Earlier this week, Amazon Canada and The Walrus shared the news that Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute (GCVI) student Nandini P., has been shortlisted for the Youth Short Story category of the Amazon Canada First Novel Award. Nandini submitted a story entitled Space Between Certainties.
The Youth Short Story category sees young authors between 13-17 submitting stories that are fewer than 3,000 words. The winner will receive a prize of $5,000 and each person who is shortlisted will receive $500.
Nandini is a grade 11 student in GCVI’s International Baccalaureate program. According to her biography on The Walrus website, Nandini began writing this story because of her stubbornness. “I’ve never been very good at accepting that feelings have to make sense, or that a person has to be one coherent thing at a time, and for a long time I thought that was a problem with me. The Space between Certainties came out of finally deciding it wasn’t. It grew from a sustained irritation with the way the world tends to treat complexity as a temporary state, something to be resolved, worked through, and filed away, rather than something that might just be true and permanent and worth sitting with.”
Congratulations, Nandini! This is an incredible achievement.
The winner of the award will be announced on June 4, 2026. To learn more about Nandini and the Youth Short Story award, visit The Walrus website.