The Short List - East

Doug Ralph (Ottawa,ON)

SONG

(Sung to the tune of “The Hockey Song” by Stompin’ Tom Connors)

Words beware, we're on the air, Canada Writes tonight.
Letters flow, the pressure grows, better come up with something nice,
Ideas clump, a forehead bumps, contestants go insane,
Bambury roars! "triple-word-score" and so begins the game.

Oh, it's Canada Writes the game, creativity is the aim,
It's time to make a name, with a title to be claimed

ROUND TWO

Grab your pen, and please begin, writing down your lines.
Throw in a dash, and write real fast, or you'll get left behind,
Thoughts are squeezed, good grammar please, and try not to be lame
The clock goes dead, what's said is said, in this quick witted game.

Oh, it’s Canada Writes the game, the glory and the fame,
GO! won't be the same, airing Canada Writes the game

ROUND THREE: last chance to impress the audience.

The time has passed, we had a blast, our faces are all pink.
A MacBook Pro, and an iPod for, the one who's quick to think.
The final scene, the spotlight beams, the players are all keen.
The judges pick, the winner kicks, and lets out a big scream!

« Back to the Short List

How It Works

Write In!

Out of hundreds and hundreds of entries, just twenty Canadians made it to the Short List and won themselves an audition with Canada Writes. Then eight semi-finalists were picked to play in the Eastern semi-finals and Western/Northern semi-finals.

Read their winning songs, blogs, ads, rants and movie pitches!

Tune In… or Join Us!

On March 14^th and April 4^th, tune in to GO! on CBC Radio One at 10 am (10:30 am NT) for the Eastern and Western/Northern semi-final games in Halifax and Vancouver. The finals will be held in Toronto on April 18^th. Or join us at any of the three shows to root for the contestants in person. Go to cbc.ca/go for tickets.

Play Online!

The Canada Writes 09 Online Challenge is now over. Thanks for playing!

Updates

(Toronto, April 25, 2009)

It was a very tight race in the end. Our four finalists fought it out by blog, song, ad and a three-line story. First, they each drew a blog topic, from “the best hundred dollars I ever spent” to “one fact I would like to ‘un-know’”. Challenge number 2 was to re-write a song by Queen, with Valerie Stanois from the musical We Will Rock You bringing power vocals to their surprising new words. Then judges Geri Hall, Terry O’Reilly and Darrell Dennis sent Kaveh Mohebbi through the infamous Trap Door. Challenge number 3 was the radio ad. Clever ads for Cornhobbler’s Crematorium and Juice Bar (obviously not a real business) and Christmas greetings from the makers of Flank Chainsaws won Katie Sanders and Laurie Schwartz a last chance at writing glory, but it was Margaret Beach’s turn to go through the Trap Door. Finally, Laurie and Katie had to come up with the first two lines of a three-line story… on yellow writing pads on their laps…and in 90 seconds….

After weeks of effort and tension and achievement -- from the writing contest in January, through the auditions, the short list, the semi-finals and the finals – it was all over in a couple of minutes. Katie pulled ahead by a crucial point -- and became the winner of Canada Writes 09! Listen to the show! Read the blogs!

Winner of the Online Challenge! Ontario's Heather Smith is the winner of this year's People's Choice Award. Her winning entry was a re-write of the ABBA song 'Waterloo.' Take a look!