The judges have reviewed the submissions and submitted their shortlist of finalists for Canadian Independent Publishers’ inaugural writing competition.

Congrats to everyone who had their stories selected to be published in the 2025 CIP Flash Fiction Collection. 

Finalists

• Photograph by Eva Tihanyi
• Of All the Ways for It to Happen by Shane Kroetsch 
• Fish by Alexia Moyer
• Flying with Cygnus by Angelique Fawns
• Unfinished Business by Antoinette Bekker 
• 490 by Bryn Redding
• Witchy Woman by Michael Kent

The Grand Prize Winner will be announced on December 15, 2024.

Thanks to everyone that participated in the CIP Flash Fiction writing competition. The proceeds from the contest go towards supporting the publication and are greatly appreciated. Don’t be discouraged if your selection wasn’t chosen this time around. Keep on writing!

About the judges

Mark Leslie Lefebvre
Mark’s first short story appeared in print in 1992, the same year he started working in the book industry. He has published more than 25 books under the name Mark Leslie that include thrillers and fiction (Evasion, A Canadian Werewolf in New York, One Hand Screaming), paranormal non-fiction (Haunted Hospitals, Spooky Sudbury, Tomes of Terror) and anthologies (Campus Chills, Tesseracts Sixteen, Obsessions). Under his full name he writes books to help authors navigate publishing. And they include The 7 P’s of Publishing Success and An Author’s Guide to Working with Libraries and Bookstores. His industry experience includes President of the Canadian Booksellers Association, Board Member of BookNet Canada, Director of Author Relations and Self-Publishing for Rakuten Kobo, Director of Business Development for Draft2Digital and Professional Advisor for Sheridan College’s Creative Writing and Publishing Honours Program. Mark lives in Waterloo, Ont., and can be found online at www.markleslie.ca.

Nicole North
Nicole North is a freelance editor and graphic designer. Nicole began her career at Firefly Books, where she worked her way up from Editorial Intern to Production Editor. She has held positions in content development for e-learning companies and in copywriting for marketing firms. Nicole has a passion for the written word and for visual storytelling. She now works at Simon Fraser University as a communications coordinator for the Linguistics department and the Indigenous Languages program. Nicole enjoys hiking, camping, travelling, and reading. She lives in Coquitlam, B.C., with her beautiful, rambunctious four-year-old daughter.