Book Awards
Submission Guidelines
For questions about this program, contact program lead Oriana Duinker at director@writers.ns.ca
Deadline for 2026 Awards: November 1, 2025
The above deadline falls on a Saturday, when the WFNS office will be closed.
To ensure timely receipt of your submission package, submit prior to October 31.
Traditionally published, hybrid-/partner-published, and self-published books are eligible for all awards.
- A traditionally published title should be submitted (and its assessment fee paid) by the publisher. If you are the author of a traditionally published book and are unsure whether your publisher intends to submit it, please email both WFNS (wits@writers.ns.ca) and your publisher to inquire.
- For a hybrid-/partner-published title, the author and publisher will need to confer regarding who submits the title (and pays its assessment fee).
- A self-published title must be submitted (and its assessment fee paid) by the author.
Nova Scotia Book Awards
- Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award ($2,000 prize): awarded for a book of creative nonfiction (a narrative non-fiction book, a collection of essays, a biography, a memoir, or a long-form academic publication that offers a complex and reflective narrative about original research) written or co-written by a full-time resident of Nova Scotia* that was published and/or distributed for the first time in Canada in the year prior to and including the submission deadline. For the 2026 award, the eligibility year runs from November 2, 2024, to November 1, 2025.
- Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award ($2,000 prize): awarded for a book of poetry written or co-written by a full-time resident of Nova Scotia* that was published and/or distributed for the first time in Canada in the two years prior to and including the submission deadline. Because this award is biennial, each cycle of the award covers two publication years. The next Tynes Award will be given in 2027, with the eligibility years running from November 2, 2024, to November 1, 2026.
* Full-time residents of Nova Scotia are those who have lived in Nova Scotia for at least two consecutive years immediately prior to the submission deadline date. A co-authored book is eligible if at least one co-author meets this residency requirement.
Atlantic Book Awards
- Ann Connor Brimer Award for Atlantic Canadian Children’s Literature ($5,000 prize): awarded for a book of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry written or co-written by a living, full-time resident of Atlantic Canada** that is readily available in print and that was published and/or distributed for the first time in Canada in the two years prior to and including the submission deadline. Because this award alternates annually between children’s literature (for readers up to 11 years old) and young adult (YA) literature (for readers aged 12 to 17), each cycle of the award covers two publication years; however, books suitable for both age ranges (e.g., middle-grade books) may be submitted only once—to a children’s literature deadline or to a YA literature deadline. For the 2026 award for children’s literature, the eligibility years run from November 2, 2023, to November 1, 2025.
- J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award ($2,000 prize): awarded for a book of poetry written or co-written by a full-time resident of Atlantic Canada** that was published and/or distributed for the first time in Canada in the year prior to and including the submission deadline. For the 2026 award, the eligibility year runs from November 2, 2024, to November 1, 2025.
- Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award ($30,000 prize): awarded for a novel or a book of short fiction written or co-written by a full-time resident of Atlantic Canada** that was published and/or distributed for the first time in Canada in the year prior to and including the submission deadline. A writer may win the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award a maximum of three times. YA titles are ineligible for this award and should be submitted to the Ann Connor Brimer Award. Plays are ineligible for this award. For the 2026 award, the eligibility year runs from November 2, 2024, to November 1, 2025.
** Full-time residents of Atlantic Canada are those who have lived in one or a combination of the Atlantic provinces (New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) for at least two consecutive years immediately prior to the submission deadline date. A co-authored book is eligible if at least one co-author meets this residency requirement.
Titles ineligible for submission to any WFNS-administered Book Awards:
- unpublished manuscripts
- titles less than 48 pages in length (with the exception of picture books submitted for the Brimer)
- titles for which more than 25% of the contents have already been published in book form (including most selected works, collected works, and reissued titles from previous submission years)
- titles for which the eligible author has written only an introduction
- reference titles, including dictionaries and textbooks
- literary, academic, and other anthologies
- plays and other scripts for stage or screen
WFNS reserves the right to accept (as eligible) or reject (as ineligible) any submitted title. The list of titles deemed eligible by WFNS and conveyed to the relevant award jury is final. For submissions deemed ineligible (due to title ineligibility, author ineligibility, or the lateness or incompleteness of submission), administrative fees and submitted books cannot be returned.
Complete submission packages must include all three of the following components and must be received by the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia no later than the submission deadline—with the exception of any mailed components, which may be received later but must be postmarked no later than the submission deadline. Early submissions are strongly encouraged; late or incomplete submissions will be rejected as ineligible.
A. Completed online submission form (available at the bottom of this page)
- A publisher/author may submit up to 10 titles per submission form.
