Contests
3rd Anniversary Contest
Has it been 3 years already?! To celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the DarkWinter Literary Magazine launch, we’re hosting a writing contest which opens on March 31, 2025 and closes on April 30, 2025. Submit your poetry (1 poem per entry, max. 500 words) or short fiction (1 story per entry, max. 2000 words) by the deadline. Winners will be chosen by our judging panel and will be announced on May 31st, 2025. There is no entry fee. The shortlist will be published and the first place entries will receive a cash prize of $50. Please see our regular submissions guidelines to find out what kinds of things excite us, and include the words “3rd Anniversary Contest” in the subject line of your email submission. We can’t wait to read your work! Send it to darkwinterlit@gmail.com
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Poetry Judge:
Hollay Ghadery
Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children’s book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is the host of the 105.5 FM Bookclub, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets and a co-chair of the League’s BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com
Short Fiction Judge:
Rod Carley
Rod is the award-winning author of four works of literary fiction: RUFF (coming September 2024), GRIN REAPING (long listed for the 2023 Leacock Medal for Humour, 2022 Bronze Winner for Humour from Foreword Review INDIES, a Finalist for the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Humor/Comedy, and long listed for the ReLit Group Awards for Best Short Fiction of 2023); KINMOUNT (long listed for the 2021 Leacock Medal for Humour and Winner of the 2021 Silver Medal for Best Regional Fiction from the Independent Publishers Book Awards); A Matter of Will (Finalist for the 2018 Northern Lit Award for Fiction). All with Latitude 46 Publishing.
His short stories and creative non-fiction have appeared in a variety of Canadian literary magazines including Broadview, Cloud Lake Literary, Blank Spaces, Exile, HighGrader, and the anthology 150 Years Up North and More. He was a finalist for the 2021 Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Prize.
Rod is a popular author and moderator with literary festivals and book clubs. Recent credits include the Wordstock Sudbury, 1000 Islands Writers Festival, Jabbawong Storytelling Festival, Burlington Literary Festival, and The Literary Press Group of Canada. He has facilitated a variety of writers’ workshops for festivals and webinars for the Writers’ Union of Canada.
He is a proud alumnus of the Humber School for Writers. www.rodcarley.ca.
