Top prize for local writer

Photo: Contributed

A Kelowna author has taken the top prize in a national short story contest, beating out 1,800 other entries.

Alix Hawley was recently named the grand prize winner in the 2017 CBC Short Story Prize for her short story Witching.

The win comes with a $6,000 grand prize and a 10-day writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Additionally, Witching will be published in the May edition of Air Canada's enRoute magazine.

“Witching is charged with tender dread —the calamity of a damaged soldier’s return from Afghanistan,” said the contest's judges in a statement. “The language is elegant and understated and draws the reader deeply into this world.”

This isn't the first time Hawley has been recognized for her writing.

In 2013, she took home the top spot in the Canada Writes 'Bloodlines' contest, for her story Pig (for Oma). Her stories Tenacity and Jumbo were runners-up in the CBC Short Story Prize in 2012 and 2014 respectively.

Hawley is a fourth-generation resident of Kelowna who has taught English at Okanagan College. Burtch Road is named after her great-grandfather.  

Of the four runners-up in this year's Short Story Prize, two have B.C. connections. Meg Todd, who lives in Vancouver, was recognized for her story Warrior, while Kasia Juno, who was raised in Nelson, was recognized for her story The Peninsula of Happiness.