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Congratulations to Kevin Spenst, MFA Alumnus and first place winner in the poetry category for the Lush Triumphant Literary Award.
Lush Triumphant Literary Award

Congratulations to BFA alumnus Lucas J. W. Johnson, whose story was recently published in Speaking Out: LGBTQ Youth Stand Up anthology edited by Steve Berman. 
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Elena E. Johnson (MFA 2009) was one of three finalists for the 2011 Alfred G. Bailey Prize. The Bailey Prize is awarded annually for the best yet-to-be-published poetry manuscript. She was also a finalist for this year's CBC Literary Awards.

Wade Kinley, a joint first year MFA student in CrWr and Theatre, has received an internship with the Lark Play Development Center in New York City.

Creative Writing Alumna, Josie Mitchell recently won a cash prize for third place in the Vancouver Cultural Centre's Young Playwrights Competition for her one-act play.

The Creative Writing Program welcomes Steven Galloway as an Assistant Professor to its prestigious Faculty Roster.

Congratulations to current MFA Creative Writing student, Kevin Spenst. Kevin has been shortlisted for the The Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry. The prize is awarded annually to the best poetry manuscript by an emerging Canadian writer.
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Creative Writing current students and alumni comprised five of the ten finalists in the EVENT 2010 Creative Nonfiction competition. Congratulations to winner, Chris Urquhart!
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Congratulations MFA student, Jordan Hall! Jordan Hall is the winner of the Samuel French 2010 Canadian Playwrights contest for her play, Kayak.

MFA Creative Writing Alumni to be published in Coming Attractions 10, edited by Mark Anthony Jarman.
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Creative Writing MFA student Kaitlin Fontana has been chosen by Evelyn Lau to share her Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award.
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When Random House received Creative Writing MFA Alumna, Carol Shaben's thesis manuscript, they didn't wait long to acquire it.
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Creative Writing Optional Residency MFA Alumna, Sarah Selecky's short-story collection This Cake is For the Party, has been long-listed for this year's Giller Prize.
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Creative Writing Optional Residency MFA, Krista Foss featured in the National Post for Journey Prize Questionnaire.
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Creative Writing BFA alumni, Paolo Javier, named Poet Laureate of NYC's Queen.
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Creative Writing MFA Alumni and students, Andrew Clark, Oliver Kellhammer, Alex Leslie and Mitch Miyagawa received honorable mentions at the National Magazine Awards.
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Congratulations to Creative Writing MFA Alumnus, Dave Deveau, who received the 2010 Gordon Armstrong Playwright's Rent Award.
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Creative Writing MFA Alumna, Susan Olding, received the Reader's Choice Award at the Creative Non-Fiction Collective ceremony at the Banff Centre on April 24th, 2010 for her essays from Pathologies.
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Creative Writing Student, Nicola Campbell made the 2009 USBBY Outstanding International Books list for her Children's book Shin-Chi's Canoe.
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BFA Creative Writing Major, Karina Melendez's poem, The Sound was Editors' Choice in Arc Poetry Magazine's 14 Annual Poem of the Year Contest and published in Arc 63: Winter 2010.
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Creative Writing congratulates MFA Creative Writing Alumna Melanie Little on her new position at House of Anansi Press as Senior Editor of Canadian Fiction.
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Current MFA, Rebekah Lopata's play What if I Don't will be presented at the third annual award-winning EBE Ensemble, festival of new one act plays in New York.
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Creative Writing students dominate the StudentWrites! Playwriting Competition 2009. Gillian Bennett took home first prize in the competition for her play 'Sick or Swim', while Brie Wittman and Shannon Campbell took home the second and third prize.
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MFA Creative Writing alumna, Elena Johnson, makes the shortlist for the Malahat Open Season Awards and the ARC Poem of the Year Contest.

Creative Writing Optional Residency MFA Student, Daniel Griffin, is a 2009 Finalist for the Journey Prize"
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Producer Michael Parker plans to use Comic Con award scholarship to obtain a Masters of Fine Arts in Film Production and Creative Writing degree at UBC.
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Creative Writing Arnold and Nancy Cliff Writer in Residence: Steven Galloway.
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Kazat Poet in Residence at the Historic Joy KogawaHouse: 21 year old Akerke Mussabekova is a third-year student in the translation department at al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the country's largest and premier university, situated in Almaty. She is being hosted by Historic Joy Kogawa House and funded by the HSBC Poet in the City cultural exchange program.

UBC's Creative Writing Program is sad to note the passing of poet and MFA Creative Writing alumna Kuldip Gill on Sunday, May 10, 2009. Her poetry has been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies such as In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry and Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets.
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UBC MFA in Creative Writing alumni Robert Paul Weston’s book, Zorgamazoo, named one of the Top 10 First Novels for Youth: 2008.
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visit the Zorgamazoo web site.

