Finalists to be honoured evening of November 10 at Cabaret Lion d’Or
The Quebec Writers’ Federation is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2025 QWF College Writers Award!
The College Writers Award is given to one college student in recognition of outstanding literary achievement, be it in the form of a poem, short story, or short piece of non-fiction. Known as the QWF Prize for Young Writers from 2017 to 2020, the award is open to students enrolled at one of the prize’s sponsor colleges (Champlain, Dawson, Heritage, John Abbott, Marianopolis, and Vanier) during the academic year of the competition. It includes a cash prize of $1,000 and publication in QWF’s online literary journal carte blanche.
The winner will be announced at the 2025 QWF Literary Awards Gala on Monday, November 10 at Cabaret Lion d’Or. The ceremony will begin at 8:00 p.m., preceded by a cocktail reception from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The 2025 College Writers Award Finalists
Winie Coulanges
“Blackout”
Dawson College
Winie Coulanges is a Concordia journalism student, which she hopes qualifies her as an emerging writer. Her art is informed by her identity and her desire to dissect the environment that she lives in with care, consideration, and humour.
Anahita Farahdel
“Of Fig Trees and Farewells”
Marianopolis College
Anahita Farahdel is a medical student at McGill University and a recent graduate of Marianopolis College. She seeks fulfillment in the pursuit of science, literature, and art. Her first piece of nonfiction was published in Quist. She hopes to honor the stories she has witnessed and experienced.
Zoë Vega
“Née Godwin“
Dawson College
Zoë Vega is a creative writing student at Concordia University. In their free time, they like to cook, dye their hair, and string together sentences or crudely made jewellery. She primarily writes about mental health and trauma, exploring how borderline personality disorder shapes her perception of the world.
The 2025 QWF Awards Gala
The winner of the 2025 College Writers Award will be announced at the 2025 QWF Awards Gala on Monday, November 10.
The gala will also unveil the winners of the 2025 carte blanche Prize and the 2025 QWF Literary Awards in fiction, non-fiction, first book, translation, poetry, spoken word, and children’s and young adult literature. The recipient of the 2025 Judy Mappin Community Award will also be honoured at the gala. See the finalists for the 2025 QWF Literary Awards.
The gala is open to the public and tickets are now available for purchase. A cocktail reception will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony at 8 p.m. Tickets to the reception are $60 ($40 for full-time students) and include two glasses of wine, beer or non-alcoholic drink and admission to the awards ceremony. Tickets for the ceremony alone are $25 ($10 for full-time students).
Media Inquiries:
John Wickham, Communications Officer
(819) 319-9210
john@qwf.org