Submission Guidelines
Eligibility:
Only unpublished authors aged 16 and older who reside in New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 will need to have a parental
release form signed in order to collect prize money.
Format:
Submissions must be saved as a Word or PDF file,
double-spaced, using 12 point legible font.
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.
Deadline:
This contest will be open for submissions annually from April
5 to July 5. Submissions must be received by midnight Atlantic time on July 5,
2025.
Entry fee:
Entry fee of $20 must be sent via e-transfer to
jsmcontest@gmail.com with a note indicating the author's name. Entry fee must
be received withing 24 hours of submission.
All entry fees for 2025 will be donated to MS Canada and will
be matched by the sponsor up to $1000.
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:
There will be two judges from Nova Scotia and two judges from
New Brunswick. Entries will be judged based on writing skill and
creativity of storytelling.
NB judges 2025: Nancy
Bauer and Jon Holt
NS judges 2025: AnnMarie
MacKinnon and Richard Davies
2025 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.