The National Media Awards Foundation has compiled a comprehensive list of national and international writing contests that are open to Canadian writers, poets, and creators. There are competitions for everyone—from seasoned, published writers to up-and-coming writers who are just getting started in the industry. Contests cover genres such as poetry, non-fiction, fiction, and line art. For more information on each contest, please click on the contest you’re interested in below.
Would you like your publication’s writing contest included in our guide? Send us an email today indicating the name of your contest, the deadline, entry fee and prizes, and who’s eligible to compete. Publications from around the world can be included in our guide, as long as Canadian creators are eligible to submit to your publication’s contest.
Contemporary Verse 2 Foster Poetry Prize
Early Bird Deadline: Enter by October 1st, 2025, and submit an extra poem at no additional charge.
Deadline for all contest entries: November 1st, 2025 at 11:59pm central time.
Prize: The Foster Poetry Prize awards $1000 and publication in CV2 Magazine to the author of the winning poem. Second and third place winners and an honourable mention will receive publication in CV2 and $350, $250, and $150 respectively.
Length: Your submission may consist of 1-2 poems, and is not to exceed 80 lines total. If you are submitting within the Early Bird Deadline and will be including a third poem, that poem can put you over the 80-line limit. However, the extra poem must not be longer than 28 lines.
Entry fee: $26 (first entry, includes 1-year subscription), $16 (subsequent entries)
Winners of the 2025 Foster Poetry Prize will be notified by email and results will be available on the CV2 website in January 2026.
Submission Guidelines
EVENT Magazine’s Non-Fiction Contest
Deadline: October 15, 2025 (submitted online via Submittable, or postmarked)
Prizes: $3,000 in total, plus publication in EVENT: $1,500 First Place; $1,000 Second Place; $500 Third Place.
Entry fee: $34.95; fee includes a one-year subscription to EVENT
All entries are also considered for publication
Guest Judge: TBA
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Submission Guidelines
Grain’s Kloppenburg Hybrid Grain Contest
Deadline: The contest is open from August 1 to October 15, 2025.
First Prize: $1000 Cash Prize and Publication
Second Prize: $750 Cash Prize and Publication
Third Prize: Two $500 Cash Prize and Publication
Submission Guidelines
Prairie Fire McNally Robinson Booksellers Poetry Award, Short Fiction and Creative Non‑Fiction Contests
Deadline: November 30, 2025 (11:59:59 PM CST / postmarked if mailed)
Cash prize: One prize of $1,250 CAD is awarded in each of the three categories, plus one Honourable Mention per category. Winners are published in Prairie Fire’s summer issue and invited to Thin Air Writers Festival (subject to funding)
Entry fee: $34 CAD per entry (includes a one-year subscription to Prairie Fire)
Length:
- Poetry: up to 3 poems, maximum 150 lines total
- Short Fiction: one story, maximum 5,000 words
- Creative Non‑Fiction: one piece, maximum 5,000 words
Submission Guidelines: Email to prfire@prairiefire.ca (or mail). Include category, cover sheet with name, pronouns, contact info, title(s) and word/line count. Manuscripts: prose double-spaced; poems single-spaced; numbered pages; 8½ × 11″, clipped not stapled. Multiple entries allowed but only first per category qualifies for subscription. Entries must be unpublished.
Judges: - Poetry: Tolu Oloruntoba
- Short Fiction: Shashi Bhat
- Creative Non-Fiction: Basma Kavanagh
Submissions are closed for this year
Fiddlehead 2025 Fiction Contest, The
Deadline: 2025 Contest Has Closed
Prize: $2000 CAD for Best Short Story!
Entry Fee: $35 CAD. Additional entries $10 CAD.
Judges: Anuja Varghese
Submission Guidelines
EXILE Quarterly – Morley Callaghan Short Story and Ruth & David Lampe Poetry Competitions
Deadline: 2025 Contest Has Closed
Cash prize:
- Short Fiction: $10,000 for first place; $2,500 for second place
- Poetry: $1,500 for Best Suite by an Emerging Writer; $1,500 for Best Suite by a Writer at Any Stage of Their Career
Entry fee: $45 CAD per submission (via Submittable)
Length: - Fiction: One story, maximum 5,000 words. All genres and styles accepted.
- Poetry: A suite of poems, maximum 16 pages. Should function as a complete body of work, not simply a collection of unrelated poems. All poetic forms considered.
Submission Guidelines: - Submissions must be made via Submittable.
- Submissions must be unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere for magazine/journal publication. (Work from a forthcoming collection may be eligible — check with the editors.)
Judging: Takes place July 1–October 15, 2025.
Announcement: Winners announced Saturday, November 1, 2025.
