The Writers’ Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize recognizes the year’s best short story by an emerging writer first published in a Canadian literary journal or anthology. The prize is supported by James A. Michener’s donation of his Canadian royalty earnings from his novel Journey. In association with the prize, McClelland & Stewart annually publishes The Journey Prize Stories anthology, a collection of the longlisted stories. The 2020 winner iwill be announced at the Writers’ Trust Awards: Emerging Writers Edition.
About the Prize
2020 Winner
Jessica Johns
Bad Cree
Grain
Jury Citation
"Jessica Johns’ 'Bad Cree' explores the truth inside a dream and the relationship between memory and grief. Where do you store a moment stuck on repeat? The narrator searches for solace while meditating on conceptual forgiveness. Her journey is not limited by self-preservation but flirts with teachings from the land, from her people, from the crow. With a dash of humour and a swift poetic hand, Johns’ prose moves, crushes, and dazzles. 'Bad Cree' is the kind of story that wakes you up in the middle of the night, purposefully and uncomfortably. Not with a question, but with an answer."
— 2020 Journey Prize Jury (Amy Jones, and Doretta Lau, and Téa Mutonji)
2020 Finalists
The Journey Prize Stories 32
For more than three decades,The Journey Prize Stories has been Canada's most celebrated annual fiction anthology and a who's-who of up-and-coming writers. With settings ranging from a wildlife rescue centre to a Living Body exhibit, the thirteen stories in this collection represent the year's best short fiction by some of our most exciting emerging literary talents. Get your copy.
“I owe a lot to the Journey Prize. An agent, a book deal. A renewed faith in my work. All signs that seem to say I’m on the right track.”
— Yasuko Thanh
2009 Journey Prize winner