Announcing the Winners
of the 30th Annual International
3-Day Novel Contest

First Prize
John Kupferschmidt of Ottawa, Ontario
For In the Garden of Men

John Kupferschmidt takes his inspiration from the experience of his parents, who came to Canada as refugees from the former Yugoslavia and the former Czechoslovakia. John studied International Development at McGill University, during which time he travelled to West Africa to work in a Liberian refugee camp. He was raised in Oakville, Ontario, and now lives and writes in Ottawa.

About the Winning Novel

In 1968, an inconsequential government worker finds himself swept into the mechanism of state oppression when the Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia. Put to work processing the warrants for anyone who opposes the new regime, he falls quickly into the moral no-man's-land of repressive bureaucracy. As his signatures send thousands to their fate, a series of chance encounters forces him to face the fundamental choice between action and safety. In the Garden of Men will be published by 3-Day Books and distributed by Arsenal Pulp Press in August 2008.

2nd Prize Winner
Erin Jeanne Foster-O'Riordan of Edmonton, Alberta, wins $500 for Five Days Home, the story of a First World War soldier who comes home to a flood-ravaged farm.

3rd Prize Winner
Matthew Claxton of Langley, British Columbia, wins a prize pack of 3-Day Novels for The Tithonians, an epic fantasy about time tourists stranded in the age of the dinosaurs.

2007 Shortlisted Novelists

• Matthew Andrews, Modesto, California
• J. Tynan Burke and Danny Cullenward, Fairfax, California
• M. Burr, North Vancouver, B.C.
• Karen Cressman, Brampton, Ontario
• Louise D’Arcy, Yackandandah, Australia
• Brinley Davis, Gunnison, Colorado
• Paul Dechene, Regina, Saskatchewan
• Gayleen Froese, Edmonton Alberta
• Peter Kryszkiewicz, North Vancouver, B.C.
• Edward Lineberry, Dallas, Texas
• Christopher Meades, Burnaby, B.C.
• Mark Sedore, Toronto, Ontario
• Hilary Smith, Vancouver, B.C.
• Rudy Thauberger, Vancouver, B.C.
• Anderson Todd, Owen Sound, Ontario
• Bryan Ward, Mission, B.C.
• Ben R. Williams, Bassett, Virginia
  
  
• And special mention to Dylan Bates of Scarborough, Ontario

The 30th Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest saw a record 611 writers register for the challenge, out of which 482 managed to complete and submit a novel. (That's a 79% completion rate, up from 73% last year. Way to give 'er for our 30th!) The next 3-Day Novel Contest will take place August 30 - September 1, 2008. Send us an email to be notified when registration opens in the spring.