winners

How winning the 2015 CNFC contest changed me

Kirsten Fogg is a bilingual Australian-Canadian journalist, editor and award-winning essayist who has been shaped by living in four countries and by the suicide of her 16-year-old brother. Her essays have been published in journals including Creative Nonfiction and The Malahat Review and adapted by ABC Radio National Australia. Her journalism has appeared in various world media. She has an MFA in Creative Nonfiction (2022). Sign up to her newsletter here:  Writer out of Residence and connect with her on…

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Getting Your CNF Writing into the Winner’s Circle

Nancy O’Rourke, for the CNFC Blog CNFC member and volunteer, Nancy O’Rourke, a former CNFC contest winner and jury reader, interviewed two jury readers from the 2022 contest, Allyson Latta and Becky Blake. The interview explores how potential contest writers can best prepare their submissions to improve their chances of winning. BECKY BLAKE is a two-time winner of the CBC Literary Prize (for non-fiction in 2017 and short fiction in 2013). More recently, she was the 2021 winner of the CNFC/Humber…

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Excerpts from past CNFC contest winners

2018 winner: “Descent into Darkness,” by Nancy O’Rourke Machetes. The weapons of choice. Crude weapons, many of them with blades stained dark by the blood of victims. Machetes used viciously in the streets, in markets, schools, and churches. Machetes used to maim and slaughter men, women and children. Machetes used by farmers, shop owners, teachers, and priests. Machetes used to kill strangers, neighbours and sometimes family members. * I’d only been reunited with the children of Kimihurura for two weeks.…

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AND THE 2018 CNFC/CARTE BLANCHE CONTEST WINNER IS…

“Descent into Darkness,” by Nancy O’Rourke. Congratulations to Nancy and to both our runners-up, Emily Kellogg and Julie Paul. The winning piece is now published in the current edition of carte blanche . Experienced sociologist Nancy O’Rourke’s creative nonfiction was recently recognized by Memoir Magazine. “Descent into Darkness” is adapted from a memoir-in-progress that examines processes of forgiveness, focusing on a group of children she befriended in Rwanda in 1992, lost during the genocide, and found 18 years later.  

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And the winner of the carte blanche/CNFC contest is…

Congratulations to Nicole Breit for her essay “Spectrum”! Nicole Breit is a poet and essayist who lives and writes in the suburbs of Vancouver. She was nominated for the Malahat Review 2016 Open Season awards, the 2015 Room poetry prize and the 2015 PRISM International CNF contest. Her debut poetry chapbook, I Can Make Life, was a finalist for the 2012 Mary Ballard poetry competition. Her work has been published in carte blanche, Exhale and other print and online publications.…

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Announcing the Winner of the CNFC/carte-blanche Competition

Congratulations to Kirsten Fogg for her essay “Nana Technology”! Kirsten Fogg is an essayist and wanderer who is currently working on a collection of essays, interviews, and book reviews on belonging at www.thebelongingblog.com. She is the writer in residence at Milpera State School for refugee and migrant children. Her articles have been published in The Chicago Tribune, The Globe and Mail, The International Herald Tribune and many other world newspapers. She lives in Brisbane, Australia. Congratulations to everyone on the…

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