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CANADA WRITES ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF THE CBC SHORT STORY PRIZE

Mar 26, 2012

CBC's Canada Writes, the online literary destination part of CBC Books, with its partners the Canada Council for the Arts, Air Canada's enRoute magazine and The Banff Centre, announced this morning the winners of the CBC Short Story Prize / Prix de la nouvelle Radio-Canada.

One Grand Prize winner and four runners-up were announced in each language. Winners were selected from over 3,750 short stories received from across the country.

THE WINNER

In English, The Grand Prize winner is Daniel Karasik of Thornhill, ON for "Mine".

The jury was comprised of Canadian writers Peter Behrens, Alison Pick and Michael Winter. Said the jury of his story:

"A man lies on his deathbed and begins to speak--not to his wife, who sits by his side, but to his memory of the woman with whom he had an affair. It is his wife's response, and her voice--calm, measured, reflective--that makes 'Mine' the story it is. Thickly imagined and expertly executed, this is the sort of writing that reminds us of the possibility of redemption and the very hard work of being human."

Daniel Karasik is a playwright, poet, actor, and artistic director of Tango Co., a Toronto-based independent theatre company. His award-winning plays have been seen in Toronto, New York, and Germany. He is the author of The Crossing Guard and In Full Light, a volume of plays published by Playwrights Canada Press, and is one of eleven poets featured in Undercurrents: New Voices in Canadian Poetry, a Cormorant Books anthology; Cormorant also plans to publish his first poetry collection in 2013. He also recently completed his first novel, for which he received the Alta Lind Cook Prize and the Norma Epstein National Literary Award. 

Daniel Karasik will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, and his prizewinning story "Mine" will be published in the April edition of enRoute Magazine. Daniel will also receive a two-week residency at The Banff Centre's Leighton Artists' Colony and be interviewed this afternoon on CBC's The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rodgers (Monday, March 26 at 1 p.m. on CBC Radio One).

Daniel Karasik will also be celebrated at the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival this spring. The public will be invited to hear him read from his work as part of an afternoon of readings held on Saturday, April 21, 2012.

RUNNERS-UP

The four runners-up for the CBC Short Story Prize were also announced this morning. They are:

• Pamela Ferguson of Toronto, ON for "Autumnal"
• Alix Hawley of Kelowna, BC for "Tentcity"
• Brooks McMullin of Prince Albert, SK for "Pax"
• Terence Young of Victoria, BC for "Mantra"

Each runner-up will receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts. All stories are also available to be read on the Canada Writes website (www.cbc.ca/canadawrites).

To find out the French-language winners, please visit www.Radio-Canada.ca/zonedecriture.

The CBC Literary Prizes/Prix littraires Radio-Canada (which include the CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize and the CBC Poetry Prize) are the most important prizes awarded to unpublished literary work in Canada. They bring visibility to authors who are beginning their writing career and help promote the careers of well-known Canadian writers. For more than thirty years the CBC Literary Prizes/Prix littraires Radio-Canada has allowed Canadians to discover the likes of many famous writers, including: Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields, Jacques Godbout, Camilla Gibb, Kim Dor, Marie-Sissi Labrche, Susan Musgrave, Shauna Singh Baldwin and Kim Echlin.

For more information on the Awards, please visit http://www.cbc.ca/canadawrites

About CBC Books
CBC Books features all of CBC's rich literary content across all platforms - audio, video and digital. This one-stop destination for book lovers includes in-depth information on books, exclusive interviews with authors, the latest news stories from the publishing world, book reviews, best-seller lists, discussions and blogs. It's an online meeting place where literary enthusiasts can find the books they want to read, connect with other Canadians who love to read as much as they do, and keep up on all of CBC's major literary events and programs such as Canada Reads, the Massey Lectures and Canada Writes.

About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, Internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages, plus seven languages for international audiences. In 2011, CBC/Radio-Canada celebrated 75 years of serving Canadians and being at the centre of the democratic, social and cultural life of Canada. 

For further information, contact:
Diane Hargrave                                              
Diane Hargrave Public Relations                   
Tel.: (416) 467-9954                                      
dhprbks@interlog.com