After a successful launch this past fall, the UBC Alumni Book Club is back for 2009.
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Creative Writing MFA Alumna, Clea Young was recently nominated for the $10,000 McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for her short story Chaperone, published in Grain Magazine. This prize recognizes excellence in an emerging writer who has published a short story from an in-progress novel in a Canadian literary journal.
More on the Writers’ Trust of Canada and the McClelland and Stewart Journey Prize>

Creative Writing MFA alumnus, Lee Henderson, received a nomination for the 2008 Writers’ Trust Awards for his novel The Man Game. Henderson, who will be competing with award winning authors for this $25,000 fiction prize won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for The Broken Record Technique.
More on the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize>

Short story, “The Riot and a Girl” written by University of British Columbia MFA Creative Writing alumna Tsering Lama, was nominated by the Malahat Review to be published in The Journey Prize Stories 20, an anthology that showcases the best of Canada’s new writers.
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Former Creative Writing Writer in Residence, Miriam Toews receives a nomination for the 2008 Writers’ Trust Awards for her novel The Flying Troutmans. Towes, who will be competing with award winning authors for this $25,000 fiction prize won the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction in 2004 for her novel A Complicated Kindness.
More on the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize>

Elena E. Johnson, MFA Creative Writing student, celebrates as her poem is published in the anthology Rocksalt – Contemporary Poets of British Columbia as well as an honorable mention in THIS magazine’s Great Canadian Literary Hunt (2008).
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UBC's Creative Writing Program is sad to note the passing of Ted Rogers, President and CEO of Rogers Communications, a company that has supported our work in Creative Writing.

Creative Writing Instructor, Deborah Campbell takes gold at the 33rd Annual National Magazine Awards.
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The Creative Writing Program at UBC: Prospective Students
Joint MFA in Film Production and Screenwriting - How to Apply

How to Apply:

Applicants must first apply to the Film Program and be accepted by the MFA in Film Production Program. The Film Program will then arrange for the application and materials to be sent to the Creative Writing Program for consideration for the Joint Degree.

Admission Requirements:

Applicants to the MFA in Film Production and Creative Writing require, as a prerequisite, an undergraduate degree in film or video production or the equivalent in experience. Applicants also require a portfolio of completed films as a primary creator (director, writer or producer). These films can be any length or genre.

Applicants must also submit a portfolio of original screenwriting of at least 50 pages. This writing can be from a single screenplay or several different screenplays.

Applicants must also satisfy the general requirements set by the UBC Faculty of Graduate Studies:

• A four-year undergraduate degree. Though four years are normally required for acceptance into a graduate program, certain exceptions apply. For details on exceptions to this standard, please check the Faculty of Graduate Studies website at www.grad.ubc.ca.
• A B+ average in third and fourth year-level course work, or at least 12 credits of third- or fourth-year courses in the A- grade range (at UBC this is 80% or higher) in the field of intended graduate study.
• Sufficient preparatory academic background to carry out graduate work in a chosen field.

Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must also present evidence of competency to pursue studies in the English language. The required TOEFL scores for MFA Film Production and Creative Writing students are: Paper-based test: 600, Computer-based test: 250, Internet-based test:100. For IELTS tests the minimum overall band score must be 6.5 with no other component score less than 6.0. Please note that GRE, GMAT and other academic scores are not required for application.

For further information on the Faculty of Graduate Studies requirements please see: www.grad.ubc.ca/apply/how/require.asp

Application Deadline, Process and Materials:

The MFA in Film Production and Creative Writing Program starts in September.

The deadline to apply for the year starting September 2010 is Jan. 15, 2010.

The MFA application is in two parts:

Part One:

Applicants must complete and submit an on-line application form through the Faculty of Graduate Studies. This form can be found at: www.grad.ubc.ca/apply/online/index.asp.

There is an application fee of CDN $90 for Canadian applicants. International applicants must pay CDN $150. This fee is set by UBC Graduate Studies and is non-refundable. The fee is payable by credit card. If you do not have a credit card, another cardholder must pay on your behalf.

Part Two:

Applicants must submit the following materials directly to the Film Program by mail or courier. No electronic files will be accepted.

1. A copy of your completed Faculty of Graduate Studies on-line application.
2. A resume of film, screenwriting and related experience.
3. Two sets of all official post-secondary academic records in original language and certified translation. These must be sent directly to the Film Program from each post-secondary institution you have attended.
4. A portfolio of completed films on which you were a primary creator. These must be on DVD NTSC format playable on a consumer-level DVD player. These can be submitted on separate DVDs (one for each film) or all on one DVD.
5. A description of the films you have submitted (title, length, production company) and your role on each of these projects.
6. A portfolio of screenwriting of at least 50 pages of original writing. This can be one screenplay or several different screenplays.
7. Three confidential reference letters (must contain original signature and be received in sealed envelopes endorsed by referees). These letters must address your creative and intellectual potential, competence and your ability to work independently.
8. A proposal for a thesis film. If your thesis is a feature-length film, you must also submit an alternate proposal for a shorter film. This proposal must include a description of the film, an outline, treatment or draft script and a proposed one-page budget.
9. A statement of intent describing your reasons for wanting to complete the MFA in Film Production and Creative Writing Program.

Selection Process:

A selection committee first reviews all applications to the MFA in Film Production and Creative Writing.

The selection committee determines a short list of applicants and arranges interviews with these applicants. Short listed applicants will be asked to come to an interview. If you cannot attend in person, a telephone interview will be arranged.

The Selection Committee then recommends selected applicants to the Faculty of Graduate Studies. The Faculty of Graduate Studies reviews the application and if the Faculty of Graduate Studies approves the application, the student is then accepted into the Program.

This entire process normally takes 8-10 weeks.

Please visit the Film at UBC website for further details.