The Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB) is now accepting submissions to its 2012 Literary Competition with greater cash prizes to be won. The non-profit organization has increased its prize purse to $1,700 for top entries in the contest’s prose and poetry categories. The competition is open to all New Brunswickers and members of WFNB.

Top prizes include the Alfred G. Bailey Prize, which awards $400 for the first place poetry manuscript and The Richards Prize, named for David Adams Richards, which also has a $400 value, and is given to the winning submission in one of three categories: collection of short stories, a short novel, or substantial portion of a longer novel.

The Sheree Fitch Prize for Poetry is open to young writers, up to age 18, and is worth $100, while a $200 prize is awarded for the winning entry in the children’s literature category. Submissions can be prose or verse and written for children, ages four to eight.

Prizes of $200 are also offered to writers for their work in each of the following categories: individual poems, short fiction and non-fiction.

Entries must be postmarked by February 29, 2012 and mailed to WFNB, PO Box 306, Moncton, NB, E1C 8L4. For more information, a complete list of contest rules and entry fees, visit www.wfnb.ca, telephone (506) 459-7228 or email wfnb@nb.aibn.com.

Now in its 26^th year, WFNB is a non-profit advocacy and support organization brings together writers in all disciplines and at all levels of development to recognize, encourage and promote their work.

Grain Magazine’s 24^th Annual Short Grain (with Variations) Writing Contest is accepting entries until April 1, 2012 (postmarked). Grain awards $4,500 in cash prizes! Winning entries will be published in the pages of Grain! The entry fee is $35 which includes a FREE one-year subscription to Grain Magazine! Our judges are counted among Canada’s finest writers! One entry fee allows you to enter a maximum of two entries in either of two categories: Poetry in any form to a maximum of 100 lines; Short Fiction in any style to a maximum of 2500 words.

Whose company do you want your writing to keep?

Grain is the most exciting literary magazine on the Canadian and international scene…the one that everyone wants to be published in! Recent issues have featured the work of such literary luminaries as Xi Chuan, Tim Lilburn, Guy Maddin, Miriam Toews, Zsuzsi Gartner, and Eleanor Wachtel. And you could join them in the pages of Grain!

Enter Short Grain! Open new doors! (Make new friends!)

Judges are: rob mclennan, Poetry, and Lawrence Hill, Fiction. Three prizes will be awarded in each category: 1^st prize = $1,000, 2^nd prize = $750, 3^rd prize = $500. Consult Grain‘s website, grainmagazine.ca, for complete rules and guidelines.

About our contest judges:

rob mclennan is the author of more than twenty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, including Glengarry (Talonbooks, 2011), kate street (Moira, 2011), and wild horses (University of Alberta Press, 2010) and his second novel, missing persons (The Mercury Press, 2009). He has edited numerous collections for Chaudiere Books, Insomniac Press, Black Moss Press, Broken Jaw Press, and Vehicule Press, and was the writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta in 2008.

Lawrence Hill is the author of internationally acclaimed The Book of Negroes, which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Ontario Library Association’s Evergreen Award and CBC Radio’s Canada Reads. He is also the author of Any Known Blood (William Morrow, New York, 1999 and HarperCollins Canada, 1997) and Some Great Thing (HarperCollins 2009, originally published by Turnstone Press, Winnipeg, 1992). Formerly a reporter with The Globe and Mail and a parliamentary correspondent for The Winnipeg Free Press, he won the National Magazine Award for Best Essay in 2005.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

13^th ANNUAL POSTCARD STORY COMPETITION

$750 PRIZE

The Writers’ Union of Canada is pleased to announce that submissions are being accepted until February 14, 2012, for the 13^th annual POSTCARD STORY COMPETITION. The winning entry will be the best Canadian work of 250 words or fewer in the English language, fiction or nonfiction. Are you up for the challenge? Can you create a dynamic, lean, and efficient piece in only 250 words? You can use humour, poetry, dialogue… anything goes!

PRIZE

$750 for the winning entry. The winning entry will be published in Write, the magazine of The Writers’ Union of Canada. The winner agrees that The Writers’ Union of Canada will have non-exclusive publication rights to publish the winning entry in Write, for publicity purposes. Any publication of the author’s story by The Writers’ Union of Canada will include an authorship credit and a copyright notice in the name of the author. Copyright of the winning postcard story remains with the writer.

