Article wins Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award

At Word on the Street in Vancouver, John Vigna, a Vancouver freelance writer will be presented with the 2007 Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award. The award is made to freelance writers in B.C. or Alberta who have a contract to write an article or a book. Greber, a respected freelancer and musician, who died at the young age of 5o in 2000. This, according to an item on the Professional Writers Association of Canada website.

To honor Dave's memory and perpetuate his professional values, his life partner, Shirley Dunn, has established an annual award to give public recognition to the skills necessary to craft a story based on excellence of writing and research. The award will help support a freelance non-fiction writer, prior to publication in order to meet expenses related to living, writing and research.

Vigna's article, The Ballad of Big and Small, is a magazine article to be published in the fall of 2007 by Grain magazine. John Vigna has been a self-employed writer since 1989 and has devoted himself full time as a freelance professional writer since 1999. His writing has been featured in many magazines and newspapers, including The Georgia Strait, The Vancouver Sun and The Vancouver Province.

This is the first time the award has been given for a magazine article. Past recipients Brian Brennan, Macello Di Cintio and Gordon Laird each got the award to support the writing of chapters in books in progress.

A great idea. And a wonderful way to commemorate someone. If you think so and want to support it tangibly, donations are welcomed to support the award.