ARE YOU…Then Townships Young Voices is for you!
TYVoices invites creative young people in the Eastern Townships to participate in the Townships Sun – your community magazine.
Submissions are Now Open for the Townships Young Voices Competition! This year’s theme is: What interests YOU? Submissions should relate to some aspect of life in the Eastern Townships, past, present or future. The contest is free to enter and the deadline is January 31, 2025. Submissions can be uploaded via this form: https://forms.gle/9LPwkitmzZbFoR3e8 The competition is…
Welcome to the TYVoices blog! I’m excited to share this journey with you all. I think it’s best to start by introducing myself properly. My name’s Dan Kirchin.
Get creative with Townships Young Voices! The TYVoices project is dedicated to encouraging Youth to publicize their creative passions … and become more involved with the Townships Sun magazine! Participants have the option to submit their works in the following categories: Fiction writing, Nonfiction writing, Art, Photography, and Poetry. And like the previous year,…
TYVoices 2024 Special Edition of the Townships Sun So… here’s what happens to the winning TYVoices creative work – stories, poems, artwork, photos, nonfiction – they all go to Townships heaven, aka the Townships Sun’s summer edition. Here’s the 2024 edition. To subscribe, go to townshipssun.ca/Subscribe.
We’re just getting our new competition organized, so keep an eye on this blog space for new details coming soon. Deadline: January 31, 2025. Get set… Questions? Ask: [email protected]
Enter in any or all categories (one entry per category) for a chance to win one of 15 Awards. An expert judge will select award recipients in five categories: Art, Photography, Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction.
At least $3,000 in cash prizes will be awarded for Art, Photos, Poetry, Fiction, or Nonfiction for Magazines by creative youth (ages 11-29) who reside in the Eastern Townships.
The winning works will be published in the Townships Sun.
We will honour participants, including the 15 award recipients, at a public ceremony planned for the Dufferin Heights Golf Club near, Stanstead, Quebec, on April 6, 2025.
Persons ages 11 to 29 who reside in the historical Eastern Townships in Quebec.
THEMEWhat interests YOU? Submissions should relate to some aspect of life in the Eastern Townships, past, present or future.
To see the kinds of content the Townships Sun has published in the recent past, browse its website, TownshipsSun.ca, look at current issues of the magazine in your school’s library, or subscribe HERE. (An online subscription lets you review the past year’s nine issues.)
Watch free TYVoices Workshops on the Townships Sun Young Voices YouTube channel @TYVoices (tips and interviews about creative work for magazines).
(1) The competition is open to anyone between the ages of 11 and 29 who resides in the historical Eastern Townships.
(2) Only one entry per person per category is permitted.
(3) Where work is co-created by a team of more than one person, the entry will be considered as a single entry in ONE category. All team members must be listed in the submission. Any prizes awarded to a team will name each team member and cash prizes will be divided accordingly.
(4) Categories are: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Art and Photography.
Fiction. Length: maximum 700 words. Creative fiction, personal story, humour…. Surprise us. We are looking for stories that draw in the readers, whose characters they can relate to, and that take them on a memorable journey.
(Do NOT insert visual works in a word-processing file. If images are attached, they must be original photos or art created by the writer.)
Nonfiction. Length: maximum 700 words. We are looking for articles, essays, interviews, or reviews with considered views, depth of research, quality of prose, a unique argument, and a strong writing voice that tells a story about a Townships issue, event, person, group, or other topic.
(Do NOT insert visual works in a word-processing file. If images are attached, they must be original photos or art created by the writer.)
Poetry. Poems should be a maximum of 40 lines, and line length 3.5 inches or less (11-point Cambria font). For concrete poetry or poems with unusual formatting, please submit the work as a pdf or jpg image, in as high resolution as possible, preferably 600 pixels per inch (ppi) or higher.
Photography & Artwork. We are looking for work with visual impact in both black-and-white and colour. Composition, content, and technical excellence will all be considered. One submission may consist of one image, or a short series of images to create a visual narrative (for example, a comic strip or a graphic story, told primarily through images).
Please give your work a title and a written description, including the year it was created. Written aspects of the submissions should be in Word or LibreOffice documents, including your bio and contact information.
All images should be in one of these file formats: jpg, tiff, pdf, or png. The images should be as high resolution as possible, preferably 600 pixels per inch (ppi) or higher, at least 3.5 inches wide.
Do NOT send visual works in word-processing files.
(5) All submissions must be in English, because the Townships Sun is a non-profit magazine published in English.
(6) The application deadline is Friday, January 31, 2025 (before midnight). All submissions made are final and cannot be amended.
(7) All applications must be submitted via the online form found at: TYVoices Entry Form
(8) TYVoices will accept original unpublished work only. The Townships Sun will not consider work that has already appeared elsewhere in print or online, with the exception of in-house school publications.
(9) The Townships Sun will not publish any material deemed to be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or to otherwise promote intolerance or hatred.
(10) Prizes are awarded by the Townships Sun magazine’s editorial team.
(11) Special guests may be invited to participate in the jury process for each category in the final stage of decision-making. Such special guests will be announced during the competition.
(12) Townships Young Voices Awards consists of five categories. Three prizes will be awarded per category.
(13) All winning articles will be published in the Townships Sun.
(14) All publication is subject to the participant’s completing the editorial requirements, in collaboration with the Townships Sun’s editor.
