Catherine Austen
Creative Writing
Awesome Authors 2020
The Ottawa Public Library’s annual Youth Writing Contest — Awesome Authors — is underway! If you’re an Ottawa resident between the ages of 9 and 18, sharpen your pencils or boot up your computer because it’s time to get writing and drawing.
Awesome Authors honours the very best poems, stories, and comics in English and French submitted by young Ottawa writers and artists from December through February each year. This year’s deadline is February 28th — that’s tons of time to get your best material polished.
If you need help getting your work in order, register for one of the many writing workshops being offered across town for free. I’m giving the fiction workshop for kids aged 9-12 and I’d love to meet you.
English workshops:
Short story workshop with Catherine Austen for ages 9-12, Stittsville branch, February 1st at 11 am
Short story workshop with Amelinda Bérubé for ages 13-18, Hazeldean branch, February 8th at 1:30 pm
Comic book workshop with Éric Péladeau for ages 9+, Ruth E. Dickinson branch, February 15th at 2 pm
Poetry workshop with Apollo The Child for ages 9-12, Greenboro branch, February 22nd at 10:30 am
Poetry workshop with Apollo The Child for ages 13-18, Carlingwood branch, February 22nd at 2 pm
French workshops:
Comment devenir un(e) super auteur(e) with Karine Perron for ages 9+, St-Laurent branch, February 1st at 3 pm
Comment devenir un super bédéiste with Éric Péladeau for ages 9+, Cumberland branch, February 15th at 11 am
If you’re super-keen, you can submit in every category for your age group! Whatever you do, follow the rules outlined on the OPL website. Have fun, work hard, and submit by February 28th.
Winners will be announced at an Award Ceremony in April 2020. Winners will receive awesome prizes and their winning work will be published in next year’s Pot-pourri anthology.
Good luck.
13 Comments on “Awesome Authors 2020”
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Catherine Austen lives and writes in Gatineau, Quebec.
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hi, I have a question how much pages are we supposed to write for the short story
Hi Rahima. The short story category has a maximum of 1,000 words. (Don’t go over even a little — it will be disqualified.) The title is not included in the word count. 🙂
do we still do 1000 words for a poem
Yes, up to 1000 words for a poem, too. Good luck!
Is the Awards Ceremony still going on?
No, sadly, the ceremony is cancelled due to Covid-19. But there will be an online version of sorts. I’ll post another reply when I know exactly when it will be happening and how to access it.
Ok thanks!
Hi, any news on the online awards ceremony?
Hi Parisa. They are probably getting all the short videos together now to combine into one online ceremony. I’ve emailed to ask if they have a date yet. Will post it here when I find out. 🙂
Hi again. I just got this reply from the library:
“The winners will be announced in May. We are looking at different options taking in consideration the situation. Please, keep an eye on OPL website and social medias for updates.”
Whenever a date is finalized, it will be announced on the library website. Hope this helps.
Thank you!!
Hi, I got an email saying that the winners have been announced- where is that? (it was from Cindy Lebas)
Hi Lucy. Thanks for letting me know about this. 🙂 You can find the link to the announcement here: https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/awesome-authors (I posted about it, too.)