First Place: Sabrina Fielding, “Knick Knack”
Second Place: Zoe Lubetkin “Too big, the perfect size”
Third Place: Eva Crocker, "Every Player Wins"
All three stories will be published in our forthcoming Vol. 4.1
Sabrina Fielding is a French teacher originally from Alliston, Ontario, now living in Toronto. She is a winner of The Queen’s Journal and South Simcoe Creative Works short story contests, and her writing has appeared in publications such as Montréal Writes, Ultraviolet, HerCampus, and SSHEAN. She is probably working on a novel, but is also probably distracted by another short story idea.
Zoe Lubetkin is a writer from Michigan based in Montreal. Her short fiction and reporting have appeared in, respectively, carte blanche and The East Hampton Star.
Eva Crocker is the author of two novels Back in the Land of the Living and All I Ask, which won the 2020 BMO Winterset Award. Her short story collection Barreling Forward was shortlisted for Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQS2 Writers and the NLCU Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers. It won the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction, the CAA Emerging Author’s Award, and was a National Post Best Book. She is completing a PhD in the Interdisciplinary Humanities department at Concordia University.
Shortlist (selected by internal jury):
Eva Crocker, “Every Player Wins”
francesca ekwuyasi, “An Immortal Woman”
Sabrina Fielding, “Knick Knack”
Zoe Lubetkin “Too big, the perfect size”
Rachael Palmer, “Vindum, Vindum”
Michelle Syba, “Humanities”
Eva Crocker is the author of two novels Back in the Land of the Living and All I Ask, which won the 2020 BMO Winterset Award. Her short story collection Barreling Forward was shortlisted for Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQS2 Writers and the NLCU Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers. It won the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction, the CAA Emerging Author’s Award, and was a National Post Best Book. She is completing a PhD in the Interdisciplinary Humanities department at Concordia University.
francesca ekwuyasi was born in Lagos, Nigeria. She was awarded the Writers Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers in 2022 for her debut novel Butter Honey Pig Bread (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020). Butter Honey Pig Bread was also shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Dublin Literary Award. Butter Honey Pig Bread placed second on CBC’s Canada Reads. francesca’s writing has appeared in the Malahat Review, Room Magazine, the Ex-Puritan, Canadian Art, Chatelain and elsewhere. Her short story Ọrun is Heaven was longlisted for the 2019 Journey Prize.She co-authored Curious Sounds: A Dialogue in Three Movements (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023). (Photo credit Lena Szymoniak.)
Sabrina Fielding is a French teacher originally from Alliston, Ontario, now living in Toronto. She is a winner of The Queen’s Journal and South Simcoe Creative Works short story contests, and her writing has appeared in publications such as Montréal Writes, Ultraviolet, HerCampus, and SSHEAN. She is probably working on a novel, but is also probably distracted by another short story idea.
Zoe Lubetkin is a writer from Michigan based in Montreal. Her short fiction and reporting have appeared in, respectively, carte blanche and The East Hampton Star.
Rachael Palmer is a writer and bookstore manager/curator living in Montreal. She grew up in Alberta and Ontario. Her work can be found in the literary magazines Weird Era and Ahoy, and as a contributor to the publication Niche MTL. You can find her at Librairie Saint-Henri Books or practicing her ability to read while walking somewhere.
Michelle Syba is the author of End Times (Freehand Books, 2023), a collection of stories about people variously entangled with evangelical culture. A finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation Concordia University First Book Prize, End Times draws on Michelle’s experiences growing up Pentecostal and leaving the faith in university, where she became a zealot for literature. She lives in Montreal.
