Awesome Authors 2023 (Update)

Posted on May 18, 2023 by Catherine Austen

The Ottawa Public Library’s Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest was a huge success this year, with more entries than ever. Over 700 young writers of poetry, comics, and short stories submitted pieces this winter, leaving judges like me with many difficult decisions (but many hours of delightful reading!).

Check out the library’s post of all the winners and honourable mentions in this year’s contest.

I read almost 250 submissions of English short stories by writers aged 9-12 and it was SO HARD to choose the final pieces. My shortlist was 18 stories and any one of them could have won. So if your story wasn’t chosen in the final 6 for that category, know that many, many great stories were left off the list and you were probably the last one dropped. But keep writing!

Thanks to the support of the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association, this year’s winners and honourable mentions will be anthologized in Pot-pourri in the fall. Check out the many past editions of that awesome anthology.

Keep tabs on the OPL website to hear about next year’s contest. And — can’t say it enough — keep writing!