
This year’s first place prize has been awarded to Laura Reznick for her work, The Therapist.
Each year, the Penguin Random House Canada Student Award for Fiction is awarded to an SCS creative writing learner whose work and commitment to creative expression inspires us. This year’s first place prize has been awarded to Laura Reznick.
Two prizes have also been awarded to this year's runners-up: Zhirong Chen and Joanne Lam.
WINNER ($2,500 PRIZE):
Laura Reznick, The Therapist
Laura Reznick is a social worker and has a private therapy practice in Toronto. She spent most of her life in New York and holds a BA from Kenyon College in English literature, and an MFA in poetry from Hunter College. She began a PhD program in English literature at the CUNY Graduate Center before deciding to leave academia to become a therapist. She lives with her husband, three children, and a very loud puppy. She is currently working on her first novel.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS ($1,000 PRIZE EACH):
Zhirong Chen, 4096
Zhirong Chen moved to Canada from South China at eighteen and now lives in Toronto. She spent her childhood buried in books and scribbling stories of her own. At ten, she declared—on national children’s television, no less— that she wanted to be a writer. She hasn’t stopped since. With a background in engineering and science, Zhirong works in data and regulatory roles for the Government of Canada. She writes fiction in the quiet hours between careers, languages, and time zones.
Joanne Lam, Queen Mother
Joanne Lam was born in Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada with her parents when she was eleven. Since she was a child, she has loved using her imagination. She is a registered architect and co-founder of Picnic Design, an architecture and interior design firm based in Toronto. In both her design work and her writing, she is interested in weaving the past and present into the creation of future stories.