The Long Dark Finds Its Winner
Jamie Malina’s “The Fish” emerges as the top story in the 2025 Annual Blank Spaces/Chicken House Press anthology contest
On Monday evening, December 15th, eight Canadian writers gathered virtually to celebrate their finalist stories for the 2025 Blank Spaces/Chicken House Press anthology contest. After months of anticipation, judge Benjamin Rempel announced Jamie Malina’s “The Fish” as the winning story, with Lisa Jones’ “Daylight Savings” receiving honourable mention.
“All of the stories were exceptional,” Rempel said in his announcement. “But these two stories were taut and crisp—never a word wasted—immediately plunging the reader into a vivid setting. They were well-paced and mysterious and attention-grabbing. They spoke of themes greater than themselves. They were truly a delight to read.”
Jamie Malina, a Toronto-based writer who describes himself as an “assembler of sentences—the stranger the better,” has received the cash prize of nearly $300. “I was and am still over the moon at this news,” he told us the next morning. His winning story joins seven other exceptional pieces in The Long Dark, set for release in April 2026.
An Evening of Voices
This marked the fifth year we’ve hosted this virtual celebration, and it remains one of the most meaningful evenings in the Blank Spaces calendar. There’s something irreplaceable about hearing a story read in its author’s own voice—the pacing they choose, the words they emphasize, the emotion they bring to passages they’ve laboured over in solitude. Each reading elevated the work in ways that silent text on a page simply can’t capture.
From Windsor to Newfoundland, from Ottawa to the Kootenays, writers joined us to share excerpts from their work. Anne Baldo read from “Lose-Lose.” Chris Fash shared “No Family, Please.” J.L. Genest—calling in from St. Lucia on a family travel day—read “The Deep Dark Bottom.” Lisa Jones offered “Daylight Savings.” Debra Kennedy shared “The Boy on the Bridge.” Jamie Malina read “The Fish.” Desiree Nippard, battened down for 130 km/h wind gusts in rural Newfoundland and running on a generator, read “Penance.” And Lisa Zeltzer closed with “The Stand-In.”
So many of these writers rearranged their evenings to be present. Some faced technical challenges and weather emergencies. All of them showed up with generosity and courage to share their work with our community.
The Long Dark: Coming April 2026
These eight stories explore the territories we inhabit when light fails—the darkness we endure and the darkness we create. From dystopian horrors to quiet domestic reckonings, from folk parables to urgent contemporary dramas, this collection maps landscapes of grief, obsession, guilt, and the stubborn human insistence on continuing even when we’re not sure why.
A father confronts a creature born from buried guilt in the Ontario wilderness. A teenager stands at the water’s edge, hearing a boy’s voice call from the bridge above. A coastal town unravels after tasting something too beautiful to survive without. An elderly woman sits through a power outage beside the husband she never left, watching their marriage by firelight.
The anthology will feature a foreword by Benjamin Rempel, a Canadian writer and essayist whose work has been nominated for several literary awards including the Pushcart Prize and the Rising Spirits Writing Award. Rempel's own connection to this contest runs deep—he was longlisted in the very first Blank Spaces/Chicken House Press anthology contest back in 2021 and that opened the door to a publishing relationship with Chicken House Press, thorugh which his second novel was just released in November. It’s a full-circle moment to have him serve as this year’s judge and write the foreword for this collection.
Pre-orders are now open at Chicken House Press. The collection will be available in both paperback and ebook formats later in 2026.
Looking Ahead
Congratulations to all eight finalists: Anne Baldo, Chris Fash, J.L. Genest, Lisa Jones, Debra Kennedy, Jamie Malina, Desiree Nippard, and Lisa Zeltzer. Your diverse approaches to the theme of “The Long Dark” have created something truly special—a collection with something to offer anyone who picks it up.
The 2026 contest theme will be announced in June, with entries opening July 1st. If you have theme suggestions, we'd love to hear them.
Some darknesses last a single night. Others stretch across decades. This anthology holds both—and everything in between. We can't wait to share it with you in April.
A note about Monday’s gathering: Despite our best efforts, technical difficulties resulted in a corrupted video file. We’re deeply disappointed not to be able to share footage of this beautiful evening, but the memory of these writers reading their work—and the community that showed up to celebrate them—remains intact. That’s what matters most.
