A poet, a journalist and a career author are the finalists for the 2006 Winterset Award, the largest literary prize in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The finalists for the $5,000 award were picked from 35 nominated works, the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council said in a release Wednesday.

Nominated are:

• Poet Ken Babstock for his collection Airstream Land Yacht.
• Veteran novelist Kenneth J. Harvey for Inside, a novel about a prisoner's release after a wrongful conviction.
• Russell Wangersky, the editor of the St. John's Telegram, for his short fiction collection, The Hour of Bad Decisions.

The Winterset Award was founded in 2000 by Toronto Star columnist Richard Gwyn, in memory of his late wife Sandra Fraser Gwyn, a journalist and historian who grew up in St. John's.

The award, named after the Sandra Fraser Gwyn's childhood home, is intended to spur literary innovation in Newfoundland and Labrador. The award has also sparked a summer literary festival in Eastport, near where the Gwyns have kept a vacation home.

Past winners have included Michael Winter, Edward Riche and Joan Clark. Riche, who won the prize two years ago, is serving on this year's jury.

The winner will be announced at a March 29 ceremony at Government House in St. John's.