Writing Contests
"Denouncing contests from your writing repertoire is like discounting an entire genre or refusing to eat yellow vegetables. You're giving up something valuable. Competitions provide steps up for a writer - especially a struggling writer. A portfolio with a few contest wins or honourable mentions means more than many clips. Can't afford the entry fees? Consider entering one a quarter or something more amiable to your pocketbook. Contests provide prizes, prestige and usually publication with many offering book contracts."
C. Hope Clark, Editor " Funds for Writers"
National/International
Bellevue Literary Review Literary Prize. Entry deadline: July of each year
CBC Literary Awards. Entry deadline: November 1
Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition. Entry deadline: October of each year
Commonwealth Short Story Competition. Deadline generally in March of each year
Essex Poetry Festival Open Poetry Competition. Entry deadline: July of each year
The Fiddlehead. Atlantic Canada's International Literary Magazine, holds two annual contests in short fiction and poetry. Deadline: December 1 of each year
"For Educating Kenyan Orphans" Poetry Contest. Entry deadline: June of each year
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, Dalton Camp Award. Deadline is generally in March of each year
McKitterick Prize for a first novel. Annual deadline: October of each year
Perfectly Formed Short Story Competition. Entry Deadline: July of each year
PRISM international's Annual Short Fiction Contest. Entry deadline: January of each year. 1st prize $2000.
Room Magazine's Annual Fiction, Poetry and Creative Non-Fiction Contest
Entry deadline: June of each year
"Scare The Dickens Out Of Us" Short Story Contest. Entry deadline: October of each year
Tom-Gallon Trust Award and Olive Cook Trust Prize. Annual deadline: October of each year
The Writers' Union holds three annual contests.
The Camargo Foundation sponsors creative projects by writers and other artistic disciplines with specific projects to complete.
This Magazine Great Literary Hunt. Entry deadline: July of each year. Three types of entries accepted, Short Fiction, Graphic Narrative and Poetry.
The Malahat Review Creative Non-Fiction Prize. Entry deadline: August of each year
"To the Lighthouse" Poetry Publication Prize sponsored by Room of Her Own Foundation. Entry deadline: August of each year
Local
Creative Keyboards -- the Arts Hamilton Writing Contest. Deadline generally in May of each year
gritlit, Hamilton's Literary Festival Writing Competition. Deadline is generally June of each year
"Ten Stories High" Short Story Competition. Entry deadline is generally March of each year
"The Saving Bannister" 25th Annual Poetry Anthology Contest. Entry deadline: May of each year
