The Importance of Second-Place: Times I Was THAT Close

There are few moments that offer the “glass half full / half empty” opportunity so effectively as the instant you hear you’ve won second place for something.

For most of my adult life, friends — and even casual acquaintances — have remarked how lucky I am (although I don’t hear that quite so often since my stroke (2024) and cancer surgery (2013)). I do feel lucky, fortunate, and blessed! But behind every win and achievement, there’s a mountain I’ve built of near-misses and almosts.

In high school, I was the “sixth man” for our five-man basketball team. I got lots of silver or bronze medals in track meet. I came second-highest in the province in several Grade 12 provincial exams, only to find out that of all the students in Saskatchewan, it was the same girl who always scored just a percentage point or two higher than me in elementary school, who’d come back to haunt me six years later.

What has me reflecting on this is the WFNS Rita Joe Poetry Prize I was recently a finalist for:

I wonder if I’m the only Rita Joe finalist who was also a runner up for the WFNS Budge Wilson Short Story Prize!?

Turns out that I am the glass half full type. You probably knew that.

So, in the spirit of a “CV of Failures,” this post celebrates all my near misses and brags them up. Here’s a list of all the things I’ve NEARLY won….all those times I was “close but no cigar” (by the way, if you’re here for a stroke update, I promise to release one soon!).

2026

I was one of five finalists for the WFNS Rita Joe Poetry Prize for “The First Frost,” a set of poems about my stroke and 4-month hospitalization at St Marthas’ Regional Hospital, Antigonish NS. Lovely judges’ comments.

2025

I was one of ten finalists for a Canada Prize for Prophets of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul (McGill-Queen’s). It’s a great book, if I do say so myself.

2024

I was one of two runners up for the WFNS Budge Wilson Short Story Prize for “A Life in its Pieces,” an elegiacal tale of an aging quilter and her great-grandchild. Winner was J.P. Smith.

I was also one of three authors shortlisted for the $10,000. Koffler Vine Canadian Jewish Book Awards for Prophets of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul. Winner was Naomi Klein, for Doppelganger. Quite an honour even to be on the same virtual podium as Klein!

2023

I was runner up for the Pottersfield Press Non-Fiction Prize, for the book manuscript Someone Else’s Saint: How A Scottish Pilgrimage Led to Nova Scotia. In this case, second place still included a publisher’s advance and publication of the book – I’m grateful! (No thanks to Premier Tim Houston.)

2022

I was the 11th choice of a Canadian Small Press (that only selects 10 books a year to publish) for my two-time Canada Council Grant winning novel manuscript The Clergy House of Rest. I received a nice email from the publisher (at least I get personal, nice rejections) stating my novel (still unpublished) almost made the final cut – but not quite. That email was tough.

2019

I really could have used the $10,000 that year, but I was runner up for the Dalton Camp Award, for my essay “A Blanket Argument for Empathy.” Instead I got $250 (hey, it’s not nothing).

2014

I was a finalist for the CBC/Quebec Writers Federation Short Story Competition for “The Backhoe,” published in Salut King Kong (Vehicule Press), edited by my friend Elise Moser.

2010

I got Honourable Mention in the Short Fiction Category of the Prairie Fire-McNally Robinson competition for “A Street Called Generous,” which was published in Prairie Fire Magazine.

My CBC Ideas proposal titled “Burying the Master Race,” came extremely close to being chosen. The nice email from a CBC idol of mine, Producer Bernie Lucht, said mine was the “last one that fell off the table.” I still hold on to that email.

2005

I was a finalist for the CBC/Quebec Writers Federation Short Story Competition for “Marathon of Hope,” published in Short Stuff: New English Stories from Quebec. Lalumière ed. (Véhicule Press).

2004

I was a finalist for the CBC/Quebec Writers Federation Short Story Competition for “Europa,” published in Short Stuff: New English Stories from Quebec. Lalumière , ed. (Véhicule Press).

I came Second Place in a literary competition for short fiction, for my strange little piece “Yard Art Love,” in Maisonneuve Magazine. The funniest part about this one is that the judges sent me an email that said, “why did you get second place instead of first place? Who knows? Luck of the draw!” Ha!

In addition, balancing all these close calls, and the few times I’ve won something, are the many times I haven’t even heard back from a publisher or a contest. Nothing. Nada. Crickets.

You get the picture! If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! Some folks like to say that “second place is no place” and runners-up are losers. That’s baloney.

The fact is, many of my second-place finishes still allowed me to be published, or to receive some small award money, if not the big prize. And by keeping at it, every now and then I DID manage to win something! So if you’re ever wondering if second-place is worth it, my hot take is that it’s proof you’ve put in the 10,000 hours… and the answer is definitely yes!