This year’s annual LitPop Awards shortlist has been unveiled, with the 2012 contest garnering double the submissions from previous years.

The awards have been held annually since 2007 when Matrix literary magazine approached POP Montreal, an annual international music festival, to form a partnership.

We’ve made a concentrated effort to be active on social media [and] create fun and entertaining promotions, says Jon Paul Fiorentino, editor of Matrix, referring to a series of calls for submissions in the Missed Connections section of Craigslist.

A winner from each category receives a return ticket to Montreal, accommodation, and a VIP pass for the POP Montreal festival, as well as a few minutes in the spotlight as an opener for a festival event (to be decided closer to the festival dates, Sept. 19“23). Winners also receive a $100 honorarium and publication of their work in Matrix.

Ken Babstock and Melanie Little have signed on to judge the poetry and fiction sections, respectively, with the winners to be announced in early August. The shortlist for this year’s awards is as follows:

Poetry

• Stewart J. Cole, Toronto
• Sierra Nelson, Seattle
• Lisa Shannon, New York
• Jeannette Lynes, Saskatoon
• Suzanna Showler, Toronto
• Jason Christie, Vancouver
• Kilby Smith-Mcgregor, Toronto
• Catherine Owen, Vancouver
• Eileen G’Sell, St. Louis

Fiction

• Andrew Forbes, Peterborough
• Courtney Sender, Baltimore
• Jay Boss Rubin, New York
• Adam Saifer,  Toronto
• Braydon Beaulieu, Essex
• Clea Young, Vancouver
• Jay Winston Ritchie, Montreal
• M.S. McGowan, Montreal
• Andrew Kaufman, Toronto