Taylor Friederici, Hailey Payjack, Debbie Okun Hill, Iris Spence, Oksana Gusieva, and Rose Shahnieva take home top prizes
The Selkirk Adult Learning Program(SALP) hosts a Community Writing Contest to find the best writers in the region every year. The contest allows entries of almost any genre, so poetry, non-fiction, and fiction writers are all able to submit their writing. After some very tough decision making on the judges’ part, it was recently announced that Taylor Friederici, Hailey Payjack, Debbie Okun Hill, Iris Spence, Oksana Gusieva, and Rose Shahnieva took home the top spots with their writing.
There are two competitive categories of writing in the competition the first is for Learning Program students. In the student entries, Iris Spence took home the first-place prize for the poetry submission Hate it or Love it?, Oksana Gusieva took second for Grandma Got Lost, a non-fiction story, and Rose Shahnieva rounded out the group with the non-fiction composition Letter to my Younger Self.
The second submission group is the community category, which takes entries from anyone in our community, and competition is fierce. When all submissions were counted, Taylor Friederici’s poetry entry, honey and tea took home the top prize, Hailey Payjack’s Fiction story, Adelaide came in runner-up, and Debbie Okun Hill’s fictional story, Jonathan, Have you lost your marbles? came in third.
The Selkirk Record spoke with Taylor Friederici to discuss her winning submission, as well as how she got her start writing, and how she felt about winning the contest.
“It was a very exciting experience for me. I’ve always wanted to enter writing contests, and I was just never able to find the right resources, and then I came across a post on Facebook about the (community writing) contest,” said Friederici.
She said that the feeling when she found out she had taken the top spot was indescribable.
This contest was actually Friederici’s first writing contest that she submitted work as an adult. Though she did mention taking part in a contest as a child that saw her work published in a book that’s unfortunately been lost to time.
As for this contest, her entry was a poetry submission that draws the reader in through the use of metaphor and comparison. The poem speaks to the comfort that someone you love brings through their presence in your life.
Friederici has been writing for many years, and her inspiration comes from her life.
“It’s more personal than most, which can be a flaw, but also a great asset as well,” she said.
Her journey as a writer started when she was quite young, but after doing some writing in elementary school, she took a pause until she was an adult, and she’s been writing on and off since.
“I’ve always really enjoyed doing it. I find that writing really helps people express their emotions, and it’s a good way to get things out as well, whether that be happy emotions, sad emotions, angry emotions, whatever. It’s a good way to express your feelings. It’s therapeutic,” said Friederici.
Her best advice for someone just starting their writing journey is to share their work.
“(Don’t) overthink it, share with your family, I just recently shared the one that was awarded to my grandma, and it brought her to tears, and she was like, ‘I didn’t know you had that kind of talent.’” said Friederici.
If you don’t have a supportive family, she also suggests that you could share with friends and try to find events in Selkirk or Winnipeg that allow you to share your writing.
“If it’s how you can express who you are, if that’s just something you enjoy doing in general. Keep doing it, and don’t give up on it,” she said.
She also encourages writers to enter next year’s community writing contest.
“It was an incredible opportunity that I didn’t know was available in our community, and if I knew people that were into writing, whether it was poetry, lyrical, non-fiction, or fiction, I would absolutely recommend it to anybody,” said Friederici.
Feedback from the judges about Friederici’s writing was naturally very positive, with them saying that their initial response was “Wow”. Additionally, they added that Friederici took home the top prize for her lovely choice of beautifully descriptive language, and the honey and tea metaphor opening the poem with evocative descriptions, then closing the poem by pulling it all together.
If you would like to read Friederici’s winning writing, honey and tea, as well as all the other winning prose, they can be found online at selkirkadultlearning.wixsite.com.
The Learning Program also has some great planning in store when they reopen in September.
They’ll once again be offering literacy upgrading for adult learners, math upgrading and basic computer skills for adults who want to build confidence with technology. All programs are open to adults in Selkirk and surrounding areas, and newcomers are warmly welcome. Anyone interested can register on the SALP website (selkirkadultlearning.wixsite.com), and they will hear back about their options when the program reopens in early September.
The Learning Program would also like to thank Community Writing Contest sponsors Gerdau, the Rotary Club of Selkirk, the Knights of Columbus, the Selkirk Friendship Centre and Selkirk Legion Branch #42. They also appreciate the Gwen Fox Gallery’s allowing them to use their space for the awards ceremony.
