Literary Competitions
Encouraging and recognizing excellence in the literary arts.
Over $100,000 has been awarded through these merit-based competitions, and 10 winners and/or shortlisted authors have gone on to full book publication with Exile Editions.
The $15,000 Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Competition recognizes Canadian writers with $10,000 to an emerging writer, and $5,000 to a writer at any career point – the prizes are sponsored by the late Gloria Vanderbilt.
The 2018/19 winners are Leanne Milech (emerging); Edward Brown and Priscila Uppal (sharing the any career point).
The $3,000 Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry Competition recognizes Canadian writers with $1,500 to an emerging writer, and $1,500 to a writer at any career point – the prizes are sponsored by poet and Professor Emeritus David Lampe.
The 2018/19 winners are Michael Fraser (emerging) and Roger Greenwald (any career point).
And new for 2020, the Bank of Montreal will host the awards gala, to be held
on the 68th floor of Toronto’s First Canadian Place.
Both competitions run simultaneously from March through October. Information and Submission Details.
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A grant opportunity for Canadian writers and graphic novel creators:
We have withdrawn from this program, but continue to refer content creators to the OAC Recommender Grants to Writers initiative. The purpose of the program is to support Ontario writers in the creation of new work – and to create and strengthen connections between Ontario writers, publishers, and literary organizations.
This is a third-party recommender program. Using Nova, OAC’s online grant application system, writers apply to the publishers and organizations designated as recommenders for the program. These recommenders assess applications and submit grant recommendations to OAC.