WFNS logo ltrmark sticky 100px
WFNS logo ltrmark sticky 100px

Winners of the 2021 Nova Writes Competition

Congratulations to the winning and shortlisted authors for the 2021 edition of Nova Writes!

Budge Wilson Short Fiction Prize

Winner: Bob Mann, “Shepherd’s Pie Friday”

Shortlist: Barbara Darby, Verna Feehan, Joyce McGeehan, Marie Thompson
Judge: Jacqueline Dumas

H.R. (Bill) Percy Short Creative Non-Fiction Prize

Winner: Kate Burnham, “Poster Child”

Shortlist: Catherine Banks, Emma Dubois, Halina St. James
Judge: Jeff Miller

Joyce Barkhouse Children’s Lit Prize

Winner: Heidi Tattrie Rushton, “Pet Tales”

Shortlist: Jodi Reid
Judge: Daphne Greer

Rita Joe Poetry Prize

Winner: Lindsey Harrington, “Dispatches from Red Bridge”

Shortlist: Emily Dodge, Margaret Schwartz
Judge: Margo Wheaton

Celebration of Emerging Writers

Join us on June 2, 7pm Atlantic, for our annual Celebration of Emerging Writers: a free virtual reading by 10 superstar emerging writers!

Winners of the Nova Writes Competition:

  • Bob Mann (with fiction judge Jacqueline Dumas)
  • Kate Burnham (with creative nonfiction judge Jeff Miller)
  • Heidi Tattrie Rushton (with children’s lit judge Daphne Greer)
  • Lindsey Harrington (with poetry judge Margo Wheaton)

Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program grads:

  • Lori McKay (with YA novel mentor Tom Ryan)
  • Justyne Leslie (with poetry mentor Rebecca Thomas)
  • Robert de la Chevotiere (with novel mentor Evelyn White)
  • Nicolas Paquette (with YA novel mentor Sylvia Gunner)
  • Danica Roache (with novel mentor Stephanie Doment)
  • Martha Mutale (with poetry mentor El Jones)
Register to Attend
Scroll to Top
WFNS logo ltrmark sticky 100px

Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) uses the following terms to describe writers’ experience levels:

  • New writers: those with less than two years’ creative writing experience and/or no short-form publications (e.g., short stories, personal essays, or poems in literary magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks).
  • Emerging writers: those with more than two years’ creative writing experience and/or numerous short-form publications.
  • Early-career authors: those with 1 or 2 book-length publications or the equivalent in book-length and short-form publications.
  • Established authors: those with 3 or 4 book-length publications.
  • Professional authors: those with 5 or more book-length publications.

Please keep in mind that each form of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, writing for children and young adults, and others) provides you with a unique set of experiences and skills, so you might consider yourself an ‘established author’ in one form but a ‘new writer’ in another.

The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the above definitions. A workshop’s participants should usually have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with information, strategies, and skills that suit their career stage. 

For “intensive” and “masterclass” workshops, which provide more opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback, the recommended experience level should be followed closely.

For all other workshops, the recommended experience level is just that—a recommendation—and we encourage potential participants to follow their own judgment when registering.

If you’re uncertain of your experience level with regard to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca