Three of the five winning stories from the inaugural Lanark Lit Writing Competition are available to read on The Millstone!
We’re so excited to share them with you.
Ages 17 and under category
WINNER — The Apartment, by Mattea Crabtree (Perth)
– “a whimsical and fresh voice with excellent character work.”
AUTHOR BIO: Twelve-year-old Mattea has been living in Perth for the last five years with her father, mother, grandmother, and adventure-seeking dog Leo. Some of her favourite activities include swimming, reading dystopian and fantasy novels, singing, making movies, and going camping with her family and friends. An aspiring author, Mattea, has already written three books and numerous short stories, which she one day hopes to publish.
Young adults 18 - 29 category
WINNER — The Story of Gilbert’s Hill, by Georgia Walker (Almonte)
– “a beautiful piece of poetic prose that effortlessly captures the longing that comes from memory and nostalgia.”
AUTHOR BIO: For Georgia’s entire life she has had an in-their-veins kind of feeling about writing. She feels that as her craft branches and continues to grow, her passion and dedication becomes stronger in every word, sentence and paragraph. Even though Georgia is still young, her old soul craves the essence of a pen to paper and the smell of a good book. And as a new Almonte resident, Georgia has a zest for exploring every corner of this new town.
Adults 30+ category
FIRST RUNNER-UP (2nd place) — Team Bob, by Sara Jane O’Neill (Almonte)
– an “imaginative, humourous, and well-written work of dystopian eco-fiction”
AUTHOR BIO: As a career environmentalist, Sara's writing focuses on the optimistic side of eco-fiction. She aims to create stories on important environmental topics through exciting fantasy worlds or light-hearted adventures. A raging introvert living in Almonte with her cats, when not writing she can most often be found reading a book, having coffee dates with friends, or heading out into nature on foot or bike. Follow her on Instagram @sjoneillauthor
About the Lanark Lit Writing Competition
With a total of 42 submissions across three categories, stories were sent in by writers from all over Lanark County (and a bit beyond) including Almonte, Carleton Place, Perth, Smiths Falls, McDonalds Corners, Westport, Arnprior, Delta, and Lanark. The range of style in the stories was vast, and represents the creative diversity of the literary arts in the area. Written with love and command of language, these stories all left an impression on our competition jurors, and invoked a wide range of emotion and experience; from laughter, to imagination, amusement, sadness and longing. Well done, everyone!
This region is absolutely chock full of writerly talent, and the competition judges definitely had their hands full. Our esteemed panel of jurors each participated in a round of blind consideration of the submissions. All author names were removed prior to circulation, and discussions maintained anonymity of the authors until the decisions were finalized. The first set of jurors in the Adult 30+ category created a long-list of stories and the second set of jurors decided on a short-list and eventually, a winner. Each juror thoughtfully considered every story and took their role seriously. As members of our literary community, they knew the courage taken by every writer to submit and appreciated elements of every submission. On behalf of our community and all participants we wish to thank our jury for their time, dedication, and thoughtfulness:
Competition Winners and details available here
Lanark Lit Writing Competition 2024 is funded by the Elizabeth Kelly Foundation, with partial funding from the Municipality of Mississippi Mills.