The Ottawa Public Library is seeking new judges for this year's Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest. Published authors and professional storytellers living in the National Capital Region are encouraged to apply. There is only one week left to apply. (This is a late post, I know, but I was confused by the September 29th selection… Continue reading Judges needed for the OPL’s Awesome Authors Contest
[May 2026 Update: This year's contest is done and you can Meet the Awesome Authors Youth Writing contest winners on the OPL website. Their works will be published in the fall; more on that later.] Original post: The Ottawa Public Library's Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest is open for entries! Young writers of the nation's… Continue reading Awesome Authors 2026 is on!
Last weekend I attended the launch of Pot-pourri 2025, a gorgeous collection of the winning works of this year's Ottawa Public Library Awesome Authors contest. The book showcases eighteen contest winners, with poems, comics, and short stories in English and French from authors aged 9-12 and 13-18. There was a great turnout at this year's… Continue reading Pot-pourri 2025 launch: new works by Awesome Authors
[UPDATE May 22: A huge thank-you to the Regina Public Library for inviting me into their branches, virtually, to lead local writers in this prompt-based workshop via Zoom. It was a new workshop for me and I LOVED it! Thanks to everyone who participated and helped out. 😀] Next Saturday, I'll be leading a writing… Continue reading Virtual Writing Workshop
The Award Ceremony for the Ottawa Public Library's Awesome Authors Youth Writing Contest had to be cancelled this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So the judges (including me) made short videos to announce this year's winners and honourable mentions, and the wonderful folks at the library put it all together into two ceremonial videos:… Continue reading 2020 Winners Announced
Catherine Austen 