The Short List- West

Len MacDonald (Inuvik, NT)

RANT

The world (and everything in it ) is becoming way too complicated for me. There are days I just feel like curling up into the fetal position and lying in a corner. Did you know that Kleenex now have instructions on the box? I'm not kidding. I bought a box of Kleenex the other day, these new "anti-viral" ones, and they have instructions on the box as to how to use them. Get this: it says don't put them near your eyes...what the heck is up with that? I now have this vision of a scene where someone is crying and me watching as some helpful soul hands them a Kleenex. Of course the next minute the person crying is screaming in agony or gone blind or something dramatic. It then, of course, turns into an ugly legal issue taking years in the courts to resolve with myself being sued as well because I knew that damn Kleenex could be harmful. Like I said...way too complicated! Toilet paper is next, I hear. The researchers working on it claim it's a really crappy job.

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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!