The Winning Unicorn and Nine Pints of Beer

I don't care if a real unicorn is discovered living in a rain forest in Borneo. I don't care if this real unicorn speaks excellent English and has a doctorate in advanced alchemy from Inter Galactic U. I just don't care. No more unicorns. 

Why? Because I've just spent the last month judging a short story writing contest sponsored by the Toronto Writers' Co-op on behalf of its members. The subject was Space Faring Unicorns, and for a first time event the submission count wasn't bad - eleven - and there would have been two or three more if life had co-operated just a bit.

Bill Clark won the contest with his allegorical tale that used unicorns aboard a damaged spaceship to represent the terrible way we treat each other here on Earth, and how abusers and abused, whether aboard a spaceship or on our own piece of rock, will suffer together. The two runners-up were Kris Westerlaken and John Warren. All eleven entries were judged blind; I didn't know the name of the winner until it was announced. First prize was nine pints of beer and $20, and Bill generously shared his win with Kris and John, John Miller, who runs TWC, and yours truly. I hope the winner and the two runners-up will be posted on the TWC website in the next short while.

There's talk of expanding the contest next year to include all of Hogtown's writing groups. The rules will be the same: a complete short story of no more than 1500 words on a topic suggested by a TWC member, although you can bet it won't unicorns. 

TWC Welcomes Space Faring Unicorns

The tiny handful of people who read this blog (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!) know I'm not a fan of literary competitions, but the Space Faring Unicorns Short Story contest is different. How different? It was my big mouth that got it started. A couple of months ago I was outside the Toronto Reference Library holding forth to Bill and his wife Angela about my loathing of science fiction. Who cares about unicorns speeding through the universe, I said. Well, Bill, Angela and Kris, all valuable contributors to the Toronto Writers Co-op, obviously do. So Bill and Kris decided a contest for TWC members was in order. The contest's subject would be Space Faring Unicorns. And since I was the instigator because of my initial yapping about sci-fi, I'd have to set the rules and judge the entries.

TWC workshops are held every Sunday at TRL. There might be as few as eight people show up some days, but at other times there could be thirty. I didn't know how many entries to expect - anywhere from none to a few. Well, at deadline yesterday TWC founder John Miller told me he'd received eleven submissions. Eleven! I was gobsmacked. And pleased more than I can say. Not because my name is somehow attached to the contest, but because it got people writing.

John, who does sterling work for TWC, will give each submission just a number so the judging will be blind. The winner gets $20 from TWC for a meal and nine pints of beer (or reasonable substitute, although can anything actually replace Keith's India Pale Ale?) to wash it down. Why nine pints? Because Bill asked me what the winner will get and I said I'd buy him/her a drink. How many? Oh, more than one but fewer than ten, I said, not thinking. Good, Bill shot back. Nine pints it is.

There's talk that the contest may become an annual affair. I hope so. Good luck to everyone who's entered.