The New Brunswick Book Awards are co-administered and co-sponsored by The Fiddlehead: Atlantic Canada's International Journal and the Writers' Federation of New Brunswick. For prize sponsorships or other partnerships, please contact us!

Eligibility Criteria

Publication

Books published between January 1 and December 31 of the given prize year. 

Authors

The New Brunswick Book Awards are open to traditionally published and self-published authors whose primary residence is in New Brunswick and they have lived there for three of the last five years, including the award year. For example, to be eligible for the 2020 awards, an author needs to be a New Brunswick resident in 2020 and two of the previous four years. 

Books

Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry books must meet the criteria of UNESCO's definition of a book: "a non-periodical printed publication of at least 49 pages, exclusive of the cover pages, published in the country and made available to the public."

Picture Books are definied as books for children that contain illustrations that are just as important as the words in telling the story. Picture books are usually 24-32 pages. 

Self-published books that meet the above criteria are also eligible. If you know someone who has self-published a book, tell them to get in touch with us! There is no entry fee: we just need two copies of the book sent to us before December 1. (For books with a publication date in December, we require galley proofs.)


2022 Submissions closed

Submissions for our 2022 season are now closed. For 2023, check our Eligibility Criteria, then send two copies of eligible books along with the 2023 Entry Form when it becomes available.

New Brunswick Book Awards
c/o The Writers' Federation of NB
52 Amity Street
Moncton, NB  E1G 0S3

For all queries, please click here to email.

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2021 New Brunswick Book Awards

Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction
Beth Powning, The Sister’s Tale (Knopf Canada), Markhamville

Alice Kitts Memorial Award for Excellence in Children’s Writing

Riel Nason, Disaster at the Highland Games (Chocolate River Publishing), Quispamsis; illustrated by Nathasha Pilotte

The Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize
Triny Finlay, Myself a Paperclip (Goose Lane Editions), Fredericton

Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Nonfiction Award

Martha Vowles, Senior Management: Parenting My Parents (Nevermore Press), Grand-Bay Westfield


© 2021 Writers' Federation of New Brunswick

Territorial Acknowledgement

The Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick acknowledges that the land on which we live, work and gather is the traditional unceded territory of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) and Mi’kmaq Peoples, and we honour the spirit of our ancestors’ Treaties of Peace and Friendship.

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