Townships Young Voices Grants 18 Awards – March 26, 2023

The Townships Sun hosted an award ceremony for the Townships Young Voices project on March 26, 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. All the winning works will be published in the Townships Sun over the coming year, its 50th year of publication.

ARE YOU CREATIVE, UNDER 30 AND ENGLISH-SPEAKING?

  • Do you enjoy making art?
  • Taking photos?
  • Writing stories?
  • Poems?
  • Getting published?
  • Getting cash?

Then Young Voices is for you!

Young Voices invites creative young people in the Eastern Townships to participate in the Townships Sun –  your community magazine.

E-GUIDE

The digital E-Guide – Photos/Poetry/Art/Writing for Magazines, is a short guide about the ins and outs of photography, poetry, art, and writing for magazines.

The E-Guide is designed for youth and available at no cost to youth, teachers and other interested persons.

 YOUNG VOICES AWARDS

Art/Photos, Poetry, Fiction, or Non-Fiction for Magazines by creative youth in the Eastern Townships.
Enter your work for a Townships Young Voices Award.
Deadline: February 28, 2023

  • Five $100 awards
  • Five $50 awards
  • Five Publication-only awards

GET PUBLISHED: The winning works will be published in the Townships Sun.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Ages 12 to 29 who reside in the historical Eastern Townships.

THEMES

What interests YOU? Submissions should relate to some aspect of life in the Eastern Townships, past, present or future.

To find out what kinds of content the Townships Sun has published in the recent past, browse its website, TownshipsSun.ca, and look at current issues of the magazine in your school’s library, or subscribe HERE.

WORKSHOPS, FREE, ON ZOOM

Get tips from experts: Join free TYVoices WORKSHOPS on Zoom, and watch TYVoices “Info Nuggets” on the Townships Sun YouTube channel (tips and interviews about  creative work for magazines).

CRITERIA

General. Original work only. Material must not be taken from the internet or any other source without permission and acknowledgement. The Townships Sun will not publish any material deemed to be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or to otherwise promote intolerance or hatred.

One submission per person will be accepted in each category. Written work is in English.

Fiction. Length: maximum 1200 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 take them on a memorable journey.

Non-Fiction. Length: maximum 1200 words. We are looking for articles, essays, interviews, or reviews with considered views, depth of research, quality of prose, and a unique argument and strong writing voice that tells a story about a Townships issue, event, person, group, or other topic.

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 either black-and-white or in 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. Do NOT send visual works in Word files. The images should be in as high resolution as possible, preferably 600 pixels per inch (ppi) or higher, minimum 3.5 inches wide.

HOW TO SUBMIT
Please submit all written work by email attachment in Word (.doc or .docx) or LibreOffice Writer (.odt), using 11-point Times New Roman or Cambria font. Single-space the text.

On a separate page, include (1) a short one-sentence bio of the writer/artist/photographer, along with your (2) full name, (3) age, (4) phone number, (5) postal address, and (6) email address.

The file name (for both text and photo files) should be YOUR NAME. Example: Jane Doe.doc.

Email all submissions to: [email protected] (if files are more than 25 MB, send by WeTransfer.com, a free service).
Deadline: February 28, 2023

THEN WHAT?
Townshippers’ Association is administering the Townships Young Voices Awards. A jury of 5 persons representing poetry, photography, art, fiction, and non-fiction will review the submissions on an anonymous basis. The awards will be announced via a Zoom event in March 2023.

QUESTIONS?
Email us: [email protected]

WHAT ABOUT A Zine?

Young Voices Zine: You can have a say in developing a Townships ZINE, an online do-it-yourself magazine, a place for youth to have creative freedom – as editors, writers, artists, and photographers.

Interested? Want to participate in the Zine? Have an idea for its name? Email: [email protected]

Townships Young Voices is a project of the Townships Sun magazine, supported by Townshippers’ Research & Cultural Foundation, Townshippers’ Association, the Rotary Club of the Boundary, Write Here, Write Now! of the BU Lifelong Learning Academy, & the Bishop’s University Experiential Learning Program.