I just won the 2009 Cuffer Prize with “Holes to China”

The judges, and this is why it matters: Kathleen Winter, Russell Wangersky, and Joan Sullivan.

I got two thousand dollars and some media out of this, but having those judges get behind you is priceless.

Article here: http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=302772&sc=85

Adjudication: “”The protagonist of ‘Holes to China’ is a boy named Jacob who digs a hole in his backyard after school. This project (digging to China) – geographically impossible – is psychologically necessary. Jacob’s father is dying, and this experiment is his escape from his grief, enacted one red-plastic shovel-load after another. Added to the story is Jacob’s neighbour, Ted, who aids in the excavation, and thus without speaking of it helps soothe the boy’s sense of loss. In this compact, insightful and beautifully realized story, not even Jacob’s later possible betrayal of Ted will mitigate this gift.”