And the winner is...

Photo: Contributed

he 2017 Okanagan Short Story Contest winners, from left: Karen Hofmann, Michael Griffin, UBC Writer in Residence Renee Sarojini Saklikar and Cliff Hatcher.

A Kamloops author has won the UBC Okanagan 2017 Okanagan Short Story Contest.

Karen Hofmann took first place for her short story “The Island.” Cliff Hatcher, also of Kamloops, placed second with "A Certain Way With Furniture” while Kelowna’s Michael Griffin took third place for his story, "Poppy and Boo.”

UBC Writer in Residence Renée Sarojini Saklikar unveiled the winners Tuesday night in the Great Room at the Kelowna branch of the Okanagan Regional Library.

“All three stories stayed with me and resonated their own individual strangeness: that quality that marks writing as something worthy of attention, for having been imbued with intention by its creator, crafted to persuade the reader of some urgency,” said Saklikar.

“That quality of strangeness is the highest compliment, that one writer can give to another, so I offer this to each story: commendation for a strange voice, for seeing the world a little off-kilter, in ways that disturb and unsettle.”

Along with the $500 prize money and bragging rights, Hofmann’s story will be published in the Summer/Fall edition of Vancouver-based subTerrainmagazine.

She also wins a one-week residency at the Woodhaven Eco Culture Centre. Second and third-place winners receive $200 and $100, respectively.

For 2018, all three top cash prizes of the annual contest will double and a new category has been created for high school-aged writers.

“There aren’t a lot of opportunities for student writers in the country, but now we have a great crack at it here in the Okanagan,” said Associate Professor Michael V. Smith, who teaches creative writing. “We hope we can make this high school category sustainable, so we can offer it every year.”