Julie Laurendeau has made the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for Buzzcut.

The winner of the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and have the opportunity to attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 15 and the winner will be announced on Sept. 22.

If you're interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open for submissions until Oct. 31, 2022.

Julie Laurendeau is a queer Métis writer from Winnipeg. She recently completed an Honours Psychology degree at the University of Winnipeg with a focus on social psychology and social media. They won the 2021 Ron Norton Prize for writing the best psychology honours thesis for their work on social comparison processes on Instagram. Laurendeau is currently working on a debut novel and a collection of essays.

"Identity and coming into one's self."

"I recently experienced a big shift in the way that I present myself and the future I envision for myself. It felt like a full-circle moment that I needed to document and make sense of. The way I've always done that is through writing, whether it be journaling or crafting a story.

"I've often been called 'brave' for doing the things I do to my hair and my appearance. I've never really felt connected to that word mainly because it frustrates me that most people believe bravery is required to do something as simple as changing your appearance in a way that feels authentic. I wanted to explore my motivation behind my aesthetic decisions in a concrete way so that I can show people that that power lives within each of us."

The first time I shaved my head, I sat excitedly in the salon chair while the hairdresser stalled, double and triple-checking with my mom to ensure that this haircut was allowed. At 11, I hadn't yet received a full introduction to the world of sexual and body politics. This is one of the first memories I have of being told that my body did not belong to me. My body belonged to the world around me, and I was supposed to look to adults who knew better when I made decisions about what to do with it. My mom sat behind us, smiling and reassuring the hairdresser that she approved of my decision. "Besides," she said, "it's just hair, it'll grow back".

The winner of the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, have their work published on CBC Books and attend a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The 2023 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open for submissions until Oct. 31, 2022. The 2023 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January 2023 and the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April 2023.