Thinking about entering the CBC Literary Prizes? 20 past winners share why you should
The winners of the 2024 CBC Literary Prizes will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books. They will also receive a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Still unsure about whether or not you should submit your work? Well, CBC Books reached out to all of our past winners between 2016 and 2022 asking them why they think you should enter the CBC Literary Prizes.
1. It gives you a deadline
Becky Blake says: "Entering the CBC Literary Prizes each year provides a firm deadline to work toward. I also love that the prizes offer substantial publicity to all longlisted and shortlisted writers, as well as to the winning authors. This means that each prize provides many writers with an important boost of recognition and encouragement."
Becky Blake is a two-time winner of the CBC Literary Prizes. In 2013, she won the CBC Short Story Prize for The Three Times Rule and went on to impress judges with Trust Exercise, the story that won the 2017 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
2. It can be a catalyst for your writing career
Jenny Boychuk says: "The contest not only presents an opportunity to share your work with a wider audience and make new connections, but it can also be a catalyst for your writing career. I recently completed my two-week residency and it was an unforgettable and transformational experience. I am so grateful to CBC and the Canada Council for the Arts for the generous support provided through winning the CBC Nonfiction Prize."
Jenny Boychuk holds an MFA from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program. Her poems and essays have appeared in the Walrus, Best New Poets 2016, the Malahat Review, the Fiddlehead, Grain, the New Quarterly and PRISM international.
Boychuk won the 2019 CBC Nonfiction Prize for her story Slow Violence.
3. Having a clear goal helps make you a better writer
Corinna Chong says: "Having a clear goal will help you become a better writer. Working under constraints like deadlines and word limits can often jump start your motivation to write and stir up creative energy.
Working under constraints like deadlines and word limits can often jump start your motivation to write and stir up creative energy.- Corinna Chong
"Knowing your work will have a flesh-and-blood audience also puts you in a more objective mainframe for the revision process, which will help you to see what needs to be done to transform a good piece of writing into an exceptional one."
Corinna Chong teaches English and fine arts at Okanagan College. She published her first novel, Belinda's Rings, in 2013 and is in the final stages of revision of her second novel, Bad Land. Her latest book The Whole Animal is a collection of short stories.
In 2021, she won the CBC Short Story Prize for Kids in Kindergarten, which appears in The Whole Animal.
4. Your work will be carefully and thoughtfully read by other writers
Susan Cormier says: "Writing is a solitary pastime. It can be quite isolating, and lends itself to a sense that one is disconnected from other people. In reality, there is a huge community of writers — we just rarely see each other actively working on our craft, so we don't always recognize each other. And so, the temptation to just hold our writing close and not share it with others is exacerbated by our shyness and presumed solitude. Entering writing contests is one way of sending your work out into the world and sharing it with people. It's a very safe way to share it with people: there is no stage fright, no awkward silences, no raised eyebrows from the audience. You send your work in, and wait for the longlist to be announced. And maybe you'll be on it!
Your piece could be read by your favourite author, or an editor who loves your writing style, or a kindred soul who is deeply affected by your words.
"The entries are read by a pool of a dozen or so judges who have been carefully selected by the CBC Books team for their knowledge of literature and the art of writing. When you enter this contest, someone somewhere will be thoroughly engaged in reading your piece — not your friend or family member who is obligated to enjoy your writing, but a professional writer or editor who will read every line you wrote, humming and nodding and sipping their tea. Your piece could be read by your favourite author, or an editor who loves your writing style, or a kindred soul who is deeply affected by your words."
Métis writer Susan Cormier works in print, performance and film. She has won the Federation of B.C. Writers' Literary Award, the Hemingway Short Story Prize and the B.C. Alternative Writing and Design Competition, and has been shortlisted for Arc Magazine's Poem of the Year and SubTerrain's Lush Triumphant Award.
Cormier won the 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize for her essay Advice to a New Beekeeper.
5. You'll reach a wide audience
Brenda Damen says: "This was the first time something I wrote was so widely read. An astounding number of strangers sent me messages. They shared what reading my story made them feel. This one-of-a-kind experience is still resonating with me."
Brenda Damen was the winner of the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize for her story Gibson. She was also shortlisted for the Brenda Strathern prize in 2021. Damen is working toward finishing her first book.
6. It makes you take a chance on yourself
Leslie A. Davidson says: "Well, the prize is amazing! The writing residency has the potential to change your writing and your life. I entered with the thought, 'Someone wise and experienced is going to read this.' That felt good just in itself.
You have to be brave to be a writer, to submit, and accept rejection, and carry on.- Leslie Davidson
"You have to be brave to be a writer, to submit, and accept rejection, and carry on. It's hard and it's humbling and it can shake your confidence but you are in incredibly talented company. There is always that hope, the possibility that you could be longlisted, or shortlisted, or win. It won't happen if you don't get that piece in the best shape you can, and write with the intention of reaching out, heart to heart. It won't happen if you don't take a chance on yourself. If you don't, no one else will."