B. Five (5) printed and bound copies of each title being submitted
- Mail units to WFNS, 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS, B3H 4P7 (“ATTN: Book Awards”).
C. Non-refundable $45 assessment fee per title per award category
- A publisher/author submitting a single title to multiple awards must submit one assessment fee for the title per award to which it is submitted.
- A publisher/author submitting a co-authored title is required to submit only one assessment fee for the title per award to which it is submitted.
- A publisher/author owing multiple assessment fees should pay all fees in a single transaction. Payment is accept in through the following methods:
- Online: Click the “Add Assessment Fee(s) to Cart” button (available immediately above the submission form), adjust the number of fees as necessary, and pay via credit card.
- By phone: Call 902 423 8116 between 10am and 3pm (Atlantic) on a weekday, with your credit card information ready.
- By mail: Send a cheque payable to “Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia” and address it to WFNS, 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS, B3H 4P7 (“ATTN: Book Awards”).
- A publisher submitting eight or more titles may be eligible for a discount on the total of assessment fees. WFNS reserves the right to offer such a discount depending on the resources of the publisher and how many titles the publisher proposes submitting. Please contact wits@writers.ns.ca to be considered for a discount.
If a submitted title is shortlisted for a WFNS-administered award, the following two supplementary components must be provided by the publisher, by the self-published author, or by the hybrid-/partner-published author (if they submitted their own title) within 30 days of shortlist notification.
D. Three (3) additional printed and bound copies of the shortlisted title, which will be sent to the Atlantic Book Awards Society or to the Society for the Nova Scotia Book Awards, as appropriate to the award
E. Non-refundable $300 travel-offset and promotional fee per shortlisted title, which will be payable to the Atlantic Book Awards Society or to the Society for the Nova Scotia Book Awards, as appropriate to the award
In the event of shortlisting, WFNS will provide the publisher/author with the mailing address of the Atlantic Book Awards Society or the Society for the Nova Scotia Book Awards, as appropriate.
Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged via email to the relevant publisher contacts and authors, after which WFNS cannot provide an update until the spring following the adjudication process.
All eligible titles submitted to the WNFS-administered awards are adjudicated by independent peer assessment juries with literary expertise appropriate to each award. The juries are recruited and facilitated by WFNS. All decisions made by the WFNS juries are final.
Adjudication process
- Prior to a prize jury meeting, the WFNS sends each member of the prize jury a package containing (A) a copy of each title submitted for the prize, (B) adjudication instructions, and (C) general criteria for assessment.
- Jurors complete individual assessment of all submitted titles.
- Jurors attend a virtual meeting facilitated by a WFNS representative, where the jurors discuss each book (drawing on their notes taken during individual assessment) and reach a consensus on a shortlist of three books and a winning book from that shortlist. (Prior to discussing a title, jurors must disclose any conflicts of interest, determined by whether a juror stands to gain any financial benefit through association with a submitted title; stands to gain from any moral or intellectual rights; or has a significant personal relationship with the author of a submitted title. If there is a conflict of interest, the juror claiming the conflict will be absent during discussion of the book in question.)
- In partnership with the Nova Scotia Book Awards and the Atlantic Book Awards, the WFNS announces award shortlists in the spring following the adjudication period. Award winners are subsequently announced at the Nova Scotia Book Awards Ceremony and the Atlantic Book Awards Gala.
- Publishers of winning titles will be supplied with gold seal stickers to attach to book cover. Digital copies of the seals are be available.
Assessment criteria
Each eligible title submitted to an award is assessed according to the following general criteria, both on its own terms and in relation to all other titles received for the same award.
- Merit of the writing (such as creativity and quality)
- Social and/or cultural merit of the text
- Originality of content, approach, or technique
Eligible titles received for the Ann Connor Brimer Award are also assessed for their appeal to the intended target audience.
The quality of any illustration or photography within a title is not considered.
During individual assessment, jury members are asked to read all entries thoughtfully and rigorously, assessing (where appropriate) how the entries may be read and appreciated in response to the following specific questions:
Does the work challenge any assumptions about a genre or form? Is the work cohesive in story, theme, and content? Does the text make use of interesting or unusual structure and/or language? Is the language evocative? Is the work well-organized? Is the work fresh, not imitative? Has the writer been intentional about the use of style and language? Are there any social or cultural considerations that apply? Does the work make a contribution to the literary arts?
Deadline for 2026 Awards: November 1, 2025
The above deadline falls on a Saturday, when the WFNS office will be closed.
To ensure timely receipt of your submission package, submit prior to October 31.
