WeyMedia Books for Young People Prize

Short stories, storybook, book excerpts or poems written by adults for Children, Middle Grade or Young Adult Readers

  • New Brunswick resident author or WFNB member
  • Unpublished pieces up to 4,500 words
  • First Prize $200, Second Prize $100, Third Prize 1 year WFNB membership

2026 Judge: Brian Henry

Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He’s an instructor at Ryerson University, he teaches weekly writing courses at various venues in the greater Toronto area, and he leads Saturday writing workshops throughout Ontario and beyond.  See Brian’s schedule of upcoming classes and workshops here. Brian provides consultations for writers, suggesting directions for their projects and giving on the spot critiques of query letters and book proposals.

And of course Brian publishes the Quick Brown Fox blog and a monthly newsletter full of helpful information for writers. To subscribe – yes, it’s free – email brianhenry@sympatico.ca. Be sure to include your location, as Brian creates different newsletters for different locales. But Brian’s proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published and launch their careers as authors.

2025 Judge: Jocelyn Shipley

Winners:

First Place:                Manju Varma (Moncton), The Mommy Magic

Second Place:           Kyla Brewer (Fredericton), Salmon Seasons

Third Place:               Odette Barr (Petit Cap), The_Tay_Tracks_Trilogy


2024 Judge: Lorna Schultz Nicholson
Winners

First Place Winner - Marven Morton’s Marvellous Notions – Author, Cheryl Thomas, Lower Coverdale, NB 

Second Place: A Bridge to the Past – Author, Mary Mesheau, Fredericton, NB 

Third Place: Dirt Angels – Author, Kelly Alcorn, Rollingdam, NB 

Honourable mention:  Call Me Captain Molly Kool: First female Master Mariner in North America– Author, Gail Collette, Miramichi 

Honourable Mention: The Wishing Broom – Author, Jennifer Houle, Hanwell, NB 

2022 - 2023 Judge: Kristin Butcher

Winners

First place: Kelly Alcorn (Rollingdam, NB) - Randy the Race Coon

Second place: Leo LaFleur (Saint John, NB) - The Black Branch

Third place, Gail Collette (Miramichi, NB) -  The Climate Changes Terr

Honourable Mention: Odette Barr (Petit Cap, NB) - Arrivals and Departures


2021 - 2022 Judge: Orysia Dawydiak

Winners

First place: Betty Sleep - The Caterpillar That Roared

Second place: Brandi Estey-Burtt - The Art of Repetition

Third place: Odette Barr - Becoming Canadian

Honourable Mention: Nola Hicks - Reach for the Rain


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"The opportunity to enter your work in a competition offered by a reputable group or body, is one that every writer should take advantage of. It offers all the participants a chance to have what they have written judged alongside others who may also be new writers, or trying a different area of writing for the first time.  I am delighted to have won the children’s fiction category for 2022 and pleased to add that my children’s novel “Magic in the African Bush” was published in October."

Betty Sleep, First Place in the Quantiphi Books for Young People prize 2022, for The Caterpillar that Roared

"You don’t know until you try! Winning 3rd place in a new genre to me provided the motivation and confidence to continue writing in that particular genre—I now have a 51,000 word YA manuscript almost ready for querying. Go for it!"

Odette Barr, 3rd place winner, Accreon Prize 2022 (now the Quantiphi Books for Young People Prize) for Becoming Canadian.

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