Hearty congratulations to Lauren Griffin for winning the Guild Prize in Flash Fiction for her piece, "Excavation!”
Lauren Griffin (she/her) is a writer and actor from Treaty Six Territory, residing in a small town just outside of Saskatoon. Lauren studied at the University of Saskatchewan and she is set to receive a BFA in Drama and minors in Psychology and English. Growing up on the prairies without a cell phone, Lauren spent much of her childhood either inside reading or outside making mud soup. When Lauren is not onstage or bent over a notebook, you can find her in the garden or spending time with her cats.
On winning the contest, Lauren tells us, ““Excavation” is my first piece to be published, which makes winning this contest especially meaningful. Truthfully, I only dared to call myself a writer after receiving this award. Knowing that people I have never met will read my work is exhilarating. I am forever grateful to the wonderful people at Freelance Magazine for helping me begin my journey as a writer. I would also like to extend special thanks to the teachers and mentors who have encouraged me and helped hone my craft, namely Josiah Nelson, Brandon Hutchinson, and Carter Block. Thank you.”
About Lauren's winning piece, our Guild Prize Judge, Allie McFarland, says, " In choosing the winning piece, I considered both the theme, secrets, and the mode, flash fiction, and looked for a piece that melded these two concepts into one, and “Excavation” does just that. Secrets as both amorphous/intangible (dis)connections between people and the physical reminders of this that become (un)buried / (un)obscured. Flash fiction as a vessel that fully contains one intense moment, the distillate of its idea conveyed as an impression. “Excavation” is a complete piece where the form and content are so intertwined that it could not be reimagined into another form (such as a poem, short story, or novel), and yet could not work in its current form if any of the specific details were changed or further elaborated upon.”
Read Lauren's winning piece in the next Freelance, coming soon!
Huge congrats to the Honourable Mention, David Bellerive, for his piece “Waiting on a Train.”