Canadian Children’s Book Centre Writing Contest for Teens

Book Week Writing Contest for Kids & Teens Grades 4 to 12

Deadline approaching: February 1, 2013!
The Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s annual *Book Week Writing Contest for Kids & Teens is now open. This national contest is a much anticipated part of TD Canadian Children’s Book Week.

Young writers are invited to send in a sample of their best writing. Judging is done by noted writers from across Canada and the winner from each grade will receive a $250 gift certificate for the bookstore of his or her choice.

Two honourable mentions from each grade category will also receive $50 gift certificates.

Deadline

All entries must be postmarked by February 1, 2013.* The winners will be announced during TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2013.

Contest details and entry forms can be found here

The Suesstivus Holiday Twitter Challenge Today!

Check out the Canada Writes Website and have some fun in this Twitter Challenge. You can find all of the information at the above website. I am so swamped with writing and Christmas, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to participate, but I’m going to try my best. I could use a little fun today.

Canada Writes! Creative Nonfiction Competion

Nonfiction Prize

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The competition opens December 1, 2012.Deadline to submit: February 1, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. ET

This prize is awarded once a year to the best original, unpublished, work of Creative Nonfiction that is submitted to the competition. All Canadians can participate.

The Creative Nonfiction Prize includes memoir, biography, humour writing, essay (including personal essay), travel writing, and feature articles. While the events must be real and the facts true, creative nonfiction conveys your message through the use of literary techniques such as characterization, plot, setting, dialogue, narrative, and personal reflection. In works of creative nonfiction, the writer’s voice and opinion are evident. The work should be accessible to a general reading audience (i.e., not written for a specialized or academic audience).

The competition is blind. A jury composed of well-known and respected Canadian authors will select a 1st place winner and 4 runners-up.

The First Prize winner will receive $6,000, courtesy of the Canada Council for the Arts, and will have his/her story published in Air Canada’s enRoute magazine and on the Canada Writes website. He or she will also be awarded a two-week residency at The Banff Centre’s Leighton Artists’ Colony (details about the residency here), and will receive exposure on CBC Radio.

The 4 runners-up will each receive $1,000, courtesy of the Canada Council for the Arts, and their stories will be published on the Canada Writes website.

Submissions to the Creative Nonfiction prize must be between 1,200 and 1,500 words.

A fee of $25.00 (taxes included) for administration purposes is required for each entry.

For more information visit the CBC Webpage for the Creative Nonfiction Prize

Writers’ Union of Canada Call for Submissions

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

20^th Annual Short Prose Competition

for Developing Writers

$2,500 PRIZE

 

The Writers’ Union of Canada is pleased to announce that submissions are being accepted until March 1, 2013 for the 20^th Annual Short Prose Competition for Developing Writers. The winning entry will be the best Canadian work of up to 2,500 words in the English language, fiction or non-fiction, written by an unpublished author.

 

PRIZE

 

$2,500 for the winning entry, and the entries of the winner and finalists will be submitted to three Canadian magazines.

 

JURY

 

Writers Ami McKay, Rosemary Nixon, and Mark A. Rayner will serve as the jury.

 

ELIGIBILITY

 

This competition is open to all Canadian citizens and landed immigrants who have not had a book published by a commercial or university press in any genre and who do not currently have a contract with a book publisher. Original and unpublished (English language) fiction or non-fiction is eligible.

 

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, email address, word count, and number of pages of entry.
• ·         Please type the name of entrant and the title of entry on each numbered page. This is not a blind competition.
• ·         Make cheque or money order 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, $29 per entry.
• ·         Entries must be postmarked by March 1, 2013 to be eligible.
• ·         Mail entries to: SPC 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 2013. Manuscripts will not be returned.

The International Quill Quarrel Poetry Contest

The first International Quill Quarrel contest is accepting admissions from August 15th – October 15th, 2012. The contest is open to everyone. I’ve copied the submission guidelines below, but encourage you to visit their website.

All submissions must be in English.

- The subject and style of your submissions are left up to you.

- A maximum of 80 lines per poem.

- All poems must be original.

- All submissions must never have been previously published or given an award of any kind.

- Entry into this contest shall be considered an agreement that gives permission for your poem to be displayed on the website. If for any reason you do not wish to have your poem posted simply write “Do not want displayed” on a separate piece of paper and insert it with your submission.