Publication: Winning and shortlisted fiction will appear in a book to be published in 2026. A poetry collection featuring past winners is under consideration.
Celebration: Winners to be honoured at a special awards gala in November or December 2025.
Arc Poetry Diana Brebner Prize
Deadline: 2025 Contest Has Closed
Prize: $500
Eligibility: The contest is open to authors who have had their principal home and actual residence in the National Capital Region for at least 6 months immediately prior to the date of submission, and who have not yet published their poetry in book form. Proof of residency may be required.
Entry fee: $25 for 1 or 2 poems; Each entry also entitles the entrant to a 1 year (3 issue) Canadian subscription to Arc.
2025 Judge: Jessica Bebenek is a queer interdisciplinary poet, bookmaker, and educator living between Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and an off-grid shack on unceded Anishinaabe territory. Bebenek’s writing has been nominated for the Journey Prize, the Pushcart Prize, the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize, and in 2021 she was a finalist for the Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers in Poetry. Her recent chapbooks include You Don’t Get Out Much (2024), I REMEMBER THE EXORCISM (Gap Riot Press, 2022), and What is Punk (2019). Her first full-length poetry collection, No One Knows Us There, was published by Book*hug Press in Spring 2025. @notyrmuse http://www.jessicabebenek.art
Submission Guidelines
Dreamers Creative Writing
Flash Fiction and Nonfiction Contest
Deadline: 2025 Contest has closed
Prize: $150 CAD to the first place winner
Entry Fee: $12.50 USD (Approx. $15 CAD) – includes an e-copy of the next issue of Dreamers Magazine.
Submission Guidelines
2025 gritLIT Short Story Contest
This year’s theme is MILESTONES
Deadline: 2025 Contest has ended
Entry Fee: $25
Prize: Winners receive $500 (First Place) or $150 (Two Honourable Mentions) PLUS all winners will be invited to read at gritLIT 2024 in April. Winning stories will be published on the gritLIT website.
Submission Instructions
New Quarterly’s Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest, The
Deadline: 2025 contest has closed
Prize: $1,000
Entry fee: $40 for up to 3 poems, includes a 1-year Canadian subscription or renewal to The New Quarterly. Additional poems are $5 each.
Submission Guidelines
New Quarterly’s Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest, The
Deadline: 2025 contest has closed
Prize: $1,000
Entry fee: $40 per essay, includes a 1-year Canadian subscription or renewal to The New Quarterly
Submission Guidelines
New Quarterly’s Peter Hinchcliffe Short Fiction Award, The
Deadline: 2025 contest has closed
Prize: $1,000
Entry fee: $40 per work of short fiction, includes a 1-year Canadian subscription or renewal to The New Quarterly
Submission Guidelines
Canthius Priscila Uppal Memorial Award for Poetry
Deadline: There are presently no open calls for submissions.
First Prize: $500 + publication in Canthius
Runner-up: $250 + publication in Canthius
Entry Fee: $25 (paid through Submittable); Entry fee includes a one-year subscription to Canthius, beginning with Issue 13.
Guidelines
Dave Williamson Canadian National Short Story Competition
Deadline: 2024 contest has ended
First Place: $1,000
Second Place: $600
Third Place: $400
Short prose in English, 2,500-5,000 words in any fiction genre
Entry Fee: $20
Ex-Puritan Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence, The
Deadline: 2024 contest has ended
1st Prize (Fiction & Poetry): $1,000
Runner-Up (Fiction & Poetry): $200
In addition to the prize money, the prize winners and runners-up in both categories will be published in the fall issue. Winners will be announced online when the fall issue is released.
Entry fee: All submissions must be accompanied by a $20 entry fee, which can be paid through Submittable.
2023 Judges: Cody Caetano (Fiction) and Billy-Ray Belcourt (Poetry)
Submission Guidelines
FreeFall Annual Prose & Poetry Contest
Deadline: 2025 contest has closed
1st Prize: $500
2nd Prize: $250
3rd Prize: $125
Honourable Mention: $75
Entry fee: $25, additional entries $5 (at the time of original entry only), includes one-year subscription
Length: 3000 words prose, or 3 poems per entry
Geist PolterGeist Writing Contest
Deadline: 2024 contest has closed
First Prize: $500 and publication in Geist and on geist.com
Second Prize: $250 and publication in Geist and on geist.com
Third Prize: $150 and publication in Geist and on geist.com
Entry fee: $25, $5 for additional entires, includes a one-year subscription to Geist
Length: Maximum 500 words
Grain’s Short Grain Contest
Deadline: 2024 Submissions are closed
First Prize: $1,000 and publication in Grain
Second Prize: $750 and publication in Grain
Third Prize: $500 and publication in Grain
Entry fee: $40 for Canadian entrants for a maximum of two entries in one category
League of Canadian Poets Summer Lovin’ Contests
Deadline: Submissions are open annually from June 1 to August 10.
