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Lillian Kroll Prize in Creative Writing

A prize of $375 is awarded competitively to an undergraduate student (including students at the affiliated colleges) who exhibits a developing talent for creative writing on the basis of a portfolio of submitted writings (prose, fiction, poetry or drama) that has not so far been published or won an award in any other competition. Tenable once.

This award was made available by Mr. B. Franklin Shostack and Dr. Zane Cohen in memory of the late Lillian Kroll.

Warmest congratulations to Mary Murdoch (Brescia University College) who has been awarded the 2024 Lillian Kroll Prize in Creative Writing for their submission "Keep the Water Out of Your Lungs". Original, inventive, and well crafted, “Keep the Water Out of Your Lungs” balances a deep sensitivity to the suffering of the powerless with an unsparing critique of the hypocrisy of the powerful. This is satire at its topical, biting best.

An Honourable Mention was also awarded to Sebastian Karall (Huron University College) for their submission "Poem for Angels".

We wish them all the best with their writing in the future!

Thank you to Professors Aaron Schneider and Jamie Johnston who acted as the panel of judges this year.

Contest Rules

1. Entries must be submitted no later than midnight on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.
2. Participants must be full-time students registered in any undergraduate (baccalaureate) program at Western University, including Affiliates.
3. Previous first-prize winners are not eligible.
4. Entries to be submitted by email in PDF format to: uenglish@uwo.ca.
5. Submission must include a separate cover page marked Lillian Kroll Prize in Creative Writing with the following information:
   • your name
   • student number (NO SPACES)
   • email address
   • permanent mailing address
   • telephone number
   • contest name: Lillian Kroll Prize in Creative Writing
6. Include the cover page within the same document/pdf file as the creative work (one file in total to be submitted).
7. Do not include any personally identifiable information on the creative work itself.
8. Include the title of the submission on the creative work.
9. Submissions will be coded by a contest organizer who is not a judge.
10. Participants must submit one entry per person, of either prose, fiction, poetry or drama which will be adjudicated on the basis of the quality of the writing submitted, not its quantity.
11. You should submit work that has not hitherto been published or won an award in any other competition. One of the following would be a suitable submission:
    • a poem, or a brief series of linked poems
    • a one-act play, or scenes from a longer work
    • a short story or novella, or selections from a longer work of fiction
12. The winner will be notified by email by April of 2024.
13. The results will be posted on the Department of English and Writing Studies website and social media channels.

Inquiries

uenglish@uwo.ca