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For additional assistance, contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca.

1113 Marginal Road

Halifax, NS B3H 4P7

902 423 8116

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The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia is based in Kjipuktuk, in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship,” which Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1725. The treaties do not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognize Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) title and establish the rules for an ongoing relationship between nations.

© Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, 2025. All rights reserved.

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Simultaneous Submissions

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) administers some programs (including some awards, competitions, and contests) and some projects (involving one-time or recurring special publications) whose prize packages include publication of the winning entry or entries. In most cases, entries to these programs and projects must not be simultaneously under consideration elsewhere. Why? Because our assessment process and selection of winning entries depends on these entries being available for first publication. If an entry selected to win (and, therefore, to be published by WFNS) is suddenly published elsewhere first, copyright issues will arise.

Whenever simultaneous submissions to a WFNS program/project are not permitted, it means the following:

  • You may not submit an entry to the program/project if it is currently being considered by another organization (whether for another prize or for publication) or has already been accepted for future publication.
  • You may not re-submit your WFNS program/project entry to another organization, whether for another prize or for publication, until the relevant shortlist has been announce or—if your entry has been shortlisted—until the relevant winner has been announced.
    • Once your entry is no longer being considered for the WFNS program/project for, you are free to submit it elsewhere.
    • If you wish to submit your entry elsewhere before the WFNS program/project’s results have been announced, you must first contact WFNS to withdraw your entry. Any entry fee cannot be refunded.

Prohibitions on simultaneous submission do not apply to multiple WFNS programs/projects. You are always permitted to submit the same unpublished entry or excerpts to multiple WFNS programs or projects at the same time, such as the Alistair MacLeod Mentorship Program, the Emerging Writers Prizes, the Jampolis Cottage Residency Program, the Message on a Bottle contest, and the Nova Writes Competition and any projects involving one-time or recurring special publications.

Recommended Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) recommends that participants in any given workshop 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. The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the following definitions used by WFNS.

  • 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, and writing for children and young adults) 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.

For “intensive” and “masterclass” creative writing 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