Prize: $500
Eligibility: Canadian poets, poets living and working in Canada, as well as Indigenous, Inuit and Métis poets who may not identify as Canadian but live in the region known colonially as Canada
Entry fee: $5
Submission Guidelines
The Malahat Review Open Season Awards (Poetry, Short Fiction, Creative Nonfiction)
Deadline: November 1, 2024 at 11:59pm PDT
Prize: The winner in each genre will receive a prize of CAD$2,000 and be published in the magazine’s spring 2025 issue #230.
Entry Fee: CAD $35 for each entry from Canada *early bird discount until September 30, 2024: CAD $20. Entrants receive a one-year print subscription to The Malahat Review for the initial entry only (no subscriptions are available for additional entries).
Judge: Corinna Chong (fiction), Sadiqa de Meijer (creative nonfiction), Matthew Hollett (poetry)
Submission Guidelines
Open Minds Quarterly’s Annual BrainStorm Poetry Contest
Deadline: 2023 contest has ended
First Prize: $250, publication, and a contributor copy
Second Prize: $150, publication, and a contributor copy
Third Prize: $75, publication, and a contributor copy
Entry fee: $12 for up to three poems
Length: 30 lines or less
Portal Magazine‘s Portent Contest
Deadline: October 15, 2024
Prize: $500 and publication in Portal Magazine
Eligibility: Canadian citizens and residents
Entry fee: $25, includes one-year print subscription to Portal
Length: Maximum 2,000 words
Submission Guidelines
Postcard Fiction Contest
Deadline: 2023 contest has ended
1st Prize: $300 and publication in Counterflow Magazine
2nd Prize: $200 and publication in Counterflow Magazine
3rd Prize: $100 and publication in Counterflow Magazine
Entry fee: $25, $5 for Wordstorm members
Length: 250 words or less
PRISM International 2024 Creative Non-Fiction Contest
Deadline: There are presently no open calls for submissions.
Prizes: $1,500 grand prize, $600 runner-up, $400 second runner-up
Entry fee: $35 for Canadian, $40 for US, $45 for International; all entries include one-year subscription.
Max word count: 6,000 words (including title). One piece per entry. Additional entries are available for $5.
Pulp Literature The Raven Short Story Contest
Contest Opens: 1 September 2024
Deadline: October 15, 2024
Winner notified: November 15, 2024
Prize: $300 and publication in Pulp Literature Issue 46, Spring 2025
Judge: Kelly Robson
Entry fee: $25, includes a 1-year digital subscription to Pulp Literature
Earlybird fee (before 15 September): $15
Editorial critique: $50
Length: Between 250 and 2500 words
Judge: Kelly Robson
Submission Guidelines
Riddle Fence’s Fiction and Poetry Contests
Deadline: 2024 Contest has closed
First Prize: $1000 GRAND PRIZE & PUBLICATION IN RF #53
Entry fee: Canada $25, Free entry! for BIPOC contest submissions. Just self-identify upon entry.
Length: One short-fiction submission is one story, maximum 5000 words. One poetry submission is up to 3 poems; no more than 100 lines per poem.
Submission Guidelines
Room‘s Poetry Contest :
EXTENDED DEADLINE: August 30th, 2024 Deadline has closed
First Prize: $1,000 + publication in Room
Second Prize: $250 + publication in Room
Honourable Mention: $100 + publication on Room’s website
Entry fee: $35 for Canadian entry, includes a one-year subscription to Room; $7 for each additional entry
2024 Judge: Rafeef Ziadah
Submission Guidelines
Surrey International Writers’ Conference Writing Contest
Deadline: September 15
First Prize: $1,000 and publication
Honourable mention: $150 and publication
Eligibility: International
Entry fee: $15
Vallum Award for Poetry, The
Deadline: 2023 contest has ended
First Place Prize: $750 and publication in Vallum
Finalist: $250 and publication in Vallum
Entry fee: $25 for Canadian entrants, includes a 1-year subscription to Vallum Magazine
Judge: Erín Moure
Writing Battle
Autumn Short Story — 7 days to write 2000 words
Start Writing: Oct 20, 10:00 PM ET
Deadline: Oct 27, 10:00 PM ET
Prize: $10,000 cash prize pool
Entry fee: $18 (10% off); Entry fee increases to $20 on Jul 4
Winners are published
Oodles of feedback
Submission Guidelines
Writers’ Union of Canada Short Prose Competition, The
Deadline: 2024 contest has closed
Prize: $2,500
Eligibility: Writers must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada
Length: Up to 2,500 words
Did we miss one? Send us a note. We’ll update this post as more contests are announced!