Double happiness as Event wins two top awards

July 19, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

You could say they blew the competition right out of the water or ate them alive - either way, the writers at Event are basking in a glow of double happiness after taking two of the top prizes at the 23rd Annual Western Magazine Awards.

The literary journal published at Douglas College captured both the Fiction and Human Experience awards, held in June.

"To get both the fiction and the human experience awards is a coup," said Event Editor Billeh Nickerson. "Those are the awards that all the journals want, and for one to take both is a feather in the College's cap, that's for sure."

The Fiction Award was given to Craig Davidson for his story, "Rocket Ride," about a whale trainer who gets his leg bitten off by an orca. The story was "longer than we traditionally publish," says Nickerson, but "we were so blown away by the writing we decided to go with it."

Davidson's book, Rust and Bone, is being published this Fall by Viking Canada, a division of Penguin.

Nancy Mauro's "The Griller's Guide to Love and Loss," a lusty, sensuous piece won the in the Human Experience category. The tale of carnal and carnivorous desire was also the winner of Event's Creative Non-Fiction Contest.

"There is such wonderful joy in this piece, even though the relationship ultimately goes bad," says Nickerson. "It's playful, but honest."

The Western Magazine Awards honour the best in magazine writing, design and photography annually. Hundreds of publications from Manitoba to B.C. are eligible.

Nickerson said it's quite special to win two awards against such a large field of tough competitors.

"We're very happy -- we took a risk and went out looking for the best stuff," says Nickerson. "We were pleasantly surprised and quietly confident at the same time."

Event has built a reputation for excellence during its 34 years of publication. It has won best fiction at the Western Magazine Awards three times in the last five years. It's published by the College three times a year.

For more information about Event, please contact Billeh Nickerson at 604-527-5293 or check out the Web site at http://event.douglas.bc.ca.

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