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Submission Guidelines

For questions about the Emerging Writers Prizes, contact program lead Linda Hudson at wits@writers.ns.ca

To be considered for any of the Emerging Writers Prizes, writers must meet the following criteria.

  • You must be a permanent resident of Nova Scotia, meaning that you have lived in Nova Scotia full-time for at least the past twelve (12) months and that you file your personal income taxes in Nova Scotia. (Out-of-province post-secondary students and seasonal residents are ineligible.)
  • You must be an emerging or early-career writer who has published no more than one (1) book-length literary project in any form or genre, including traditionally published, partner- or hybrid-published, and self-published projects.
  • You must be 19 years of age or older by the current submission deadline.

In addition to the above criteria, you must meet one or more of the following prize-specific criteria.

  • Saunders Prize: You must submit a writing sample from a book-length speculative fiction work-in-progress (i.e, a novel, a novella, or a collection of short stories).
  • Venart Prize: You must be a woman and/or another marginalized gender (including but not limited to Two-Spirit, trans, nonbinary, and fluid genders).
  • Oliver Prize: You must be Black, African Nova Scotian, and/or African Canadian.

Submission packages must contain all components listed below and must be submitted by the prize deadline. Each submission package must be submitted as a single digital document (in .doc or .pdf format) with a file name as follows: [Your Name] – Emerging Writers Prizes. Incomplete, late, non-digital, or misnamed submission packages are ineligible.

A. ‘Cover letter’ up to 1 page in length (single-spaced; in 12-pt Times New Roman or Arial font)

The cover letter is composed of personal responses to the following questions. All questions must be answered within this 1 page, but the length of any particular response is up to you. In these questions, “prize period” refers to the 6-month span running from the February through the July following the submission deadline, during which time the literary activities associated with each prize should take place. Start a new paragraph for each response.

  1. Provide an ‘elevator pitch’ for your work-in-progress: identify its form (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or writing for children/YA) and any relevant genres or sub-genres, and briefly describe its narrative and/or themes.
  2. How long have you been actively developing your work-in-progress? How many pages have you drafted? How many pages have been through a revision process?
  3. What specific goals do you hope to achieve during the prize period? What are your most significant creative challenges with your work-in-progress?
  4. How will an Emerging Writers Prize allow you to prioritize your work-in-progress? If applying to multiple prizes, please be specific with respect to each prize package.

B. Writing sample from the book-length work-in-progress of 8 to 10 pages (double-spaced for prose; in 12-pt Times New Roman or Arial font)

  • “Book-length” includes long-form writing (e.g., novels, nonfiction books), medium-form writing (e.g., novellas, picture books), and collections of short-form writing (e.g., short story collections, personal essay collections, poetry collections).
  • Poetry samples may be single- or double-spaced, as suits your intended presentation. Poetry samples may use other fonts only if typeface is integral to the work-in-progress.
  • You may include a description (of up to one additional double-space page) summarizing the work-in-progress from which the sample is excerpted and/or providing necessary context for the excerpt. Include any such description at the beginning of the writing sample.

All submitters will be notified of results by early January. Please do not inquire about the status of your submission during the assessment period.

After submission packages have been processed to ensure they are complete and eligible, they are shared with an independent peer assessment jury (composed of three professional authors contracted by WFNS to adjudicate all Emerging Writers Prizes).

All submission packages will be assessed based on the following criteria, weighted equally:

  • the merit of the writing sample,
  • the merit of the proposed writing activities, and
  • the submitter’s commitment to the proposed writing activities.

The jury’s selection of prize recipients will be final. The cash award will be disbursed at the beginning of the prize period.

Whether submitting to one, two, or all three Emerging Writers Prizes, pay a single submission fee and submit a single submission form.

Submissions are accepted only through the form at the bottom of this page. Please note that completing the submission form is the final step in our recommended submission checklist:

  1. Ensure your eligibility.
  2. Ensure your submission package is complete and correct. In the event of an error, contact WFNS to explain the issue before submitting a revised submission package. No application package or correction can be accepted after the program deadline.
  3. Pay the $50 Emerging Writers Prizes submission fee. This fee covers most but not all of the assessment costs for each submission. As such, this fee cannot be refunded under any circumstance, including incomplete, ineligible, or unsuccessful submissions. This fee is $37.50 for those with current WFNS General Membership, which is open to anyone with an interest in creative writing, regardless of writing experience or place of residence.
Pay submission fee online

If you are a current General Member, login before checkout to apply your member discount.

To pay fee by phone, call us between 10am and 3pm on weekdays at 902 423 8116 with your credit card details.

To pay fee by mail, send a cheque (payable to “Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia”) post-dated for no later than the application deadline.

  1. Complete and submit the online submission form, visible at the bottom of this page when applications are being accepted. After clicking the “Submit” button, please wait until you see the confirmation message (that your form has been successfully submitted) before exiting this page.

If the submission fee presents a barrier, please contact communications@writers.ns.ca before submitting. Funds are available to help underwaged writers with submission fees.

Submissions will be accepted Sept 18 to Oct 9, 2025

For the 2026 Emerging Writers Prizes

Submission form

This form allows emerging and early-career writers to apply to one, two, or all three of WFNS's Emerging Writers Prizes: the Charles R. Saunders Prize, the Elizabeth Venart Prize, and the Senator Don Oliver Black Voices Prize. Prizes differ in eligibility and in prize package, so please briefly familiarize yourself with all prizes before submitting.

If eligible for more than one prize, submit a single submission package, submission form, and submission fee.

Declarations of general eligibility

By submitting to the Emerging Writers Prizes, you make each of the following declarations:

• I am a permanent resident of Nova Scotia, having lived in Nova Scotia full-time for at least the past twelve (12) months.
• I am an emerging or early-career writer who has published no more than one (1) book-length literary project.
• I am 19 years of age or older.

If it is discovered that any of these declarations is false, your submission will be ineligible.
Select all that apply.
If the name you commonly use or publish under differs from your legal name, please include your legal name in parentheses—i.e., "Common Name (Legal Name)." If you are awarded a prize, your legal name will be required for prize payment.
Must include city/town, province, and postal code.
Drag & Drop Files, Choose Files to Upload
• Your submission package must be a single digital file (.doc or .pdf format) that contains all components identified in the above section "2. Submission package."
• Your submission package must use a file name as follows: [Your Name] - Emerging Writers Prizes.
• Incomplete, misnamed, or file-unreadable application packages may be deemed ineligible.
Indicate the method by which you paid the Emerging Writers Prizes submission fee, details of which are given in the above section "4. Submission Checklist & Fee." Fee payment must be sent before you submit this form.

For questions or further information, please contact us. Due to the volume of submissions anticipated, we ask that you contact us at least two weeks before the prize deadline.

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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