2020 CBC SHORT STORY PRIZE WINNER ANNOUNCED
April 22, 2020 – CBC BOOKS, CBC’s online home for literary content, together with its partners, the Canada Council for the Arts and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, today announced the winner of the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize.
Brenda Damen of Calgary, has won the grand prize for her story, Gibson. The story was selected from more than 2400 works received from across the country and is available to be read at CBCBooks.ca.
As the grand-prize winner, Damen will receive $6000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and her story will be published on CBCBooks.ca. She will also receive a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
The jury was composed of writers David Bezmozgis, Alix Hawley and Rawi Hage, who said:
“Gibson is a feat of fearless, poetic and even terrifying storytelling. The narrator, a young woman preyed upon cruelly and brutally by her father, nevertheless finds, through language and the sense data of the natural world, the strength and resilience to survive. The writing is elliptical, often aphoristic and replete with indelible images — from a young girl’s visceral experience of violence, to the skinning of a bear, to the storms and rockslides that thrill and shudder the world the narrator inhabits. This is writing of the first rank which demonstrates just how much a wise, sensitive and clear-eyed writer can do with the short story form.”
This entry is the first Damen has submitted to a literary competition. When asked why she decided to enter Gibson in the CBC Short Story Prize, she wrote, “I did not think I stood a chance of being longlisted, but entering was an act of bravery after keeping my book a secret all these years.” Damen has been working on a manuscript for 13 years, and many of the scenes in Gibson were taken from that longer work.
CBC Books also announced Julie Bouchard as the winner of the French grand prize for Fin juillet à Split Landing. More information is available at ICI.Radio-canada.ca/icionlit under the “Prix de la nouvelle” tab.
The four runners-up for the CBC Short Story Prize, each receiving $1000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, are: Lyle Burwell of Sudbury, Ontario, for Highballin'; Sarah Fulton of Oshawa, Ontario, for But Not to Call Me Back or Say Goodbye; Julia Jenkins of Nanaimo, B.C. for I Am Aani Littlecrab; and Julia Zarankin of Toronto, for Black-legged Kittiwake.
For more information on the CBC Literary Prizes, visit CBCBooks.ca.
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About CBC Books
Home to Canada Reads, Writers & Company with Eleanor Wachtel, The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers, Canada Writes and the CBC Literary Prizes, CBC Books connects Canadians with books, encouraging a shared love of reading and writing. For book news, writing challenges, reading lists, book recommendations and more, visit CBCBooks.ca.
About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.
About Canada Council for the Arts
The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada’s public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. The Council champions and invests in artistic excellence through a broad range of grants, services, prizes and payments to professional Canadian artists and arts organizations. Its work ensures that excellent, vibrant and diverse art and literature engages Canadians, enriches their communities and reaches markets around the world. The Council also raises public awareness and appreciation of the arts through its communications, research and arts promotion activities. It is responsible for the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, which promotes the values and programs of UNESCO in Canada to contribute to a more peaceful, equitable and sustainable future. The Council’s Public Lending Right (PLR) Program sends yearly payments to creators whose works are in Canada’s public libraries. The Canada Council Art Bank operates art rental programs and helps further public engagement with contemporary arts.
About Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Founded in 1933, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development. What started as a single course in drama has grown to become the global organization leading in arts, culture, and creativity across dozens of disciplines. From our home in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity aims to inspire everyone who attends our campus – artists, leaders, and thinkers – to unleash their creative potential and realize their unique contribution to society through cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, world-class performances, and public outreach.
For further information, contact:
Frances Bedford
CBC Communications
frances.bedford@cbc.ca
416-205-7673
Diane Hargrave
Diane Hargrave Public Relations
dhprbks@interlog.com
416-467-9954
