Polar Expressions Short Fiction Contest Finalist

Posted by Thomas Alan Gray Sep 1, 2009

My story titled "Strange Waters" has been short listed in the top 200 (of approximately 600 entries, according to the contest organizers, who claim to have picked the top third of the submissions).

Polar Expressions is based in Maple Ridge, British Columbia and is run by Rachelle McCallum. The company started in 2006 as a takeoff from a similar venture (there were some legal issues between the two, but that page has since been removed from their web site so I guess it's all settled). The main focus is on student writing, with fiction and poetry contests for primary and secondary students and some $10,000 in prizes given to schools and student writers.

In 2008, they began contests for adults and older students, open to Canadians only. Prizes are offered for poetry and fiction under 500 words. They choose 200 finalists (between 25% and 45% of entries, depending on submissions received) and award three prizes and ten honorable mentions. I was one of the finalists in that first contest (Gray, Thomas Alan. "One Day Winner." Frontier. Ed. Rachelle McCallum. Maple Ridge, BC: Polar Expressions Publishing, 2008.)

Entry is free and this is a legitimate contest. But they make their money selling the books to the writers (Hey, I was thrilled to have my little piece in a book! I bought four copies at $25 each.) so it's basically a form of vanity publishing.

It's my estimation that the quality of writing was good-to-low in the first book. If these are the winners, I'd hate to see the rejects. But after studying last year's top entries, I put in a better effort this year, and I expect to see a stronger field overall.

Looking forward to receiving my copy (only one this year at $29.95) of the book.

Polar Expressions Short Story and Poetry Contests