Earlier this year, we announced our first-ever short fiction contest. We knew there were writers out there, crafting great stories and dreaming of sharing them with a wider audience. We wanted to provide the audience — and tap into some of that creative energy. So we put the word out there and crossed our fingers. We got some great support from the local and national writing community, who shared our post through social media.

Illustration by Alanah Abels

And the entries poured in! First it was a trickle, then came the flood. Over 75 entries in total were judged through a “blind” process — thanks rob mclennan for that suggestion, which helped us read each story with an open mind. Three members of the Ottawa St. Joseph Communications team read every story, and a fourth helped us whittle the long list down to a winner and a runner-up.

And the winner is…

Barbara Sibbald, for Waiting

And the runner-up is Theresa Wallace, for Camping at Mont Tremblant

You can read these two stories in the Summer issue of Ottawa Magazine, which hits newsstands in early June.