Submissions to the 2023 QWF Book Awards closed on June 1, 2023. The QWF Spoken Word Prize is open until July 2, 2023.
Publishers: You can be added to the email list for future correspondence about the Awards by completing the form in the box “Attention aux éditeurs / Attention Publishers” on this page.
QWF administers various awards programs to acknowledge the fine work being done by Quebec’s aspiring, emerging, and established authors and, in the case of the Judy Mappin Community Award, members of the larger literary community. Literary awards encourage talented young writers to carry on with their careers and give them a credential that may help them get the attention of an agent or publisher. For more established writers, they help raise their profile outside of their home community and generate additional book sales.
La QWF décerne différents prix qui soulignent la qualité du travail des auteurs à toutes les étapes de leur carrière, qu’ils soient en devenir ou bien établis. De plus, le Judy Mappin Community Award rend hommage aux membres de la communauté littéraire au sens large. Ces marques de reconnaissances encouragent les jeunes écrivains talentueux à poursuivre leur carrière en les aidant à attirer l’attention d’un agent ou d’un éditeur, tandis que dans le cas des écrivains qui ont déjà publié des œuvres, les prix aident à accroître leur notoriété à l’extérieur de leur cercle et à augmenter les ventes de leurs œuvres.
The QWF Literary Awards /
Les Prix Littéraires QWF
Publishers: You can be added to the email list for future correspondence about the Awards by completing the form in the box “Attention aux éditeurs / Attention Publishers” on this page.
The specifics for each prize can be found below.
Message aux éditeurs : Pour être ajoutés à notre liste d’envoi et recevoir notre correspondance par courriel, nous vous invitons à remplir le formulaire dans la section « Attention aux éditeurs / Attention Publishers » sur cette page.
La description de chaque prix se trouve ci-dessous.
The 2023 lists of book submissions have been published. The shortlist will be announced in October.
Special Prizes
carte blanche Prize
The carte blanche Prize is awarded once a year in recognition of an outstanding submission to QWF’s online literary journal, carte blanche, by a Quebec writer, artist, or translator. Winners receive a cash prize and a unique trophy—“The Lori”—created by Montreal artist Glen LeMesurier.
A shortlist is selected by the editors of the journal, and the winner is selected by a single juror.
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Judy Mappin Community Award
This award is given to a member of the extended literary community who has made a significant and longstanding contribution to the development and/or dissemination of English-language literature in Quebec. It is named for the first recipient of QWF's Community Award in 1995, who quietly but fiercely promoted generations of Canadian writers in her long career as a bookseller at the now-defunct Double Hook bookstore in Westmount, Quebec.
The recipient of the 2023 Judy Mappin Community Award will be announced at the QWF Literary Awards Gala on November 13.
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The Max Margles Fiction Prize
The Max Margles Fiction Prize will be awarded to a writer of prose fiction who is a resident of Quebec and whose writing practice is primarily in English. The winner will receive $8,500. The award is designed to enable one writer to work on a specific solo writing project between April 1 and October 31, 2022.
The winner has been announced.
View the Winner
The QWF College Writers Award
QWF established a prize for young writers in 2017. In 2021, it was relaunched as the QWF College Writers Award. It will be awarded to a Quebec resident who is enrolled in one of the sponsoring colleges: Champlain, Dawson, Heritage, John Abbott, Marianopolis, and Vanier. The prize goes to the author of the best short story, poem, or work of non-fiction written in English and published in an official literary publication during the previous calendar year. Work can be submitted either by the author or by the journal in which the submission was published, and there is no limit to the number of submissions per publication or writer.
Submissions are now closed. The finalists will be announced in October.
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Milestones
2022
Inauguration of the QWF Spoken Word Prize
2018
Inauguration of the QWF Prize for Playwriting
2014
carte blanche turns ten years old
2013
QWF celebrates fifteen years
2012
The QWF Awards Trophy is unveiled, thanks to an anonymous donor. Designer: Anick Blais
2011
First book prize named "Concordia University First Book Prize"
2010
Translation prize named "Cole Foundation Prize for Translation "
2008
Inauguration of the QWF Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
1999
First Book award named "McAuslan First Book Prize"
1998
QSPELL Prizes renamed QWF Awards Non-fiction prize named "Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction" Inauguration of the Translation prize
1996
Inauguration of the First Book award
1992
Poetry prize named "A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry"
1991
Fiction prize named "Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction"
