CBC Nonfiction Prize
The CBC Nonfiction Prize is open from Jan. 1 to March 1
The CBC Nonfiction Prize is open between Jan. 1 and March 1 at 4:59 p.m. ET.
The winner receives $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books.
Four finalists each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and their work is also published on CBC Books.
Who can enter?
The prize is open to all Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory of residence, whether living in Canada or abroad.
What can you submit?
You can submit original, unpublished nonfiction that is up to 2,000 words. There is no minimum word requirement. Nonfiction includes memoir, biography, humour writing, essay (including personal essay), travel writing and feature articles.
Work that has been published online or in print or recorded for broadcast is considered "previously published" and is not eligible.
While the competition is active, submit online by creating an account through Submittable. A fee of $25.00 (taxes included) for administration purposes is required for each entry.
You may submit as many times as you like; each entry will require the $25 submission fee.
What can you win?
The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books.
"As much as a residency is about your individual practice, it can also be about building your writing community," two-time CBC Literary Prize winner Chanel M. Sutherland told CBC Books about her residency. "Before I knew it, I'd become part of a community of writers who to this day continue to inspire and support me."
"My visit let me recommit to trying to carve out pieces of time in my life for writing. I came home thinking, 'How do I do that at home?' It's so easy for the writing time to slip away. But I came home with a project that I now think is possible. That was the big deal," 2016 CBC Nonfiction Prize winner Leslie A. Davidson told CBC Books after completing her residency.
Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their story published on CBC Books. And all the longlisted writers will be featured on CBC Books.
Who is judging the prize?
A team of readers from across Canada will read the entries and determine the longlist. The shortlist and winner will be decided by a jury comprised of three prominent Canadian writers.
The judging process is blind, so your name will not be known by the readers or jurors until the final decisions have been made.
We have different readers and jurors every year. The 2025 readers and jurors will be announced during the submission period, between Jan. 1 and March 1. The results (longlist, shortlist and winner) will be revealed in spring 2025.
"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," 2022 CBC Nonfiction Prize winner Susan Cormier told CBC Books after her win.
Recent past CBC Nonfiction Prize jurors include Michelle Good, Dan Werb and Christina Sharpe; Eternity Martis, David A. Robertson and Merilyn Simonds; Marcello Di Cintio, Sharon Butala and Jenna Butler and M.G. Vassanji, Jenny Heijun Wills and Tim Cook.
Who has won before?
The winner of the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize will join some esteemed company!
Last year's winner was Aldona Dziedziejko for her essay Ice Safety Chart: Fragments. Dziedziejko's winning piece was selected from over 1,400 entries.
"This is an honour that I am lucky to share with many writers I admire and it's such a wonderful community to be a part of. I write in order to communicate — to reach out to the wide world of readers out there and I'm so glad that through this prize I will get to do this on a vast scale," she said.
"Winning the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize has finally made me validate my identity as a writer. Most importantly, I am grateful to the jury for understanding what I was trying to say, and for the opportunities that this recognition will allow to help me finish my writing projects," Dziedziejko told CBC Books.
The CBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979.
Other past CBC Literary Prize winners include David Bergen, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields and Michael Winter.
What if I need help?
"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," 2021 winner Corina Chong told CBC Books.
Make sure to subscribe to the CBC Nonfiction Prize newsletter for writing tips and support along the way. We will send you writing tips, tricks and prompts every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday while the CBC Nonfiction Prize is open.
You should also consider joining our Canada Writes Facebook group! It's a place where writers across Canada can connect with each other, support each other and even offer each other feedback.
Anything else I need to know?
The 2025 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April and the CBC Short Story Prize will open in September.
If you're looking to submit to the French nonfiction prize, you can enter here.
You can see the complete rules and regulations here.
If you are a writing group, library, school or bookstore who wants to let your community know about the CBC Literary Prizes, you can download a poster here.
Have questions? Check out our frequently asked questions or email us at canadawrites@cbc.ca.
