Each year, the Penguin Random House Canada Student Award for Fiction is awarded to an SCS creative writing learner whose work inspires us.
This year’s first place prize has been awarded to Kathe Gray for her breathtaking short story, Panorama. Two honourable prizes have been awarded to Mark Burgess and Melany Franklin. These three writers have unleashed their creative potential, and we are proud to celebrate their innovative work.
Winner ($2,500 prize):
Kathe Gray, Panorama
Kathe Gray is a doctoral candidate in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University in Toronto. Before returning to grad school, she was an award-winning book designer who specialized in exhibition catalogues, illustrated coffee-table books, and academic monographs. She likes to think the love of word and image that characterized her graphic design is also evident in her fiction and poetry. Kathe and her family live in Guelph, Ontario.
Her winning short story, Panorama, imagines the immediate impact and lingering after-effects a blizzard has on a small prairie community.
Honourable Mentions ($1,000 prize each):
Mark Burgess, A Letter from Bielefeld
Mark Burgess is a Toronto-based writer whose fiction has appeared in Nowhere and The New Quarterly. He's reported on federal politics, advertising, and travel, and is currently the editor of a financial magazine.
Melany Franklin, Sanctuary
Melany Franklin is a lawyer with the YMCA of Greater Toronto and is currently working on her first novel. In 2019, Melany was a recipient of the SCS Janice Colbert Poetry Award (runner-up). Her work is published in the Law Society of Ontario’s Special Lectures Series (2012), and in her high school yearbook.