27th Annual Writing Contest Judges 2025
Creative Nonfiction: - Murgatroyd Monaghan
Murgatroyd Monaghan is an Autistic mother, writer, and poet of mixed descent. Her writing tells the true stories of the people of North Turtle Island. Murgatroyd has won multiple national and international awards for her writing. In the last year, MM won both PRISM International’s Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize and CNFC’s creative nonfiction prize, and she has also listed for CBC’s nonfiction prize. When she is not travelling for stories or writing them, Murg can be found snuggling on her giant bed with her three kids and two butthead cats, watching Star Trek.
Poetry - Yvonne Blomer
Yvonne Blomer’s sixth book is Death of Persephone: A Murder, a mystery in poems based on the Persephone myth. Previous books include The Last Show on Earth, which explores grief, love and climate change. She is a past poet laureate of Victoria, BC and an award-winning poet, and nonfiction writer who lives on the traditional territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) speaking people.
www.yvonneblomer.com
Critical Review - Adrian Lysenko
Adrian Lysenko is the author of Five Stalks of Grain, a graphic novel illustrated by Ivanka Theodosia Galadza that tells a story of tragedy and survival during the Holodomor, the terror-famine that claimed millions of lives in Soviet Ukraine. He’s the editor-in-chief of the arts and culture alternative The Walleye Magazine and lives outside Thunder Bay, Ontario. https://adrianlysenko.com/
Bill MacDonald Prize for Prose - Short Fiction - Rebekah Skochinski
Rebekah Skochinski’s fiction has appeared in literary journals such as The New Quarterly, Grain, and The Humber Literary Review, among others. Her story “Eggshells” won first place in Room’s 2023 Fiction contest. She has previously worked in radio and TV, is a long-time editor and contributor with The Walleye magazine and co-host of Better in Stereo – a new arts & culture podcast. She lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario with her husband and rescue mutt, Alfie. When she’s not dancing, or trying to make her friends laugh, she is at work on her first novel. Find more at rebekahskochinski.com and @rebekahskochinski on Instagram.