Leslie A. Davidson is the author of two children's books, In the Red Canoe and The Sun is a Shine. She lives in Revelstoke, B.C. Davidson won the 2016 CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize. Her latest book Dancing in Small Spaces includes her CBC Nonfiction Prize winning essay Adaptation.
7. It will give you a confidence boost
Michael Fraser says: "There are myriad beneficial reasons to enter CBC Literary Prizes. Winning and being shortlisted in a contest will immensely expand your national profile! Simply entering a contest will boost your confidence, increase perseverance, and it provides a sense of accomplishment."
Michael Fraser is an award-winning poet and writer. He has been published in several anthologies and his books include To Greet Yourself Arriving and The Serenity of Stone. Fraser won the 2016 CBC Poetry Prize.
8. People all across the country will connect with your work
Lise Gaston says: "I can think of no other literary contest in Canada in which the winning works are so public and accessible. I heard from people all across the country who connected with my poem — a privilege writers can often only dream of, but that this contest makes possible."
Lise Gaston is the author of Cityscapes in Mating Season, which was named one of the 10 must-read books of 2017 by the League of Canadian Poets. Her other recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Brick, Canadian Notes and Queries, the Fiddlehead, the Malahat Review and Best Canadian Poetry in English.
Gaston won the 2021 CBC Poetry Prize for her poem James.
9. It will give you the motivation to polish your work
Alix Hawley says: "Competitions can motivate you to finish and polish a story. Why not use the deadline and possibility of recognition for your piece to get it into excellent shape?"
Alix Hawley was the winner of the 2017 CBC Short Story Prize for Witching, a story about a woman struggling to connect with her boyfriend after his return from combat. She was also the winner of the 2015 Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for her debut novel, All True Not a Lie in It.
10. It gets your work out there
Matthew Hollett says: "I'd encourage anyone to enter the CBC Literary Prizes. It's a wonderful way to get your work out there, connect with a community of writers across the country and support CBC! The annual deadlines are a great motivation to finish or rework something to give it that extra oomph."
Matthew Hollett is a writer and photographer from Montreal. His first book, Album Rock, was published in 2018. He won the 2017 NLCU Fresh Fish Award for Optic Nerve, a collection of not-yet-published poems about photography and seeing.
Hollett won the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize for Tickling the Scar. He had previously been longlisted for both the 2016 CBC Poetry Prize and the 2017 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
11. It will lift you as a writer
David Huebert says: "If you enter one writing competition this year, you should enter the CBC Literary Prizes. It's wild, looking back, how high the CBC can lift a writer. If you win or come close, they'll spread your voice far and wide."
David Huebert is a story writer based on the east coast of Canada. He won the CBC Short Story Prize in 2016 with the story Enigma. He later published his first collection of short fiction, Peninsula Sinking, which was a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award.
12. It opens doors for emerging writers
Natalie Lim says: "When I entered the CBC Poetry Prize, I had never published a poem before. Winning the prize opened so many doors for me as an emerging writer — I can genuinely say that it changed my life and I'm so glad that I decided to submit."
Natalie Lim is a poet and occasional musician. She published her first poetry collection Arrhythmia earlier this year. One of the poems in the collection, the titular Arrhythmia, won the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize.
13. You'll connect with the broader literary community
Leah Mol says: "You should enter the CBC Literary Prizes because it's a concrete deadline to finish a project. Yes, you could probably work on a piece of writing forever, but you shouldn't. And once your current project is out in the world, it frees you up to move on to the next thing! Getting on a CBC Literary Prize longlist gives you an immediate connection to the literary community and opens up opportunities for a career in writing."
Leah Mol is a writer and editor who graduated from the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia. She also won the 2020 Bronwen Wallace Award for emerging writers. Sharp Edges is her debut novel.
Mol won the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize for her story Lipstick Day.
14. It'll give you a goal
Sandra Murdock says: "Do it to have a goal. I don't necessarily think it's a good idea to randomly submit pieces to contests, rather, choose one piece you really believe in, hone it, workshop it, revise, revise, revise, then submit and let it go.
Celebrate having crafted something carefully enough to know it belongs in the hands of beautifully skilled writers.- Sandra Murdock
"Celebrate having crafted something carefully enough to know it belongs in the hands of beautifully skilled writers. Then get back to work, reflecting on what you've learned in the process, always improving."
Born to a military family, Sandra Murdock grew up across Canada and in Germany. She's published poetry in Echolocation and the Antigonish Review. Murdoch won the 2018 CBC Nonfiction Prize with Easy Family Dinners.
15. It's where powerful conversations begin
Alessandra Naccarato says: "The CBC Literary Prizes are an incredible opportunity to connect with writers and readers from across the country. I had no idea how far a story about my grandmother could travel, but since the CBC Poetry Prize, Postcards for My Sister has been translated into French, and formed the basis of an essay in my new book, Imminent Domains. There's no way to know the impact and trajectory of our poems and stories; if we have something urgent and creative to share, I believe we should share it — and the CBC is often where powerful conversations begin."
Alessandra Naccarato is a writer who divides her time between Toronto and British Columbia. She is the author of the poetry collection Re-Origin of Species. In 2015, she won the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. Naccarato won the 2017 CBC Poetry Prize. She had made the CBC Poetry Prize shortlist years prior.
