Events

 
 
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Stay tuned for information about our upcoming benefit concert! Tickets will be sold starting July 2019 at Brian’s Record Option, Tara Foods and Eventbrite.ca

 
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Birth Story Contest

The DSF Birth Story Contest Guidelines

Do you have a birth experience you want to share? We want to hear from you!

The Doula Support Foundation (DSF) is all about celebrating the power of giving life. The intention of the birth story contest is to get inspiring birth stories that has the capacity to change lives and to create a positive birth culture in our community.

How to submit your birth story

  • Submit your birth story by email at:

    info@doulasupport.org

  • Please specify “Birth Story Contest+Your Name” in the Subject line of the email.

  • Submit your story in a Word document.

  • Please use Arial Font 12 points.

  • Include the following information on the first page: name, address, phone number, e-mail address and a short biography.

  • Once an entry has been submitted, no edits, replacements or exchanges will be accepted.

  • No entry will be accepted after August 15th, 2019.

  • All work must be original (not plagiarized or taken from anyone else) and have permission from the birthing person (i.e., if you are a partner sharing your story, you must have permission from the birthing person in order to submit your story).

Who can participate

All those residing in Canada (irrespective of visa status), novice or experienced writers, who have an empowering birth story to tell.

What we're looking for

A Birth Story (no more than 2500 words) that:

  • highlights the beauty, the intensity, and the uniqueness of birth experiences

  • challenges the unrealistic portrayals of birth we see on television, in film, and in forums across the internet that foment fear;

  • speaks to the birthing person’s power, capacity, and resilience and offers a positive yet realistic portrayal of what birth can be;

  • for those whose birth experience was not positive, are written in a way that captures one’s birth with emotion and honesty, and how the person could have been better cared for in their experience.

It is also a writing contest because well written stories have the ability to make us feel and understand deep emotions like no other medium.

The stories will be evaluated based on the author’s style, the tone of the story, the use of the senses, the coherence of the story and how the judges receive the story (there is always a subjective part).

Prizes and Publications

The first-place winner will receive:

  • a gift-basket from Indigo (value of $100);

  • four tickets for the DSF Benefit Concert on November 23rd, 2019;

and will be published in the Kingston Herald, on the DSF website and on Kindle Direct Publishing.

The second and third place winners will receive:

  • a gift-basket from Indigo (value of $60);

  • two tickets for the DSF benefit-concert;

and will be published on the DSF website and on Kindle Direct Publishing.

The 15 honorable mention stories will be published on Kindle Direct Publishing.

Announcement of winners

Winners will be announced on August 30th, 2019 on the Doula Support Foundation Website and Facebook page.

Only the first three winners and the 15 honorable mention writers will be notified personally by email.

Participants are welcome to meet and talk with the judges July 17th at Indigo Kingston from 4 to 9 pm.

Winners will be invited to read their stories at Indigo Kingston on September 4th, 2019.

Editing: Our editor will edit stories before publishing them with the agreement of the writers.

Panel of judges:

Sue Cross: Sue is a very active doula and Childbirth Educator in the Kingston area and has helped and supported over 300 couples welcome their babies into the world.

Lyn McCauley: Lyn McCauley is a local writer and playwright, two-time winner of the Domino Theatre One Act Play Festival (Tea with Enid Pearl - with Gretchen Huntley, and Writing Romance). She regularly leads writing classes in Kingston.

Eileen Labrie:  Eileen wrote a family column for the Napanee paper. She is the mother of six children, three of whom were home births.

We, the Doula Support Foundation, will be publishing the three first place winners August 29th, 2019 and the 15 honorable mention stories on KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) and all proceeds will go to the Doula Support Foundation. Therefore we hold the right to publish the 18 stories chosen with Kindle Direct Publishing and will not pay any royalties to the authors. We thank them deeply for sharing their stories and supporting the DSF.