Laurier Stedman Prize awards $13,000 to young storytellers

May 31, 2024
For Immediate Release

BRANTFORD – Assumption College School student Navraj Patial’s short story Achhut has been chosen as the first-place winner in the biennial Laurier Stedman Prize creative writing competition.

Winners were announced at a ceremony on Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus on May 30. As the author of the first-place story, Patial was awarded a $3,500 cash prize.

The English program at Laurier Brantford hosts the competition and invites submissions of original, unpublished works of fiction up to 1,500 words in length from students within the boundaries of the Grand Erie and Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District school boards. The Stedman Prize awards $3,500 for first place, $2,500 each to two second place winners, and $1,500 each to three third place winners. These amounts represent a $500 prize increase in all categories from previous years of the contest and makes the Stedman Prize one of the largest creative competitions open exclusively to high school students.

“Congratulations to all students who entered the competition. You displayed an impressive level of creativity and talent,” said Ken Paradis, associate professor of English at Laurier’s Brantford campus and coordinator of the Laurier Stedman Prize. “Thank you to the teachers at each school, who do a wonderful job of preparing their students.

First awarded in 2018, the Laurier Stedman Prize is funded through an endowment and estate gift given to Laurier by the late Miss Mary Stedman to celebrate and promote arts and culture. Stedman, who passed away in 2014, was a champion of Laurier’s Brantford campus and during her lifetime served as an executive member of the Canadian Booksellers Association. The university created the Laurier Stedman Prize program to honour Stedman’s wishes.

“We are grateful to the late Miss Mary Stedman, whose generosity enables us to inspire, celebrate, and develop young storytellers in our region through this Prize,” said Lisa Wood, associate professor of English and Laurier Stedman Prize coordinator.

Stedman Prize entries are judged anonymously by a series of sub-juries. The top 10 are then provided to a prize jury to rank the finalists and select the winner. The 2024 prize jury was composed of award-winning authors, academics, and previous Stedman Prize winners and contestants.

The top 10 submissions as ranked by the prize jury are:

First Place - $3,500

• Achhut by Navraj Patial, Assumption College School, grade 11

Second Place - $2,500 each

• Incision by Blake Chapman, McKinnon Park Secondary School, grade 12
• The Bear Kit by Rose Moore, Grand Erie Learning Alternatives, grade 12

Third Place - $1,500 each

• Our Reunion by EsterRose Enos, St John’s College, grade 12
• Washed Away by Harper North, Paris District High School, grade 12
• Eve by Sophie Vandenbrink, Pauline Johnson Collegiate, grade 12

Runners Up

• Train Goers by Darwyn Dashawetz, Paris District High School, grade 9
• The Art of Living by Keira Gayowsky, Brantford Collegiate Institute, grade 12
• Mirror by Bianka Kruschat, Paris District High School, grade 12
• My Mother’s Blue Dress by Bianca Manolache, St. John’s College, grade 12

Read the top 10 stories and additional information on the Laurier Stedman Prize 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 St. 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 Laurier’s Brantford campus in 1999. Gifts from Mary and the estate of her sister Ruth supported the construction of the university’s Research and Academic Centre.