16. The winner's writing residency is a once-in-a-lifetime experience
Krzysztof Pelc says: "The CBC Literary Prizes are a nice reminder that we live in a country that values the arts. They're a way of instantly joining a nation-wide community of writers. In my case, the writing retreat that came with the CBC Short Story Prize had an enduring effect: it wasn't merely two weeks in a cabin in the woods — which is valuable enough on its own — it also led to a reappraisal of my work-life once I returned home.
It led me to carve out more space and time out of my usual routine to play around with ideas.- Krzystof Pelc
"It led me to carve out more space and time out of my usual routine to play around with ideas. Many of those ideas then found their way into a book that just came out this summer: Beyond Self-Interest, which is in part about the role of the arts in a market society. And it all started with a short story about a green velvet sofa picked up off the street..."
Krzysztof Pelc is a professor of political science at McGill University. Born in Warsaw, Poland, he has lived in Montreal since 2010. He is also the author of Making and Bending International Rules, about the ways international law deals with unexpected events. Pelc won the 2019 CBC Short Story Prize. He was previously a finalist in 2017.
17. It gets your voice out there
Alycia Pirmohamed says: "The CBC Poetry Prize is one way to get your voice out there, to make an impact on readers all over the world. I believe they are unique because the longlists, which often cite over 20 writers or more, are shared with so much enthusiasm. These authors, too, reach new audiences and gain new readership. I found some of my favourite authors through the prizes' longlists, and not only through their winners.
I found some of my favourite authors through the prizes' longlists, and not only through their winners.- Alycia Pirmohamed
"As the 2019 winner, the confidence I've gained from winning the prize – the confidence to continue pursuing my practice, the belief in my own work – gave me courage to experiment and try new things in my writing, to continuously pursue growth and take risks as an artist."
Alycia Pirmohamed is a Canadian-born poet based in Scotland. She is the co-founder of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network, a co-organizer of the Ledbury Poetry Critics Program. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Cambridge.
Her poetry collection Another Way To Split Water features the poems that won the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize: Love Poem With Elk and Punctuation, Prairie Storm and Tasbih.
18. It can change your life
Jonathan Poh says: "It isn't a stretch to say that winning a CBC Literary Prize has changed my life. When I entered the 2020 CBC Nonfiction Prize, I was at a crucial crossroads: return to the corporate world or pursue my life-long dream of becoming a writer. Winning the prize has given me the courage to pursue my creative calling full-time, validated my talent and work, and helped me discover my unique voice and literary genre.
Winning the prize has given me the courage to pursue my creative calling full-time, validated my talent and work, and helped me discover my unique voice and literary genre.- Jonathan Poh
"Perhaps most importantly – speaking as someone who's always had difficulty fitting in – it's helped me finally find my 'tribe' among the wonderful community of writers who call Canada home."
Jonathan Poh is a writer, editor and communications specialist living in Burnaby, B.C. He is a former editor of the men's fashion and streetwear publication Hypebeast, where he remains a contributor, and holds a BA in English from Simon Fraser University. His story Value Village won the 2020 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
19. It pushes you to do your best work
Bren Simmers says: "Entering a prize or competition forces you to honestly evaluate your own writing. Is the content relevant and engaging? Is the language well-crafted and rhythmic? Knowing that some of the top writers in the country will be reading your work forces you to polish your poem(s). And while contests are subjective, learning to push yourself to do your best work will pay off in the long term."
Simmers is the author of four books, including the wilderness memoir Pivot Point and Hastings-Sunrise, which was a finalist for the Vancouver Book Award. Her most recent collection of poetry is If, When. Her poetry collection Spell World Backwards won the 2022 CBC Poetry Prize. She was previously longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2013 for I Blame MASH For My Addiction To MLS and in 2012 for Science Lessons.
20. It gives you a foot in the industry
Chanel M. Sutherland says: "Before entering the CBC Short Story Prize, I had a checklist of all the things I'd need to do to get noticed by literary agents, editors, publishers, etc. I'm sure my list isn't all that unique (write a query, edit, edit again, edit some more, attend workshops, network, etc.).
It might just be the most important step you take toward your writing career.- Chanel Sutherland
"Winning the CBC Literary Prize allowed me to skip a few steps. It gave me a foot into the industry I could only dream about for many years. Suddenly, I had direct contact with all these industry professionals who knew who I was and wanted to talk to me and offer advice, encouragement and friendship. It's been incredibly humbling.
"So my advice is simple: polish that story, take a deep breath and submit. It might just be the most important step you take toward your writing career. Good luck!"
Chanel M. Sutherland is a two-time CBC Literary Prize winner: she won the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize and the 2021 CBC Nonfiction Prize. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Mairuth Sarsfield Mentorship, a component of the Quebec Writers' Federation Fresh Pages initiative. Born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Chanel moved to Montreal when she was 10 years old. She holds a BA in English literature from Concordia University and is currently writing her first book, a collection of short stories that explore the Black Caribbean immigrant experience.
