Now accepting submissions for the RBC PEN Canada 2023 New Voices Award
PEN Canada is now accepting original English language submissions for the RBC PEN Canada 2023 New Voices Award. The annual award aims to encourage new writing and to provide a space where unpublished Canadian writers can submit short stories, creative nonfiction, journalism, and poetry. The shortlisted submissions will be judged by a distinguished jury of Canadian writers. The winning entry will receive a $3,000 CAD cash prize and mentorship from a Canadian author.
Please submit your entries by midnight on Friday, May 5th, 2023 EST. Submissions to PEN Canada must be in English. All judging will be blind. For detailed submission guidelines and terms of entry please read on.
To meet the jury, click here.
The RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award is generously funded by the RBC Emerging Artists Project.
Submission Guidelines
All submissions must be received by midnight on Friday, May 5, 2023 EST.
- Please send all submissions to submissions@pencanada.ca
- No entry may be altered after submission
- It is not possible to confirm receipt of entries by phone or email
Entries must be emailed and must include two separate documents:
1. Cover sheet – this should state applicant contact information (address, phone, email), date of birth, and the title of work being submitted. Download the cover sheet template here.
2. Submission – short stories, creative non-fiction, journalism, and poetry. The title of the submission should appear in the top margins of each page and match the title stated on the cover sheet. The filename of the submission must be the title of the submission and it must be an MS Word file or .rtf. PDFs will not be accepted.
All entries are judged anonymously. DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME on the document, only on the cover sheet.
Eligibility
- All writers must be 17 or over on May 5th, 2023.
- Writers who have published books may not enter, but those with publishing contracts for forthcoming books may enter. Candidates must not have had any book published, in any genre, during the entire duration of the award.
- Writers who have published pamphlets, or whose work has appeared in magazines and journals may enter.
- All texts entered must be the work of one author only.
- All texts submitted must remain unpublished during the entire duration of the award.
Prose Submissions
- Prose entries must be between 2,000-4,000 words
- Short stories should be double-spaced and a word count noted at the top of the first page
- Writers may only submit one prose work
Poetry Submissions
- Please include all your poems (if submitting more than one) in one document, with one cover sheet
- Poetry entries may take the form of individual poems, a sequence, or one long poem of no more than 2,500 words in total
- Poems to be single-spaced and a line count noted at the top of the first page
Terms and Conditions
- Submissions to PEN Canada will be shortlisted and then evaluated by an independent jury.
