June 5, 2025
By Sharon Hamilton The email below flew from Ottawa into my inbox within an hour of the end of the Dave Reception. It was a perfect encapsulation of the evening from our first prize winner, Amber Fenik. Thank you so much for the wonderful news tonight! I’m honoured! I felt overwhelmed and shocked in the moment, but I loved hearing excerpts from the other writers’ stories. I was also impressed by this hybrid event. I …
May 2, 2025
Choosing the best among many good stories is not so straightforward a task as one might imagine. Our three lead judges, Michael Hutchinson, Zilla Jones, and Mitchell Toews engaged in energetic discussions focusing on the craft of writing and the elements of fiction, ultimately deciding on the following seven stories for our shortlist. The finalists for “The Dave” 2025 are:(in alphabetical order) “The Opposite of Comforting” by Agata Antonow (Hamilton)“Tides” by Amber Fenik (Ottawa)“Chaiwali” by Sarah Israr (Toronto)“Wild …
April 18, 2025
We are thrilled to announce the longlist for this year’s David Williamson National Short Story Competition (aka “The Dave”). We received 125 entries, a steady growth over our first year with 96 entries, once again ranging from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. The judges have been busy reading this diverse range of stories and have made their selection. Names of the authors are being withheld until the short list is announced, but scan these tantalizing …
May 31, 2024
By Steve Oetting The annual Dave Williamson National Short Story Competition reception, fondly known as “The Dave,” was held on May 9 at ArtSpace. This reception is hosted by the Guild as a way to honour the short story contributors who were creative and intrepid enough to provide submissions, the judges who spent weeks carefully assessing those stories and enduring the delicate task of selecting the winners, and of course Dave Williamson, the honorary patron …
March 21, 2024
Choosing the best among many good stories is not so straightforward a task as one might imagine. Our five lead judges, Raye Anderson, Lauren Carter, Trevor Greyeyes, Zilla Jones, and Lee Kvern engaged in energetic discussions focusing on the craft of writing and the elements of fiction, ultimately deciding on the following seven stories for our shortlist. The finalists for “The Dave” 2024 are: (in random order) Homeward Bound by Rowan McCandless, Winnipeg, MBCanadian Cougars by …
March 15, 2024
We are thrilled to announce the longlist for this year’s Dave Williamson National Short Story Competition (aka ‘The Dave”). We received 105 entries, an increase of 10% over last year, once again ranging from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. The judges have been busy reading this diverse range of stories and have made their selection.