(15) Members of the jury evaluating submissions will not know the identities of the authors.
(16) In case of reasonable doubt on the part of the jury, the Townships Sun may contact entrants to verify the above information, as it sees appropriate. Failing to comply with requests for verification may result in an entry being deemed invalid.
(17) All written works will be tested for plagiarism. Please note that any attempt to submit work authored by someone else may result in interested institutions being notified.
(18) Winners – their names and the titles of their works – will be publicly acknowledged and published in the Townships Sun and via social media, and subsequently their works will be published in the Townships Sun magazine.
(19) All matters unclear or not addressed in these guidelines will be resolved by the Editor of the Townships Sun in a way that ensures the competition is fair. The Editor also holds the right to change or amend the guidelines if necessary for the proper conduct of the competition.
(1) Go to the Young Voices page on the Townships Sun website.
(2) Fill out the Form related to the category of your work.
(3) Please upload your written work here (including supporting images in separate files).
An expert jury will review the submissions in each category on an anonymous basis. The awards are to be announced on April 6, 2025, at the Townships Sun Young Voices Awards gala planned for the Dufferin Heights Golf Club in Stanstead.
QUESTIONS? Email us: [email protected].
Townships Young Voices is a project of the Townships Sun magazine, supported by the Townshippers’ Research & Cultural Foundation and the Tillotson Fund..
$3000 in Prizes Go to 15 Creative Youth
Knowlton, April 28, 2024. “You had to be there,” is what everyone is saying. A convergence of over 100 youth, families, teachers, and friends gathered last Sunday in Knowlton for the Townships Sun’s 2024 Townships Young Voices creative awards.
The gala saw 21 finalists recognized in poetry, photography, fiction, nonfiction, and $3000 in prizes were awarded to 15 first, second, and third prize winners.
Twelve-year-old Avigaelle Court of Compton, took first place for nonfiction. “What an event!” she exclaimed. “I am here for the second year in a row. Last year I got Honourable Mention, and this year I won!”
Ruohan Wallis, 18, won awards in both the art and fiction categories. “It is worth it to enter!” she said. Last year, Wallis won in the nonfiction category.
Another 12-year-old, Abigail Champs, took first place in art with an abstract painting, “Lake – 4 Seasons.” Juror Yong Sook Kim-Lambert of Magog, an internationally established artist, said Champs’ work “captures the essence of landscape and conveys the emotional impact felt by the painter. The simple movement and approach support each other in a very mutual way.”
TYVoices participation was up 50 per cent in this second year of the competition, with 75 entries from youth ranging in age from 10 ½ to 29, and from all across the Eastern Townships. Nine were home-schooled, four were not in school, and 62 attended one of 17 different schools. The prizes totaled about three times more than last year: In each category, a first prize of $450, a second prize of $100, and a third prize of $50 were distributed.
All entries were anonymized and then juried by local experts: Louise Abbot (nonfiction) Scott Stevenson (poetry) Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt (fiction) Yong-Sook Kim Lambert (art and photography). Abbott, a renowned Eastern Townships writer, photographer, and filmmaker expressed delight when she realized the nonfiction winner was 12: “I chose the winners based on merit,” she said. “I didn’t know the names or the ages of the participants.”
The Awards Gala was emceed by Ross Murray in collaboration with Ana Martinez and Arabella Macaulay-Fishman, the TYVoices youth coordinators.
“Teachers played a key role in promoting the awards, especially to the younger students,” noted Martinez. “So we decided to create a new prize this year for most participants per school population.”
The TYVoices Team award of $250 will be shared by Richmond’s St. Francis Elementary School, with 11 participants out of 303 students, and the 9 participants out of 170 home-schooled students.
Graduating BCS student, Martinez joined the Townships Sun’s board of directors last year. “A big thank you to the teachers who brought these creative awards to the attention of their students!” she said. “This is a very special part of Canada.” Martinez, originally from Brazil, is planning to attend university in Toronto this fall.
“We are especially grateful to our sponsors and funders,” said Marie Moliner, the Townships Sun’s Assistant Editor and 50th Anniversary coordinator. “Without their support, we could not have made these awards this creative and dynamic. We even had a mascot – Sunny, the grumpy toad – designed by multi talented artist Xania Keane from Newport, Quebec.
Funding partners were the Townshippers’ Research & Cultural Foundation, the Sherbrooke Rotary Club, Desjardins, Mme Geneviève Hébert (MNA, Sherbrooke), Mme Pascale St-Onge (MP, Brome-Missisquoi), the Tillotson Foundation for Coaticook, and individual donors.
“This is volunteer-run event!” said Moliner. “It’s all about building a community of young Townshippers who can find purpose in being creative. Based on our experience last year, we know that some of them will become regular contributors to the Townships Sun.”
A special summer issue of the Townships Sun dedicated to all the Townships Young Voices finalists is to hit newsstands in time for Canada Day.
FICTION
NONFICTION
POETRY
ART
PHOTOGRAPHY
The Townships Sun hosted an award ceremony for the Townships Young Voices project on March 26, 2023, where 18 awards recognized creative youth ages 11 to 27. Entries came in from all over the Eastern Townships including one work co-written with a student in Shanghai, China. First prize winners received $100; second prizes were $50 each. The winning works were published in the Townships Sun’s 50th year of publication.
