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Book Awards

Book Awards administered by the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) celebrate and promote excellence in writing from Nova Scotia and from Atlantic Canada. The number of titles submitted each year is a testament to the diversity and quality of writing from our region.

Although jurors have the unenviable task of selecting one winner for each award, each year’s shortlists introduce local, national, and international readers to a tremendous body of work and the vibrant culture of the region. WFNS administers and acts as steward for two Nova Scotia Book Awards and three Atlantic Book Awards.

For questions about this program, contact program lead Oriana Duinker at director@writers.ns.ca

Evelyn Richardson
Non-Fiction Award

2025 Richardson peer assessment jury:
Sonja Boon, Lezlie Lowe, and Darryl Whetter

Maxine Tynes
Nova Scotia Poetry Award

2025 Tynes peer assessment jury:
Basma Kavanaugh, Nanci Lee, and Sadie McCarney

Additional Nova Scotia Book Awards categories are administered by the Dartmouth Books Awards. All categories are listed on the Nova Scotia Book Awards website.

Ann Connor Brimer Award
for Atlantic Canadian
Children's Literature

2025 Brimer peer assessment jury:
Charis Cotter, Martha Langille, and Tom Ryan

J.M. Abraham
Atlantic Poetry Award

2025 Abraham peer assessment jury:
Abena Beloved Green, Kathy Mac, and Shannon Webb-Campbell

Thomas Raddall
Atlantic Fiction Award

2025 Raddall peer assessment jury:
Sarah Butland, Dian Day, and William Ping

Additional Atlantic Book Awards categories are are administered by the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association and the Cabot Trail Writers Festival. All categories are listed on the Atlantic Books Awards Society website.

Submission Guidelines
for all awards
administered by WFNS

Partners

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia thanks the Dartmouth Book Awards, the Society for the Nova Scotia Book Awards, and the Atlantic Book Awards Society for their partnership in delivering these awards.

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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