Ten writing finalists announced for PWAC awards

The Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) has announced ten finalists for its writing awards; the winners will be announced June 18 at an awards event in Montreal in conjunction with PWAC's annual general meeting.The awards are open to PWAC members and non-members.

First prize in each award category has a $750 value (increased from $500 in 2010), including a free PWAC membership for a year to those eligible. Second-place winners get a year’s free PWAC membership, if eligible.

PWAC created its PWAC Short Articles Writing Award and the PWAC Features Writing Award in 2010 to showcase Canadian writers. “For the second year in a row, we have received more entries than we expected,” PWAC president Tanya Gulliver said. “We’re honoured to celebrate the work of these finalists as examples of the high-quality writing produced by PWAC’s members and other Canadian writers.”

In the Features category (> 1,200 words), the finalists are:

• Beverly Akerman for “Six Pixels of Separation” (Grain Magazine)
• Mark Cardwell for “Getting Away with Murder” (Canadian Lawyer)
• Stephen Kimber for “Is Corey Wright the Wrong Man?” (The Coast)
• Melissa Martin for “La lang di Michif Ta-pashipiikan” (Winnipeg Free Press)
• Terri Perrin for “All in the Family” (InFocus Magazine)
• Mark Witten for “Heal or harm?” (Today’s Parent)

In the Short Articles category (< 1,200 words), the finalists are:

• Beverly Akerman for “Woman’s murder exposes need to raise age for gun ownership” (Toronto Star)
• L. D. Cross for “How to Get the Money You’re Owed” (PROFIT Magazine)
• Karen Virag for “The Naked Truth About Raw” (The Tomato)
• Mark Witten for “Brainwashed” (The Walrus)

Judges for the awards were: (Features) freelance writer and editor Richard Burnett, The Georgia Straight’s senior editor Martin Dunphy and freelance writer Nora Underwood; (Short Articles)freelance writer and journalism instructor Lezlie Lowe, Prairie Dog editor Stephen Whitworth and Harrowsmith Country Life senior editor Bridget Wayland.