ARTA Writing
Contest 2018
Laurie Semler | Chair, Communications Committee
The ARTA Writing Contest has wrapped up for
another year. Thank you to all ARTA members who
contributed wonderfully diverse and creative stories
and poems to this year’s contest. This year we
received a total of fifty-eight entries across all three
categories, fewer than last year because of the low
number of entries in the Fairy Tale category. Our
upcoming contest has a new category to showcase
the writing talents of our members.
The members of the Communications Committee
would like to recognize the efforts of this year’s
judges who faced a daunting task. Hours of reading
and consultation went into the selection of the 2018
winners! The quality of the entries is demonstrated
by the number of Honourable Mentions for Flash
Fiction and the ties in the Poetry category.
ARTA staff members Amanda Shaw, Jennifer
Hope, and Tony Esteves also contributed to the
success of the contest. They provided invaluable
assistance in the areas of publicity, scanning of hard
copy entries, and arranging prizes for this year’s
winners. Thank you Amanda, Jennifer, and Tony!
For those planning to enter the 2019 Writing
Contest please become familiar with all submission
guidelines found with the contest announcement
in this issue of news&views and on the ARTA
website at arta.net in the Wellness section under
“Popular Topics.”
Here are two of the guidelines that some entrants
of this year’s contest seem to have missed or
misunderstood:
1. Electronic submissions must be in .doc or .docx
format, and submissions must be sent as an email
attachment.
2. Since the contest deadline changes yearly, make
sure to check the date of the current deadline.
This year, it is November 15.
To make it easier for entrants, we have added
instructions for attaching entries to the official
entry form. These instructions can be found on
the ARTA website.
The members of the ARTA Communications
Committee look forward to the 2019 Writing Contest.
Good luck and happy writing to all! ●
Flash Fiction Poetry Fairy Tale
First Place
“Homecoming”
by Linda Klym First Place Tie
“Mark”
by David Routledge Second Place
“Kryptonite”
by Marlene Ironside “Liberation and Exile”
by Melle Huizinga First Place
“Willomeana the Witch”
by Randy Duffy
(No second place awarded)
Honourable Mentions
“First Day of School in Canada”
by Eugene Ip
“Book of Condolences”
by Bert Almon
“Overlander Sickness”
by Darla Maxwell
(We were very sad to hear that
Melle Huizinga passed away while
vacationing in Ethiopia. ARTA offers
deepest regrets to his family.)
Second Place Tie
“By Old Light”
by Mary Campbell
“Spring Salute”
by Linda Hatfield
(There are no honourable mentions
in this category because of the ties.)
news&views SPRING 2019 | 33