JURY

Clayton Bailey, John Lent, and Nerys Parry will serve as the jury.

ELIGIBILITY

This competition is open to all Canadian citizens and landed immigrants. Original and unpublished in any format (English language) fiction or nonfiction, no more than 250 words.

HOW TO SUBMIT ENTRIES

• · Entries should be typed, double-spaced, in a clear twelve-point font, and the pages numbered on 8.5 x 11 paper, not stapled.
• · Submissions will be accepted in hardcopy only.
• · Include a separate cover letter with title of story, full name, address, phone number, e-mail address, word count, and number of pages of entry.
• · The author’s name should not appear on the actual entry.
• · Make cheque or money order, $7.50 per submission, payable to The Writers’ Union of Canada. Multiple entries can be submitted together and fees can be added and paid with one cheque or money order.
• · Entries must be postmarked by February 14, 2012 to be eligible.
• · Mail entries to: PCS Competition, The Writers’ Union of Canada, 90 Richmond Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M5C 1P1.

Results will be posted at www.writersunion.ca in May 2012. Manuscripts will not be returned.

The CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize is now open, and that’s got us all at Canada Writes thinking about the importance of the “creative” in the “nonfiction.”

What makes a true story compelling? For me, it’s as much about the storyteller as the story being told. One of my greatest Canadian writing heroes is the late Edna Staebler, who’s probably best known for her 1968 cookbook Food that Really Schmecks. (Full disclosure – it contains possibly the best banana-bread recipe ever. Almond extract – who knew?)

As well as being one of the best food writers this country has ever known, Edna Staebler was also an esteemed journalist and nonfiction writer who was renowned for her keen interest and curiosity. In 1928, she wrote the following in her diary:

“Interest is everything.”

To me, this is the essence of what makes nonfiction creative. If a story is interesting to you, then it’s probably an interesting story.

Now, as for the craft of conveying this interest? We’ve got some pointers.

• First, some excerpts from the books that have made the finals of this year’s Canada Reads: True Stories.
• Second, some writing tips from some of the nonfiction authors nominated for Canada Reads, like Ken Dryden and Margaret MacMillan.

http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2011/11/creative-nonfiction-interest-is-everything.html

The League of Canadian Poets, a national not-for-profit poetry organization founded in 1966, invites Canadian youth to participate in its Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Youth.

There are two age categories, junior (grades 7-9) and senior (grades 10-12).

First place poems in each category will receive a cash prize of $350, second place winners will receive $300 and third place winners will receive $250.

All winning poems will be published in the League of Canadian Poets’ e-zine, Re:verse at www.youngpoets.ca. All winners will receive Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Youth certificates and student membership in the League of Canadian Poets for one year.

Deadline: January 15, 2012.

Entry Guidelines

1. All submissions should be sent by e-mail to readings@poets.ca with the subject Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Youth.
2. There are two age categories: Junior, grades 7 – 9 and Senior, grades 10 – 12
3. Poems must be previously unpublished and must be your own work.
4. Length of each poem submitted must not exceed 50 lines. Limit 2 poems per poet.
5. Each submission should include the poet’s name, address, and phone number, age, grade, name of school, and the titles of the poems entered.
6. Poems should not be sent as attachments, but as plain text files in the body of the message.
7. There is no entry fee.
8. Winners will be announced during National Young Poet’s Week in April and posted on the League’s websites www.poets.ca and www.youngpoets.ca. Announcements will be sent to the media, and the winners will be notified by mail and email.

Copyright remains with the poet. Winners will be asked for the first rights to publish their work. Should an entry be published elsewhere during the course of the contest, we ask that the entrant notify the League immediately. Revisions on any poem will not be accepted after it has been entered. All decisions of the jury are final. Contest is open to Canadian citizens and landed immigrants. Members of the League’s National Council, staff or the contest judges or their families are not eligible to enter these competitions.

* Incomplete submissions will not be considered, please read guidelines carefully.

Colophon Prize for Fiction Contest

Enfield & Wizenty is offering the third annual Colophon fiction prize: a $5,000 advance and 2012 book publication for the most outstanding novel or short story collection that combines literary and commercial appeal. Deadline is Dec. 1, 2011.Novel submissions should include a bio, synopsis, and one or two chapters. Short story collections should have appeared extensively in Canadian literary magazines, and submissions should include one or two stories along with a bio.