Six Make the Shortlist for our June Writing Contest
We are so pleased to announce that SIX writers have made the shortlist for our June Write Prompt Challenge.
We try to choose images that can take authors in countless directions, and the image of an entrance to a stairwell and elevator certainly took people to some interesting places. These writers approached the provided image with wonderfully unique views that were clever and surprising.
Congratulations to Finnian Burnett, Anna Karch, Sarah Law, Tara Ross, Andrew Shaughnessy, and Cheryl Skory Suma — we wish you well as you go on to the final stage of judging!
Finnian Burnett | shortlisted for the story, 'Lift Capacity'
Finnian Burnett is a college educator, a writer, and a cat person. Their work has appeared in Blank Spaces Magazine, Reflex Press, Wordworks Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and more. Finn's recent collection, The Clothes Make the Man was published through Ad Hoc Fiction and another flash fiction collection, The Price of Cookies, is forthcoming through Off Topic Publishing. Finnian lives in British Columbia with their wife and Lord Gordo, the cat.
Anna Karch| shortlisted for the story, 'Elevator'
Recently graduated with an MA in Creative Writing, Anna Karch is contemplating her next steps as she works on short stories and poems.
Sarah Law | shortlisted for the story, 'q + a'
Sarah Law is a reporter/editor for CBC Thunder Bay. She lives in Thunder Bay, Ont. with her partner and her two cats, Luna and Panda.
Tara K. Ross | shortlisted for the story, 'The Presser of Buttons'
Tara K Ross is a podcaster, audiobook narrator, and author of the novel, FADE TO WHITE. She has also been published in Wells Street Journal, Love is Moving, and Grace Go Bloom. When she’s not adulting, or working as a Speech-Language Pathologist, she climbs the Ontario escarpment and blogs about the interplay of family, community, and mental health at www.hopeprose.com.
Andrew Shaughnessy | shortlisted for the story, 'Better Overlate than Never'
Andrew (Andy) Shaughnessy is a writer and intellectual property litigation lawyer living in Toronto and Gravenhurst, Ontario. Andy is the Bronze Medalist of the December 2021 Blank Spaces Contest. He is a frequent participant in short story and writing contests. His short story “As Night Lifts” was published in Off Topic Publishing’s “Wayward & Upward” Anthology in November 2022. He overuses parentheses—and m dashes—and has (the love of) a dog.
Cheryl Skory Suma | shortlisted for the story, 'The Art of Tear Eating & Other Non-Predatory Behaviours'
Cheryl’s work has appeared in US, UK, and Canadian publications, including Barren Magazine, Reckon Review, National Flash Fiction, Exposition Review, FatalFlaw Literary Magazine, Longridge Review, SFWP, SugarSugarSalt, Sonora Review and many others. A multi-Pushcart nominee, her work placed in forty competitions since 2019, including: 2nd place, Blank Space’s Spring 2023 Write Prompt Contest, Runner-Up, 2022 Pulp Literature’s Flash Fiction Contest, Honorable Mention, Exposition Review’s 2022 Flash 405 Contest, shortlist, Solstice Magazine’s 2022 Literary Contest, and shortlist, 2022 International Amy MacRae Award for Memoir. Cheryl has a MHSc Speech-Language Pathology and an HBSc Psychology. Post publication, she jined the team at Barren Magazine as Flash CNF Contributing Editor and at Reckon Review as a staff reader. You can find her on twitter @cherylskorysuma
Watch for our announcement of the top three in the coming weeks!
