Winners Announced for the 2026 NB Writing Competition

May 21, 2026 – The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB) has announced the winners of its annual New Brunswick Writing Competition. The winners will be celebrated at a literary soiree on Friday evening, May 29, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Saint John, as part of WFNB’s annual WordSpring writing festival. This event is free and open to the public, including a cash bar and refreshments, entertainment by Saint John author and musician Brent Mason, and a book table.

The program celebrates eight categories of unpublished writing. Peer judges-who are chosen from outside of the province - consistently report that submissions display a diverse spectrum of high-quality writing talent in the province, which make the choice difficult.

The finalists are as follows:

1. The David Adams Richards Prize for Fiction
Judge: Don Aker

First Place:                            Education of a Rabbit Thief  - Trent Pomeroy, Rothesay           

Second Place:                       Good Thing – Kelly Alcorn, Rollingdam        

Third Place:                           Pennies to Jump the Rails – Angela Joynes, Columbia, Tennessee

Honourable Mentions:         Night of the Lobsters – Jennifer Houle, Hanwell

                                                For One Thing – Peter Hicks, Fredericton

                                                The Exogens – Zev Bagel, Shediac

2. Douglas Kyle Memorial Prize

Judge: Rona Altrows

First Place:                            Wash Day – Ruth MacLean, Riverview           

Second Place:                       Causeway Gold – Julia Wright, Saint John   

Third Place:                           First Day – Ruth MacLean, Riverview 

3. The Alfred G. Bailey Prize for Poetry Manuscript

Judge: Neil Aitken

First Place:                            Heraclitus Come Freshets – Shane Neilson, Cambridge, Ontario

Second Place:                       You Only Live Now – Scott Stephens, Shediac        

Third Place:                           My Heart in Pieces – Steph Percival, Fredericton

 

4. The Dawn Watson Memorial Prize for Single Poem

Judge: Sharon Berg

First Place:    Across the Years, Across the Oceans – Ramneet Kalra, Fredericton  

Second Place:    A Voice Crying in the Wilderness – Stephen Roney, Saint John      

Third Place:   Left Behind – K. Jordan MacKenzie, Moncton          

Honourable Mentions:        

ebb_a pantoum – Kathleen MacDonald, Saint John

Fireflies - David White, Gatineau, PQ

In the Line of Fire – Tyler Hache, Moncton

Reach – Bryn Harris, Grand Manan

The things you learn, living in a war zone – Susan Dean, Alma

5. The Money Genius (formerly WeyMedia) Books for Young People Prize

Judge: Brian Henry

First Place:  The Blue Jogging Suit – Katherine Adlam, Peterborough, Ontario           

Second Place:   Annie Dobbler, Animal Cobbler – Christina Foster, Fredericton     

Third Place:      Mortimer Murphy and the Best Science Project Ever – Wendy Kitts, Shediac

Honourable Mention:            The Wrong Book, Christina Foster, Fredericton

6. The Sheree Fitch Prize for Teen Writers

Judge: Aren Morris

First Place:                            The Scent That Sticks - Mia Yang, Quispamsis        

Second Place:                       The Café – Sophie Arseneau, Carlow

Third Place:                           Between Red and Green - Devangana Sharma, Fredericton

Honourable Mention:           The Girl in the Mirror – Madeleine Gershon, Saint John

7. The Gwen L. Martin Memorial Prize for Non-Fiction

Judge: Bill Arnott

First Place:        In Perpetuity – Cheyenne Kean-Lemery, Sackville  

Second Place:   Table for Two – Ruth MacLean, Riverview     

Third Place:   Blue sky, yellow tape, red lights and the green pine –Jocelyn Fraser, Riverview     

Honourable Mention:          

Memory Slippers – Ruth MacLean, Riverview

The Boy Likes Girls – Elijah Marr, Sackville

The Anatomy of a Girl – Chelsea Stevens, Dumfries

8. The JL Screenwriting Award

Judge: John Mundle

First Place:                            143 - Patric Dow, Fredericton            

Second Place:                       Bluebelly - Jordan Greer, Fredericton           

Third Place:                           Vincent – Evan Cook, Moncton         

 

The WFNB congratulates all the winners, and all writers who submitted to the competition. The New Brunswick Writing Competition began in 1985, the same year as the WFNB's date of incorporation. We’ve held it annually ever since, awarding thousands of prizes over the decades. Many past winners have since achieved national and international publishing fame. It opens every year on January 1.

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