Eligibility:
Unpublished authors aged 16 and older who reside in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia are eligible for this contest. Winners who are under the age of majority in their province of residence must have a parental release form signed in order to collect prize money.
Rights:
By entering this contest, the author grants the contest agent the one-time royalty-free right to publish the entered story on the contest website. Winning stories will be published in a future anthology to be published after 2027. All rights remain with the author.
Format:
Submissions must be saved as a Word or PDF file, double-spaced, using 12 point legible font. File name must be the story title.
Stories must be fiction, written in English by a single author, must be submitted by the author, and must not have been previously published in print or digitally (not including self-publishing by its author).
Stories can be a maximum of 1500 words. Only one story per entry will be accepted. Author’s name should appear on separate cover page. It should not appear anywhere else on the document, to allow for anonymous judging
Method:
Submission and accompanying cover page must be sent as email attachments to jsmcontest@gmail.com before the deadline. Stories can be resubmitted up to three times as long as it is before the deadline.
Deadline:
This year’s contest will be open for submissions until midnight Atlantic time on July 5, 2026.
Entry fee:
Each
entry must be accompanied by a $20 entry fee, which will be matched by the
sponsor up to $1000 and donated to MS Canada.
Send entry fees as an e-transfer to jsmcontest@gmail.com
Prizes:
Three prizes will be awarded. Province of residence will not be a determining factor in distribution of prizes.
1st
place $2500
2nd
place $1000
3rd place $500
Judges:
In 2026,
the NB judges are Robin Koetze and Fawn Parker and the NS judge is Heather Coll.
Alternate judges are Ian Letourneau and Chuck Bowie.
2026 Sponsor: Cedar Valley Investments Ltd
Contest
rules and guidelines are subject to change without prior notice to ensure
compliance with any applicable government laws and regulations.
