Congratulations to the newly formed Atlantic Canada Farm Writers’ Association, the sixth association under the umbrella of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation. The 12-person charter group, led by federation senator Allison Finnamore, assembled earlier this month in the cradle of Canadian confederation, Charlottetown, PEI.
Allison writes about the experience on her blog , and cites these reasons for having a local farm writers’ group:
- Farmers and agriculture — around the world, throughout our country or in our own back yard — have important stories to tell, and we need to help them.
- We need to gather together to share our experiences about what works and what doesn’t work when we tell these stories.
- We need to learn about the new practices farmers are adopting and how they’re working on the farm.
- We need to stay informed and up-to-date with the latest communication methods.
- We need to polish our photography skills and sharpen our reporting proficiency.
- We need to network with each other.
Good luck to this new group of agricultural journalists and communications professionals. Thanks to the anonymous security guard who took the photo of the group, which included Gwyn Bellefontaine (third from left), a former agricultural communications student of mine at the University of Guelph, along with Allison, fourth from the right.
Charter members of the Atlantic Canada Farm Writers' Association: (from left) Andy Walker (PEI), Wayne MacKinnon (PEI), Gwyn Bellefontaine (PEI), George Fullarton (NB), Allison Finnamore (NB), Wayne Riley (PEI), Jeanne Whitehead (NB) and Nina Linton (PEI).
Congratulations and best wishes to the new farm writers’ group. There are a lot of great journalists in Atlantic Canada; this group can help encourage, share and mentor other agricultural journalists, as well as celebrate the well-deserved successes along the way.
Dear Farm Writers’ Federation:
In promoting the 2010 CBC Literary Awards, our aim is to reach as many writers of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction (more below) as we can. Please feel free to forward this email on to your writers.
Creative Nonfiction is a category that includes memoir, biography, humour writing, essay (including personal essay), travel writing, and feature articles. While the events must be real and the facts true, creative nonfiction conveys your message through the use of literary techniques such as characterization, plot, setting, dialogue, narrative, and personal reflection. In works of creative nonfiction, the writer’s voice and opinion are evident. The work should be accessible to a general reading audience (i.e., not written for a specialized or academic audience).
Some info in brief:
- Categories are Fiction (2000 to 2500 words), Nonfiction (2000 to 2500), and Poetry (1000 to 2000).
- Submission must not have been previously published.
- Deadline is November 1, 2010.
- Open to Canadian citizens only.
- First prize for each category is $6000.00.
- Second prize in each category is $4000.00.
- Cost per submission is $25.00.
- See the link below for more info and to submit your work and pay online.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/literaryawards/about/
Thank you very much!
Regards,
The CBC Lit Awards Team