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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.

Nova Scotia Book Awards

Evelyn Richardson
Non-Fiction Award

2023 jury:
Denise Flint, Rebecca Rose, Wanda Taylor

Maxine Tynes
Nova Scotia Poetry Award

2023 jury:
Lucas Crawford, Deirdre Dwyer, Asha Jeffers

Additional Nova Scotia Book Awards categories are administered by the Dartmouth Books Awards.

Atlantic Book Awards

Ann Connor Brimer Award
for Atlantic Canadian
Children's Literature

2023 jury:
Chad Lucas, Natalie Sampson, Jessica Scott Kerrin

J.M. Abraham
Atlantic Poetry Award

2023 jury:
Alice Burdick, Triny Finlay, Matt Robinson

Thomas Raddall
Atlantic Fiction Award

2023 jury:
Michelle Butler Hallett, Jacqui Dumas, Joyline Makani

Additional Atlantic Book Awards categories are are administered by the Atlantic Book Awards Society, the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association, the Atlantic Publishers Representatives, and others. These non-WFNS categories are listed on the Atlantic Books Awards Society website.

Submission Guidelines
for all awards

Partners

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

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Operational Investors

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, 2021. All rights reserved.

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Recommended Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) recommends that each workshop’s participants share a level or range of writing / publication experience. This is to ensure each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with information, strategies, and skills that suit their current writing priorities.

To this end, the “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the following definitions developed by WFNS:

  • New writers: those who have been writing creatively for less than two years and/or have not yet been published in any form.
  • Emerging writers: those who have been writing creatively for less than five years and/or have some short publications (poems, stories, or essays) in literary magazines, journals, or anthologies.
  • Established writers/authors: those with numerous publications in magazines, journals, or anthologies and/or a full-length book publication.
  • Professional authors: those with two or more full-length book publications.

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

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