CATEGORIES

All entries must fall within one of the following categories and be within the specified word count:*

• Short story (2000 - 2500 words)*
• Creative nonfiction (2000 - 2500 words)*
• Poetry (1000 - 2000 words)*

* Word count excludes titles. Texts above or below the specified word count will be disqualified. An electronic version of short listed texts may be required to check the word count. See the FAQ section of our website for further details on how to count the words in your submission.

The short story category is a fiction category open to short prose works, generally narrative.

Creative nonfiction is a nonfiction category that includes humour writing, memoir, biography, essay (including personal essay), travel writing, and feature articles. Works submitted in this category should be accessible to a general reading audience (i.e., not written for a specialized or academic audience.)

Poetry entries may take the form of a long narrative poem, a sequence of connected poems or a group of unconnected poems whose total word count (excluding the titles) is between 1000 and 2000 words.