Submission Guidelines

Eligible Writers

• Canadian citizens or permanent residents over the age of 18.
• Unpublished writers or self-published writers with no professionally published books for any age and not currently under contract with a publisher.
• Writers are eligible if prior publication is limited to stories, articles or poems in collections, textbooks, magazines, etc.
• NOTE: Writers retain full copyright of their entries. 

Eligible Entries

• Up to 1,500 words in English, fiction or non-fiction
• Text only; no illustrations
• Word or PDF document; we cannot accept links to file sharing sites.
• 11 or 12-point plain font (e.g., Times Roman or Arial—no fancy fonts!) double-spaced with 1-inch margins
• Select one category for your entry: Picture Book (PB), Middle Grade (MG), Young Adult (YA); if you aren’t sure, see Book Categories for information.
• For PB: Submit complete text or up to 1500 words. No illustrations, but you can include brief illustrator notes about essential visual elements that are not carried by the text.
• For MG and YA: Submit first chapter and additional chapters/excerpts up to 1,500 words
• Previously submitted entries can be resubmitted 

How to Set Up Your Entry

    1. On PAGE ONE of your entry, include:

• Your name, email, phone, mailing address
• Category of your entry (Picture Book, Middle Grade, Young Adult)
• Title of your story
• Summary of your story including key characters, plot and ending (up to 250 words)
• Where your entry fits in your story (e.g., first chapter and eighth chapter)
• Bio/summary of your writing experience (up to 100 words) 

        2. Follow this format for the FILE NAME of your Word or PDF entry: 

• Category-Lastname-Firstname-Title-of-Entry 
• Category abbreviation: PB = picture book | MG = middle grade | YA = young adult
• Hyphen between each word (no spaces)
• Example: PB-Jones-Mary-The-Little-Bunny

Entry Submission Form & Uploading Your Entry

• After you've registered, you'll get a confirmation email that includes a link to an online entry submission form.
• The entry submission form includes the upload function for your Word or PDF entry. 
• You'll complete a separate entry submission form for your entry, and then upload your entry. 
• If you've registered for 2 or 3 entries, you'll complete an separate entry submission form for each one, and you'll also upload each entry separately. If all your entries aren't ready for upload, you can complete additional forms at a later date.