Wow!

Wednesday night, the Kwantlen Writers' Guild held their annual reading event, and also announced the winners of the creative writing contest. I entered two poems, and one piece for nonfiction and fiction, in hopes of placing in one of the three categories.

Beforehand, I was a little nervous about getting up to read in front of the 40 or 50 people present. So when my friend Tanya arrived, she promptly suggested that we dance in the corner where the music was coming from. Not a bad way to shake the nerves (despite being stared at by everyone in the room!)

My parents were also there. Reading three of my bioflash went fine, and after several other readings Sheila Hancock, the outgoing chair of the Creative Writing department, announced the winners of the contest.

"The judging was blind," she assured everyone. "For poetry, first place goes to Lee Beavington."

Needless to say, I was quite surprised. Poetry isn't my strongest suit, and I had just heard some very strong poets, such as Karen Ezra, give stellar readings of their work. Up I went to shake Sheila's hand and get a copy of the Kwantlen Writers' Guild journal, in which my poem appears.

Second and third place for poetry were announced, and then on to nonfiction. "In second place we have...Lee Beavington!"

Up I went again. Then fiction came, in which I held little hope, as I had submitted a fantasy-flavoured piece, and I assumed the journal catered to what some consider to be "literary". Sheila called out the winners.

"First place goes to Lee Beavington!"

Flabbergasted by this point, I went up and proceeded to apologize to the crowd. My current creative writing instructor (Aislinn Hunter--big thanks to her for organizing the event) called out: "Lee slept with all the judges!"

The annual creative writing scholarship went to my talented classmate Angela Kenyon (who also placed second in the poetry category). Congrats to her! Before they announced the winner of the scholarship, a short piece was read about each applicant, including me. My teacher, Zoe Landale, wrote the following, which was read by the incoming chair (and inspirational teacher galore) Ross Laird:

Lee Beavington is a writer with courage. Getting to the places which resonate with readers requires going deep into the places where we ourselves are uncertain, and shadows leap high on the cave walls. Lee is a person who cares about stories. He also has a great work ethic and goes back over and over his writing until it fairly gleams.

I've been beaming since last night.