing she finds so fascinating. For more of her work, see @thewriterwiredmind on Instagram.
by Abir Dabbour
Abir Dabbour is 23 years old and was born in Egypt, then moved to Canada with her parents in 2000 as a young child. Abir is usually a visual artist and painter moreso than a writer. However, Abir's love of literature inspired this freeform expression of a very personal and complex issue.
by Farishta Normohamad
Farishta Normohamad is Deaf. Farishta's sign name is a “F” handshape along the side of my face, flipped to show her smile. This is Farishta's first English poem. The challenge was inspiring. Farishta's goal is to make an impact promoting accessibility and to recognize accommodations. Farishta's poem is about her Deaf identity and experience overall and her struggles still today.
by Victoria Dwight
Victoria Dwight is a Pickering native. After moving away for two decades, she has recently returned and is rediscovering the city through adult eyes. She works as an Education Director and American Sign Language Interpreter and has a love for all things related to language.
