Narrative Nonfiction Prize

Nonfiction Prose Manuscript

  • 1,500 to 3,000 words
  • First Prize $200, Second Prize $100, Third Prize 1 year WFNB membership

The 2024 Judge: Shelly Kawaja

Shelly Kawaja won the 2022 BMO Winterset Award for her debut novel, The Raw Light of Morning. Her work can also be found in Riddle Fence, Horseshoe Literary Magazine, The Humber Literary Review and The Dalhousie Review. She was longlisted for the Bridge Prize, the Fresh Fish Award, and won the GritLIT 2020 short fiction contest. Shelly teaches creative writing at Memorial University’s Corner Brook campus and is the Fiction Reviews Editor at The Artisanal Writer Magazine. She’s a graduate of UBC’s MFA program, The Humber School for Writers and Memorial University of Newfoundland. She lives in Corner Brook with her family.

2022 - 2023 Judge: Chris Benjamin

Winners

First place: Shaun Cunningham (Sackville, NB) - The Werewolf

Second place: Brent Mazerolle (Moncton, NB) - My Brothers Dying Young and Other Things that Have Made Me Happy

Third place: Pat Stafford (Saint Andrews, NB) - La Riunione (The Reunion)

Honourable Mention: Allison Calvern (Ottawa, ON) - A Brother, Two Weddings, and a Funeral

2021 - 2022 Judge: Sandra Phinney

Winners

First place: Trenton Pomeroy - The Dances We Do with Our Children

Second place: Deborah Carr - Ashes to Ashes

Third place: Duncan Matheson - On the Overnight Train from London


Winning an award in the WFNB competition has definitely encouraged me to keep writing. Particularly great to read the judge's feedback --- So insightful, and a validation that maybe my hen scratching has some worth after all.--Trent Pomeroy, first place, 2022

"It’s always rewarding to have our words recognized in some way, but for me the real value of submitting to the WFNB competition is that it gives me the motivation to polish and complete a work in progress, and the opportunity to receive feedback if it places. --Deb Carr, second place winner, 2022


What else is New at the WFNB?

Upcoming Events

Territorial Acknowledgement

The Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick acknowledges that the land on which we live, work and gather is the traditional unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq Peoples, and we honour the spirit of our ancestors’ Treaties of Peace and Friendship. 

"Writers' Federation of New Brunswick" is a registered non-profit organization. New Brunswick, Canada. 


© 2021 Writers' Federation of New Brunswick

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software