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Eleanor Bertin of Big Valley wins Barnabas Fellowship

Local talent and published author Eleanor Bertin of Big Valley was awarded the Barnabas Fellowship 2016 on Friday, Sept. 23.

Local talent and published author Eleanor Bertin of Big Valley was awarded the Barnabas Fellowship 2016 on Friday, Sept. 23 at the InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship fall conference in Edmonton, Alberta.

Bertin who has been recently inducted into the world of publishing with her debut novel “Lifelines,” has been a member of the InScribe Christian Writers’ Fellowship for three years.

“InScribe has been an enormous encouragement to me as I’ve picked up my dormant writing career,” said Bertin. “The speakers and workshops at the annual conference and the relationships I’ve built with other writers have shown me it is possible to get published.”

Bertin had applied for the Barnabas award two years ago but did not win so she was pretty thrilled to get the award this year.

“I had to follow all the instructions and made sure I met all the requirements listed while applying,” Bertin added. “In fact one of the judges said to me that my name was the only one that came up on all three judges’ shortlists.”

The purpose of the award is to encourage and further a Christian writer’s craft.

“The current economic pinch will require me to use the funds that I won to cover the expense of the InScribe conference last weekend in Edmonton, rather than putting it toward attending The Word Guild writers’ conference next June in Toronto as I’d hoped,” Bertin stated.

Bertin also received another prize, placing second in the category for unpublished short story competition.

“It was a fictionalized role reversal between the biblical sisters Mary and Martha and will be published in a future issue of ‘Fellowscript,’ InScribe’s magazine,” Bertin said.

The Barnabas Fellowship is a grant of $250 enabling a member of InScribe to further his or her progress in writing. It is named after Barnabas, a co-worker with the Apostle Paul.