submitted by Fran Fowler-Cheques and critiques are in the mail. Ron Nelson, author, teacher and former islander, has completed his judging of the entries in the Ellis non-fiction prize. First prize went to Ian Gill of Vancouver; second to Pat Carrie Smith of Sandpit and third to Sandra Price of Queen Charlotte. The $500 prize money has been shared between those three. Thanks to all who entered.
Two literary prizes have now been awarded and a reading for both the Fraser fiction contest and the Ellis non-fiction contest is planned for Sept. 26 in Queen Charlotte, so we will all have a chance to hear these uniquely island stories.
A third contest has now been organized: Fraser/Ellis Letters, fiction or non, maximum 3,000 words in English, typed, in letter format, written from an island perspective, $500 in prizes. Deadline is Nov. 1. Send entries to Box 35, Queen Charlotte.
Bill Richardson of CBC's "Sad Goat" fame and countless books will be here around July 10 and Lorna Crozier, of UVic's Creative Writing department, will be here in early September. Call 559-4691 to register for a Crozier workshop. Check with out our website www.qciarts.com for more info.
Thanks to countless hours of work by Pat Smith we have the website up and operating. Modifications are continuing on Pat and Tom's return at the end of May. Pat is currently consulting with some IBM cronies on a couple of glitches!
The QCI Arts Council has been invited to participate at the Assembly of BC Arts Council's AGM panel discussion of best practices across the province, as your Arts Council has been recognized as doing a particularly good job of providing a range of programming on a very small budget. The organizers are hoping we can share our ideas with other councils and we of course are hoping that we can learn from them. Our Victoria contact turned out to be Gina Sufferdine, who used to live in Masset! Chairperson Elizabeth Inkster will be representing us and we don't have to pay - which of course is why we can do so much with so little!
In a partnership with Hospital Day and the Queen Charlotte Visitor Information Centre we are co-sponsoring the Hospital Day photo contest - this year's theme is ISLAND WATER, could be salt, fresh, frozen, falling, ponded or ??? Maximum size 8 inches x10 inches, any format, unframed, deadline to get them to the Hospital is June 1. If you want to submit more than one (maximum five), each must be a different type of water. Prize $100, selected by the public on Hospital Day, June 19. Special thanks to Thea Borserio, co-ordinator.
Seems like the Arts Council is not having a summer break - any ideas for performing artists for the coming year, get your input in by June 1, 559-4691.