October 13, 2023 – Attention, New Brunswick writers: if you’ve been polishing that brilliant piece of writing to submit to the NB Writing Competition—which normally opens December 1—you now have more time to work at it.

The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB) has announced that its annual Writing Competition is changing its dates. Beginning this season and henceforth, the NB Writing Competition will open on January 1, and run until March 31.

In previous years, the program ran from December 1, until the end of February the following year. The change is being made for two reasons. “Beginning in January instead of December means that the three-month competition is contained within one calendar year,” says Rhonda Bulmer, executive director. “This is much easier for administrative and reporting reasons.”

Secondly, she adds, “the expansion to the end of March also makes participation more convenient for high school teachers around the province and their students, who may want to submit to the Sheree Fitch Prize for Teen Writers.” Curriculum scheduling before March break often interferes with the submission process.

The program celebrates eight categories of unpublished writing in the genres of novel, short story, single poem, poetry manuscript, books for young people, and stories by teens, as well as unpublished short film script, and narrative non-fiction.

The New Brunswick Writing Competition began in 1985, the same year as the WFNB's date of incorporation. It’s been held annually ever since, awarding thousands of dollars in prizes over the decades. Many past winners have since achieved national and international publishing fame.