Longlist (selected by internal jury):
André Babyn, “The Trial of Galen Weston”
Eva Crocker, “Every Player Wins”
francesca ekwuyasi, “An Immortal Woman”
Sabrina Fielding, “Knick Knack”
Laura Rock Gaughan, “TreeeeZone”
Zoe Lubetkin, “Too big, the perfect size”
Amanda Merpaw, “Cusp”
Alexander "Pip" Morrison, “Jellyfish Killing”
Cassandra Nguyen, “Etymology of the Temporal Lobe”
Paz O’Farrell, “The hand that feeds has teeth”
Rachael Palmer, “Vindum, Vindum”
Michelle Syba, “Humanities”
Honourable Mentions:
Maggie Burton, “The Rat”
Alexander Hackett, “Strange Pollen”
Cassidy McFadzean, “Time Machine”
André Babyn lives in Montréal. His work has appeared in Poetry, Maisonneuve, The Fanzine, Grain, Bad Nudes, and elsewhere. In 2020 his first novel, Evie of the Deepthorn, was released with Dundurn Press. Quill and Quire called it “a powerful and promising debut.” He’s represented by Samantha Haywood at the Transatlantic Agency.
(Photo Credit: Sarah Bodri.)
Eva Crocker is the author of two novels Back in the Land of the Living and All I Ask, which won the 2020 BMO Winterset Award. Her short story collection Barreling Forward was shortlisted for Dayne Ogilvie Prize for Emerging LGBTQS2 Writers and the NLCU Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers. It won the Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction, the CAA Emerging Author’s Award, and was a National Post Best Book. She is completing a PhD in the Interdisciplinary Humanities department at Concordia University.
francesca ekwuyasi was born in Lagos, Nigeria. She was awarded the Writers Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers in 2022 for her debut novel Butter Honey Pig Bread (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020). Butter Honey Pig Bread was also shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Dublin Literary Award. Butter Honey Pig Bread placed second on CBC’s Canada Reads. francesca’s writing has appeared in the Malahat Review, Room Magazine, the Ex-Puritan, Canadian Art, Chatelain and elsewhere. Her short story Ọrun is Heaven was longlisted for the 2019 Journey Prize.She co-authored Curious Sounds: A Dialogue in Three Movements (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2023). (Photo credit Lena Szymoniak.)
Sabrina Fielding is a French teacher originally from Alliston, Ontario, now living in Toronto. She is a winner of The Queen’s Journal and South Simcoe Creative Works short story contests, and her writing has appeared in publications such as Montréal Writes, Ultraviolet, HerCampus, and SSHEAN. She is probably working on a novel, but is also probably distracted by another short story idea.
Laura Rock Gaughan’s first book is a short story collection entitled MOTHERISH (Turnstone Press, 2018). Her fiction, essays, poems, and author interviews have appeared in journals, newspapers, and anthologies in Canada, Ireland, and the US, including The New Quarterly, The Antigonish Review, Southword, CutBank, and CRAFT Literary. She lives in Lakefield, Ontario, where she's at work on a novel. (Photo credit: Sarah Gaughan.)
Zoe Lubetkin is a writer from Michigan based in Montreal. Her short fiction and reporting have appeared in, respectively, carte blanche and The East Hampton Star.
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Amanda Merpaw is the author of Most of All the Wanting and Put the Ghosts Down Between Us. Her writing has appeared in various magazines, including CV2, Grain, Plenitude, and Prairie Fire, with Playwrights Canada Press, and has been shortlisted for Arc Poetry Magazine’s Poem of the Year contest. Amanda is currently a contributing editor at Arc Poetry Magazine and a member of the editorial board at Anstruther Press. (Photo Credit: Sarah Bodri.)
Alexander "Pip" Morrison is an East Vancouver raised, Montreal-based prose writer and sound recordist. He currently makes a living for himself washing floors and doing odd jobs in the southern gulf islands of British Columbia.
Cassandra Nguyen is a Grade 11 student living in Markham, Ontario. She is currently attending Bayview Secondary School. Her poetry has won a Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition award, her poem and an interview was featured in the Royal Commonwealth Society’s celebratory anthology, and her other written work has been recognized by various local and international competitions.
