What IS Battle Tales?!?
Battle Tales is an annual short story writing contest organized by the PEI Writers' Guild. Conceived as a " friendly high-fun, low-stakes" creative writing challenge, the contest invites writers from across Prince Edward Island to craft an original short story — maximum of 2,500 words — in just seven days, incorporating three mandatory and rather random writing prompts. Judging is done completely blind, with no author names or identifiers appearing on the submissions, and a guest judge selects finalists and ultimately names a champion.
The contest has grown from a small experiment into one of PEI’s most anticipated literary events, steadily drawing more participants and attention with each passing year.
Origins
Battle Tales was co-founded and coordinated by Keith Burgoyne, a past president of the PEI Writers' Guild. According to Burgoyne, in the event’s first year the organizing committee expected a very modest turnout but were "completely surprised" by the writing community's response. What began as an informal challenge quickly established itself as a touchstone event for PEI's writing community.
The first edition was officially held in 2016, with Ann Winslow claiming the inaugural championship with her story "End Game."