- All letters and paper will be recycled. If you wish to have your submission returned, include a letter with pre-paid postage and your address on it.

- If multiple poems are submitted with only one reading fee included, the first poem read shall be chosen and the rest discarded. (Reading fee $5.00 per poem submitted. Maximum of 4 poems)

- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place shall receive 5%, 3%, and 2% of all reading fees collected respectively as a cash prize. There will also be a page created for the winners which will showcase this year’s top three, and in years to come will show all the past winners as well.

- Submissions will be mailed to:

The International Quill Quarrel
25 Access Place, Conception Bay South
Newfoundland, Canada,
A1W 4B3

- Reading fees shall be paid in full and be included with the submission in the same envelope. There will be only a few accepted methods of payment. These include Canadian Currency, American Currency, Checks, and Money Orders. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. If an alternate payment method is your only possibility, contact the IQQ for assistance and we will try to accommodate you.

- All checks and/or money orders will be made out to “The International Quill Quarrel”

- All judging will be done by the IQQ.

- Family members of any employee of the IQQ will not qualify to participate.

- Submissions will not be used for any other purpose than mentioned above.

 

BC Book Prizes – Books for Children and Teens

Some fabulous books this year and congratulations to the winners:

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize:

Blood Red Road
by Moira Young, Publisher: Doubleday Canada Publishing Group

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize:

When I Was Small, by Sara O’Leary and illustrated by Julie Morstad; Simply Read Books

For full list of winners in every category, visit the BC Book Prizes Website.

Happy Reading!

I can imagine how elated these authors are feeling this morning. I imagine them dancing around their living rooms and walking through the next few days on air! Enjoy your wins!

 

New York Press Accepting Submissions Now

greatweatherformedia.com is a brand new press looking for writers:

“We’re looking for innovative, quality writing from fearless writers everywhere in the
world. Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and genres as-yet unnamed are welcome.”

Check out their website – they are accepting submissions now! This might be the opportunity you are looking for!

Great Northern Canada Writing Contest

Great Northern Canada Writing Contest.

Day One Writer’s Retreat Outside of Naniamo, BC

My writing pal, Virginia (Ginger) and I set off this morning for The Bethlehem Retreat Centre on Vancouver Island, minutes outside of Nanaimo on the shores of Westwood Lake. Typically, we missed out first ferry, but we didn’t have any time deadlines, so although we arrived a few hours later than planned, it was a perfect, sunny day to ride to be on a BC ferry.

While on the ferry, a guy approached us and proceeded to brag to us all about his latest drinking exploits, including where to find the best bars, best vodka, best alcohol, best party…yawn… you get the idea, on the island. Finally, he stopped talking about himself for a second and asked, without any real interest, “So, where are you girls headed?”
I looked him dead in the eye, through my florescent orange sunglasses and replied, “A nunnery.”
Ginger, to her credit, did not crack up completely as his face literally fell and his jaw hit the deck. “Let’s walk around the boat,” she suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” I could barley keep a straight face and he was still at a loss for words when we shot him a parting, “See Ya. Have fun!”
A good laugh. Now a bit about this retreat, which is technically not a nunnery, but a Benedictine Retreat, where “Benedictine values and beliefs about humanity, healing, spirituality and peace are given expression through hospitality and presence at the centre.”
It’s all true – a writer’s dream. We were warmly welcomed and shown to our beautiful suite that overlooks Lake Westwood, and after unpacking and getting our computers set up, the bell rang and we joined the other guests in the dining room, where we were given our own, private table and a salmon feast.
After dinner, we went for a long walk along the edge of the lake and watched the sun disappear from the public swimming beach nearby. I love it at dusk on a windless night when water goes flat, dead calm.

Pretty soon, I will finish this post and crawl into bed with my book. At 8am, the breakfast bell will chime and our first full day will begin. I look forward to how much I will get done over the next few days. At the same time, I look forward to doing nothing at all, should the mood strike me. Either way, as any writer will tell you, both of these options – throwing yourself into your work or throwing yourself into your reflections are sure ways to end up with something really valuable on the page.

The Writers’ Union of Canada – Writing for Children Competition

16th annual Writing for Children Competition invites writers to submit a piece for children up to 1,500 words in the English language that has not previously been published in any format. A $1,500 prize will be awarded to an unpublished Canadian writer. The winner will be announced in July 2012. Electronic submissions will not be accepted. Complete rules and regulations

Deadline for entries is April 24.