Etobicoke’s Jessica Wareing has taken the grand prize in the Toronto Star’s 47th annual short story contest with a narrative capturing the troubling reality of unaccepting parents who use religion in an attempt to manipulate their child’s love life.
Wareing’s tale, “Heaven Without,” paints a picture familiar to many LGBTQ folks with parents who reject their sexuality, and use prayer to look for guidance and ask for forgiveness for their child’s “temptation.”
“Heaven Without” came to life during a sleepless night when Wareing worked on a writing exercise that required her to create a story, piecing together three prompts: drama as the genre, eating a pie as an action and a heavy book as the object to incorporate. The story was her second idea that she wrote based on the prompts, completing both within her original 48-hour deadline.
Wareing said she enjoys crafting tales with “seemingly meaningless little bits.”
“I’m a big believer in ‘done is better than perfect,’ ” she said. “Just put words on the paper and see what comes.”
For readers who may relate to the protagonist, she says “defiance doesn’t have to be big to be meaningful. And being true to yourself is worth the pain.”
The 29-year-old queer storyteller, actor and intimacy co-ordinator won $5,000 and tuition fees toward the Humber School for Writers. Her story will be featured in the Star’s May 4 print edition.
Sarah Chamberlain of Owen Sound placed second for “Robocalypse,” about people living in a futuristic society who rely on robots for their tasks and chores. The robots eventually resist human demands and revolt, after the narrator helps them gain the power to think independently.
Chamberlain, 37, said she was influenced by society’s struggles with artificial intelligence but also wanted to shed light on humans’ role in making AI a negative thing.
“We create this artificial intelligence, but we very frequently project our most negative traits onto it, like they’re greedy, jealous or violent. And it leads to our demise,” she said. “I’m not a big fan of AI taking over stuff but on the other side, I don’t think it’s them that we should blame. It’s our choice to do this.”
Chamberlain, a librarian, won $2,000 for “Robocalypse,” which will be published in the Star on April 27.
In third place came Toronto’s Carolynn McNally with ”Name Rock,” a story about a child’s first time in her mother’s hometown, going on a risky adventure with two local kids, and exploring the wonders and the dangers of the Atlantic Ocean.
Born and raised in New Brunswick, McNally is no stranger to the beaches of the Maritimes.
After living away from the Maritimes for 15 years, she wrote the story to express her feelings of being homesick. McNally cycles in Toronto and visits the lake, but “it’s not the ocean.”
“Coming out of the pandemic and living in an urban setting, it can be kind of isolating,” McNally said. “It’s playing with that idea of living far away, but being reminded of that belonging when you go back.”
Now a full-time historian, McNally said this was her first time writing a fictional short story, and this “opens the door to do more writing.”
“Name Rock” takes home the $1,000 prize and will be published in the Star’s print edition April 20.
The contest opened Jan. 4 for original submissions no more than 2,500 words. A panel of judges narrowed down 25 finalists to three winners.
The judges were Vickery Bowles, city librarian; the Star’s Deborah Dundas; the CBC’s Ali Hassan; Richard Ouzounian, director and writer; and Kai Cheng Thom, author, performer, cultural worker and speaker.
