News Archive 2008-09
 

July, 2009

 
Student reaches Far Horizons
Third-year writing student Eliza Robertson won the 2009 Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction for her story "Ship's Log". The award celebrates the achievement of emerging writers who have not yet been published in book form. Robertson's short story will be published in The Malahat Review's Fall 2009 issue.
 
Freshman's Wharf goes on-line
A group of dedicated writing students, mentored by Maureen Bradley and Daniel Hogg, have produced the first two episodes of a new web series penned by writing major Rachel Warden. Freshman's Wharf is a professionally-modelled summer project, and local press such as The Times-Colonist and The Ring are starting to pick up on it. You can watch the episodes at www.writersroom.ca.
 
Hodgins named to Order of Canada
Congratulations to former faculty member Jack Hodgins, recently named to the Order of Canada for his contributions to Canadian literature. The Order of Canada recognizes outstanding achievement and service in various fields of human endeavour. Hodgins' novels and short stories celebrate the people and landscape of Vancouver Island.
 
 

June, 2009

 
Alumni wins CBC Literary Award
The CBC Literary Awards, honouring excellent unpublished Canadian literature, recently announced former writing student Sarah de Leeuw as the winner for creative nonfiction in 2008 for her essay "Columbus Burning". Congratulations.
 
Wilson, Leach win NMAs
Recent graduate D. W. Wilson won his first National Magazine Award, taking the Silver Award in fiction for his short story “The Elasticy of Bone”, published in The Malahat Review, while Director of Professional Writing David Leach won a Gold in the Sports & Recreation category for ”A Deadly Crossing“, published in explore.
 
MacLeod scores 4th Dora Nod
Writing Professor Joan MacLeod has been nominated for Outstanding New Play in this year's Dora Mavor Moore Awards for her one-woman show Another Home Invasion. She's been nominated three times before, and won with Stephen McNeff for The Secret Garden. Actor Nicola Lipman was also nominated for best performance by a female in a leading role. The awards celebrate the best in Toronto theatre.
 
Stubbs finds success with Herr Beckmann's People
Master’s candidate Sally Stubbs’ play Herr Beckmann’s People has won the 3rd annual Canadian Peace Play Competition.  The award features both a cash prize and a staged reading by the Downstage Performance Society in Calgary.  Herr Beckmann’s People was also selected as one of five scripts presented in Vancouver as a staged reading this June in the Playwrights Theatre Centre’s Play Festival. About the story of a painter from Victoria who revisits her childhood home in Munich after World War II, the play confronts the murky history of a family and a nation with compassion and sensitivity.
 
Kinsella's Lifetime Achievement
One of our best-known writing alumni, W.P. Kinsella, was recently awarded the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. Vancouver Public Library and Pacific BookWorld News Society jointly sponsor and present the annual prize to a British Columbia author for an enduring contribution to the literary arts.
 
 

May, 2009

 
Alumni's Vanishing appears in bookstores
Writing Grad Deborah Willis released a collection of short fiction, Vanishing and Other Stories, published by Penguin Canada. Alice Munro praises “The emotional range and depth of these stories, the clarity and deftness is astonishing.” Willis held a book signing at Munro's Books this past May.
 
Writing Students Nominated for the Journey Prize
Writing student Yasuko Thanh and writing Grad Sarah Taggart have been long-listed for The Journey Prize; Thanh for her story “Floating Like the Dead”, originally published in Vancouver Review, and Taggart for her short story “Deaf”, first published in the Malahat Review. The Writer's Trust of Canada and publisher McClelland & Stewart annually award the $10,000 prize to an emerging writer of distinction for the best short story published in a Canadian literary journal in the previoius calendar year. Additionally, both stories will be re-printed in the forthcoming edition of The Journey Prize Stories, the most prestigious and popular annual fiction anthology in Canada.
 
UVic Writers get National Magazine Award Nods
Several writers from the Department of Writing received National Magazine Award nominations for their creative work in 2008. Graduating student D.W. Wilson was nominated for his short story “The Elasticity of Bone” in The Malahat Review, professor Lorna Crozier was nominated for three poems that appeared in Vallum, and director of professional writing David Leach got a nod in the Sports & Recreation category for “A Deadly Crossing,” published by explore.
 
 

April, 2009

 
Grad wins Leacock Humour Award
Congratulations go out to Writing Grad Mark Leiren-Young, winner of the 2009 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Never Shoot a Stampede Queen: A Rookie Reporter in the Cariboo is Leiren-Young's first book, recounting his adventures living in working in Williams Lake, BC. The Leacock medal has been awarded since 1947 to perpetuate humorous writing in Canada. Previous winners have included Pierre Berton, W. O. Mitchell, Mordecai Richler, and Robertson Davies.
 
BCYCNA student winners
Congratulations to Natalie North and Will Johnson, co-winners of the annual B.C. and Yukon Community Newspaper Association student scholarships. The two UVic professional writing students attended the awards ceremony on Saturday, April 4, to accept scholarships honouring their commitment to and interest in community journalism.
 
Sunscreen crowns winners
The 5th Annual UVic Sunscreen Short Film Festival touched down April 11th. A great audience came out for a night of short entertainment and thought-provoking cinema. After the dust settled, the jury selected the winners. Congratulations to student filmmakers Meghan Bell (Best Story-Driven Film, Bob and Lucille), Danielle Proteau (Best Medium-Driven Film, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, for Snow), Scott Amos (Best Director, Best Screenplay/Screenstory, Best Auditory Experience, House), and D.W. Wilson and Scott Milligan (Audience Award, Three Card Monte). Congratulations also go to the students who collided in a three-way tie for Best Performance: Vafa Anderson (Jump Dance), and Shaan Rahmat and Andrew Harron (Three Card Monte).