The Writers’ Union of Canada has launched its 16th annual Writing for Children Competition, which invites writers to submit a piece for children up to 1,500 words in the English language that has not previously been published in any format.
A $1,500 prize will be awarded to an unpublished Canadian writer, and the entries of the winner and finalists will be submitted for consideration to three publishers of children’s books.
The deadline for entries is April 24, 2012.
The Writing for Children Competition, which welcomes submissions for all ages of young people, from picture books to young adult (YA) stories, can be a springboard into a writing career.
“Lisa Dalrymple, whose ‘Skink on the Brink’ won last year, will have her story published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside in the spring of 2013,” said Kelly Duffin, the Union’s executive director. “It will be very exciting to see this winning story in print.”
The Union initiated the Writing for Children competition to discover, encourage, and promote new writers of children’s literature. The Competition has grown in popularity since its inception, last year attracting over 680 submissions from every region of Canada.
The Union has assembled an esteemed group of jurors for the 2012 Writing for Children Competition. Author and screenwriter Don Calame is known for his critically acclaimed YA novels Beat the Band, which appears on the American Library Association’s 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults List, and Swim the Fly, nominations for which include for Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading White Pine Award, the New Westminster Hyack Teen Readers Award, the Nevada Young Readers Award, and the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. His new book Call the Shots is due for release in the fall of 2012.
A Governor General’s Award nominee for Tess,Hazel Hutchins has published 40-plus books throughout the English-speaking world and has been translated into German and Korean. Recent awards include the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award and the R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature for Mattland, the Norma Fleck Honour Award for A Second is a Hiccup, and the Shining Willow Young Reader’s Choice Award for TJ and the Cats.
Rene Schmidt’s novel Leaving Fletchville was a Red Maple Honour Book 2010, was named a Best Books for Kids & Teens by Canadian Children’s Book Centre, 2010, and was shortlisted for the IODE Violet Downey Award. He is also the author of the non-fiction work Canadian Disasters, which profiles 42 tragedies over the last two centuries.
To be eligible, submissions must be written by Canadian citizens or permanent residents who have not been published in book format in any genre and who do not have a contract with a book publisher. Any text, fiction or non-fiction, up to 1,500 words, in the English language, that is original and not previously published in any format, is eligible.
A typed, double-spaced entry in a clear 12-point font on white paper, not stapled or exceeding the maximum word length, along with an entry fee of $15 per submission (cheque or money order), should be sent to The Writers’ Union of Canada at 90 Richmond Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 1P1.
The deadline for submissions is April 24, 2012. The winner will be announced in July 2012. Electronic submissions will not be accepted. For complete rules and regulations, please visit http://www.writersunion.ca/cn_writeforchildren.asp.
