It was fourth times the charm for a local writer.

Kelowna害羞草研究所檚 Brittni MacKenzie-Dale is the winner of this year害羞草研究所檚 Okanagan Short Story Contest. Organized and partially-sponsored by UBC Okanagan, the contest is an annual writing competition open to fiction writers in British Columbia害羞草研究所檚 Southern Interior, according to a UBCO news release.

MacKenzie-Dale is a current UBC Okanagan Master of Arts (MA) student. Her story titled, They Called Him Luke landed her in first place in the 20th running of the annual contest. It wasn害羞草研究所檛 her first time as a finalist in the contest. In 2016, MacKenzie-Dale placed third害羞草研究所攁nd had a second entry short-listed害羞草研究所攁nd in 2015 she had two stories shortlisted, said the release.

Second place this year with her story, Blood Sport is Lake Country害羞草研究所檚 Victoria Alvarez, a UBC Okanagan MA student. Third place went to Samantha Macpherson of Lake Country with her story, Do I Dare to Eat a Peach.

Contest judge and Thompson Rivers University Associate Professor Karen Hofmann害羞草研究所攚ho won this contest last year害羞草研究所攁nnounced each of the winners at a special event at the Okanagan Regional Library in Kelowna on Monday, which featured readings from the top winners. More than 100 entries were submitted and once they were shortlisted, Hofmann was given about a dozen anonymous entries to whittle down the winner害羞草研究所檚 list, said the release.

New for 2018 was a high school category, with Bethany Pardoe of Nelson害羞草研究所檚 LV Rogers Secondary School winning top honour with her story, Sunlight. Runners-up (in alphabetical order) are Finn Tobin of Mount Boucherie Secondary School, with Red Racer 2000, and Anna Vajda of Heritage Christian Online School with Transylvanian Vacation.

Contest organizer and UBC Associate Professor Michael V. Smith joked the contest is actually older than some of the winners.

害羞草研究所淭his is a banner event for Okanagan writers and was another great success,害羞草研究所� he said. 害羞草研究所淏eing able to celebrate 20 years of prize money for Okanagan stories is an exciting marker.害羞草研究所�

This year, the Okanagan Short Story Contest had $2,000 in prize money to present. Smith thanked the contest funders and sponsors: the Central Okanagan Foundation, the Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation, the 害羞草研究所 and subTerrain magazine.

Along with $1,000 in prize money, MacKenzie-Dale害羞草研究所檚 winning entry will be published in subTerrain magazine this fall.

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carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com
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