Dec. 5, 2019
For Immediate Release

Brantford – High school-aged writers have a chance at winning cash prizes for their creative fiction work thanks to the Laurier Stedman Prize. For the second time, Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus is hosting a creative writing competition for students living and studying within the geographic boundaries of the Grand Erie and Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District school boards.

Participants, through their school, are asked to submit original, unpublished works of fiction up to 1,500 words in length. The entries are submitted anonymously and vetted by a series of sub-juries. The top 10 are passed on to a prize jury, who rank the finalists and ultimately select a winner. A total of $10,000 will be awarded to the top winners. There will be one first-place prize of $3,000; two second-place prizes of $2,000 each; and three third-place prizes of $1,000 each.

“I am so grateful that we have the chance to publicly celebrate these young authors and to encourage their writing and literary endeavours,” said Kathryn Carter, acting dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts. “The Laurier Stedman Prize, and its generosity, give us a wonderful opportunity to recognize the remarkable talent that is right here in our community.”

English department coordinator Ken Paradis is liaising with local high schools to share details on how students can participate. The deadline for entries is early December. Winners will be announced at a special celebration in early February.

The Laurier Stedman Prize is funded through an endowment and estate gift given to Wilfrid Laurier University by Mary Stedman, who passed away in 2014. Stedman was a champion of Laurier’s Brantford campus and was the managing director of Stedman’s Bookstore Ltd., among other roles.

The university created the Laurier Stedman Prize, under the guidance of the English department in the Faculty of Liberal Arts, as a way to honour Stedman’s wishes to celebrate and promote arts and culture in the community. The competition is the largest prize of its kind for creative fiction open to high school students.

The 2018 winner, Abby Traina, received a $3,000 cash prize for her work The Lechton Wanderer. Watch the video of the first Laurier Stedman Prize award ceremony.

Full details on the Laurier Stedman Prize can be found at wlu.ca/LaurierStedmanPrize.

About Mary Stedman: Members of the Stedman family were active in the business, social and cultural fabric of Brantford and Brant County for more than a century. Mary Stedman's father, Samuel W. Stedman, went into business with his brothers in 1904, establishing the first Stedman's Bookstore on Colborne Street in Brantford.

They went on to create a chain of five- and 10-cent department stores with locations across Canada. The Stedman name has become synonymous in Brantford with generosity and community building.

Mary Stedman served as managing director of Stedman's Bookstore Ltd. from 1950 to 1974 and was a member of the executive of the Canadian Booksellers Association. She was also the director and former chair of the bursary committee of the Samuel W. Stedman Foundation.

Mary Stedman was an early supporter of the idea of a university in Brantford, providing an important kick-start as one of the first donors to the fledgling campus in 1999. The university's bookstore bears the Stedman family name in recognition of their exceptional generosity. Gifts from Mary and the estate of her sister Ruth supported the construction of the university's Research and Academic Centre. Per Stedman's wishes, the Brantford campus bookstore is open not only to Laurier students, but to everyone in the community.