QWF Awards Call for Submissions: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and First Book Prizes

On November 10, 2025, QWF will award seven prizes of $3,000 each to honour excellence in the categories of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, first book, translation, spoken word, and children’s and young adult literature (see separate Calls for Submissions for Translation, Spoken Word, and Children’s/YA Prizes). A first book may also be submitted for the fiction, non-fiction, or poetry prize.

Publishers or authors with eligible titles (see eligibility criteria below) must submit five physical copies and one electronic copy in PDF format. Please submit the PDF online via Submittable. If the PDF is not available at the time you complete your submission (i.e., the book is forthcoming), please send it to riley@qwf.org when it becomes available and by the appropriate deadline date (see “Submission Deadlines,” below).

It is the responsibility of the publisher (or author) who is submitting the books, whether electronic or hard copies, to ensure that the submission has been received.

Each submission requires a completed submission form (two, if the book is submitted in two categories), and a $35 non-refundable registration fee for each submission (i.e., $70 for a book entered in two categories).

A publisher submitting five or more titles is eligible for a $5 discount on the submission fee. For example, for five titles, the total fee would be $150 rather than $175.

Online Payment and Submission

Submission and payment of registration fees can be made electronically via Submittable.

Eligibility Criteria

1. Books must have an ISBN, be commercially available to the public, and contain at least 48 pages of text, excluding illustrations, acknowledgments, etc. (Exception for “graphic novels”: the illustrations will be considered an integral part of the work, and therefore the work as a whole, not the textual component alone, must have at least 48 pages.)
2. Electronic books are eligible provided that they become commercially available in their final form during the eligibility period, and that they meet all of the other criteria listed here.
3. Books must have been written in English. The author must be alive and have a residence in Quebec at the time of submission. A person who has been living outside of Quebec continuously for the past five years will be considered ineligible.
4. Books by more than two authors are not eligible. In the case of joint authorship (by two authors) one of the authors must satisfy all of the above requirements. For a co-authored book submitted to the Concordia University First Book Prize, the book must be both authors’ first published literary book.
5. The prize will be awarded to the author of the book. Should a co-authored book win, the prize will be divided equally between the two authors, or, if one of the authors is deceased, between the living author and the deceased author’s estate.
6. The term “graphic novel” includes works of fiction and non-fiction. Such works are eligible as long as there is a significant textual component. The illustrator is eligible for half the prize money if said illustrator is named on the title page of the book and/or otherwise given credit equal to the writer’s.
7. Selections and collections of poetry, short stories or essays are eligible as long as they contain at least 48 pages of new text and those new pages constitute at least 51% of the entire book. “New” text includes individual pieces – i.e., stories, poems, or essays – previously published in magazines or journals.
8. A book may be submitted to the QWF Awards only once.
9. Rewritten, expanded or otherwise altered books (traditional publication or print-on-demand) may be considered eligible only if deemed a new book by QWF.
10. Anthologies, reprints, and previously published books are not eligible.
11. Also excluded are translations, plays and children’s books (see separate calls for submissions), non-literary works such as textbooks or books designed primarily for the education market; tertiary material such as indexes, bibliographies, etc.; catalogues; professional reference books; travel guides; manuals or instruction or self-help books, including books that describe how-to techniques, skills, or games; cookbooks; calendars, agendas and colouring books.

QWF reserves the right to make the final decision regarding the eligibility of any book.

Submission Deadlines

• Books published between August 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025 may be submitted, provided that they were not submitted for the 2024 Awards.
• Books published between August 1, 2024 and May 15, 2025 must be submitted for the June 1, 2025 deadline, along with a completed submission form and a $35 non-refundable fee for each submission (or $30, when at least 5 titles are being submitted by the same publisher).
• Publishers or authors with titles coming out between May 16, 2025 and September 30, 2025 must send in a completed submission form and submission fee by the June 1, 2025 deadline. PDFs of completed books must be received by August 1, 2025. If the final published book is not available by August 1, 2025, we must also receive three advanced reader copies (ARCs) by August 1. The final published books must be received by September 30, 2025, or the title will be disqualified. ARCs do not need to be sent if the final published books are received by August 1, 2025.
• Mixed-genre books: A single copy (or manuscript) must be submitted by May 15, 2025 to allow QWF to determine whether the book is eligible and in which category it should be submitted.
• Books published between August 1, 2025 and September 30, 2025 may instead be submitted for the 2026 prizes.

Additional Information

Books may be submitted by publishers or authors.

Books should be sent to:
Quebec Writers’ Federation Awards
1200 Atwater Avenue, Room 3, Westmount QC, H3Z 1X4

Note: The submitter is responsible for all shipping fees, including duties and taxes. If QWF must cover these fees to receive a package, we will invoice the submitter for the total amount. Failure to pay will result in the submission being disqualified.

PDFs should be uploaded to Submittable or sent to riley@qwf.org

For cheque payments, please make cheques payable to Quebec Writers’ Federation.

For further information: (514) 244-9088 or riley@qwf.org.

A paper copy of this call for submissions is available upon request.

Submissions to the 2025 QWF Literary Awards are now closed.