One Month to Go

Introducing Our New Judge

New Judging Panel

This year, members of the Whistler Writing Society will be on the panel of judges selecting the finalists for the 2025 awards.

Stella L. Harvey is the author of three novels, including, Nicolai’s Daughters (2012), The Brink of Freedom (2015) and Finding Callidora (2019), all published by Signature Editions in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Nicolai’s Daughters was also published in Greek by Psichogios Publications of Athens in 2014. Finding Callidora was short listed for the 2023 Book Club Award, and Nicolai’s Daughters and The Brink of Freedom were long listed in the 2023 Page Turner Awards. She is the founder and now retired Executive Director of the Whistler Writers Festival, a mentor in Simon University’s Writers Studio and was named Whistler’s Champion of the Arts in 2015, and Whistler’s Citizen of the Year in 2022. 

Stella will be joining Darcie Friesen Hossack as a fiction judge, replacing Amber Cowie, whom we thank for judging for the last four years. The non-fiction finalists will continue to be judged by  JJ Lee and Sonja Larsen, while  Sara Leach and Andreas Oertel are returning to judge the children's category. 

Presented by

The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) is the national organization of professionally published writers. TWUC was founded in 1973 to work with governments, publishers, booksellers, and readers to improve the conditions of Canadian writers. Now over 2,800 members strong, TWUC advocates on behalf of writers’ collective interests, and delivers value to members through advocacy, community, and information. TWUC believes in a thriving, diverse Canadian culture that values and supports writers.