Paz O’Farrell is an Argentine writer living in Montreal. Their work has been published by Existere, Headlight Anthology, The Scripps College Journal, In Media Res, The Lamp, and Caret. They write for Screen Anarchy, usually at a repurposed hospital, thanks to the generosity of Teesri Duniya Theatre. They like bullet points and asterisks.
Rachael Palmer is a writer and bookstore manager/curator living in Montreal. She grew up in Alberta and Ontario. Her work can be found in the literary magazines Weird Era and Ahoy, and as a contributor to the publication Niche MTL. You can find her at Librairie Saint-Henri Books or practicing her ability to read while walking somewhere.
Michelle Syba is the author of End Times (Freehand Books, 2023), a collection of stories about people variously entangled with evangelical culture. A finalist for the Quebec Writers’ Federation Concordia University First Book Prize, End Times draws on Michelle’s experiences growing up Pentecostal and leaving the faith in university, where she became a zealot for literature. She lives in Montreal.
Souvankham Thammavongsa is the author of four poetry books and the short story collection How to Pronounce Knife, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her stories have won an O. Henry Award and appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, and Harper's Magazine. She was born in the Lao refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand, and lives in Toronto, Canada.
(Photo credit: Steph Martyniuk)
Submissions are now closed for the 2024 inaugural Montreal Fiction Prize, a Canadian award for original short stories written in English. The winner will receive $2,000 and publication in Vol. 4.1; second and third place will receive $500 each and publication (either in Vol. 4.1 or a subsequent issue/digital publication).
The contest is open to all Canadian writers. For our publication, we consider this to be:
- Anyone with Canadian citizenship or permanent citizenship, residing here or abroad
- Anyone that currently resides in Canada
We seek original short stories up to 4,000 words on any subject and in any style. The shortlist will be announced the first week of July, and the winners the following week. The entry fee is $15. Contestants can submit more than one story, but will have to submit them individually and pay the entry fee for each story submitted. Before submitting, we strongly encourage you to read our general submission guidelines (Submittable) and our Frequently Asked Questions (below).
Yolk warmly acknowledges the generous support of the Conseil des arts de Montréal in making this contest possible.
A quote from our Editor-in-Chief, Curtis John McRae, about the prize:
“We’re thrilled to be launching a new Canadian fiction prize to further bolster, and provide new and valuable opportunities for, Canadian writers. I believe that through the continued creation of multiple well-remunerated, prestigious Canadian opportunities, our literary organizations foster a healthy ecosystem for emerging and established writers. This is our humble step in that direction. In coexistence with other prizes, contests, and regular publication opportunities, we hope this will encourage writers in the coming years. We’re proud and excited that Ms. Thammavongsa will be our inaugural guest judge, and we look forward to receiving an exciting batch of submissions.”
Q: Is this prize only open to Montreal writers?
A: No. Despite the name, this prize is open to all Canadian writers. For our publication, we consider this to be: Anyone with Canadian citizenship or permanent citizenship, residing here or abroad; and anyone that currently resides in Canada
Q: Can I submit multiple entries to the Fiction Prize?
A: Contestants can submit more than one story, but will have to submit them individually and pay the entry fee for each story submitted.
Q: Is there a theme for the prize?
A: No. Although the winners will be published in a print issue with a theme, the contest is handled separately, and no prize submissions are expected to adhere to a theme.
Q: Can I submit to the Fiction Prize and to regular print consideration?
A: Yes, though you'll have to submit to them separately and pay the separate submission fees.
Q: Can I submit the same story to both the Fiction Prize and to regular print consideration?
A: Yes, though we recommend submitting separate stories to increase your odds of publication.
Q: When will I hear back about my story?
A: The shortlist will be announced the first week of July, and the winners the following week.
Q: Are submissions read anonymously?
A: Yes. Therefore, do not include any personal information in your text. Our editors read anonymously—any submissions including personal information (name, email, etc.) within the text will not be considered.
