Narrative Nonfiction Prize

  • Narrative nonfiction prose
  • 1,500 to 3,000 words
  • First Prize $200, Second Prize $100, Third Prize 1 year WFNB membership


The 2022-23 judge: Chris Benjamin

Chris Benjamin is the author of four award-winning books, including Boy With A Problem, which was shortlisted for the Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction. His forthcoming travel memoir is Chasing Paradise: A Hitchhiker’s Search for Home in a World at War with Itself. His debut novel Drive-by Saviours won the HR (Bill) Percy prize from the Writers Federation of Nova Scotia before being published, and was selected to the Canada Reads longlist in 2011.











The 2021-22 judge: Sandra Phinney

The 2021-22 winners:

First place: Trenton Pomeroy, The Dances We Do with Our Children

Second place: Deborah Carr, Ashes to Ashes

Third place: Duncan Matheson, On the Overnight Train from London


Winning an award in the WFNB competition has definitely encouraged me to keep writing. Particularly great to read the judge's feedback --- So insightful, and a validation that maybe my hen scratching has some worth after all.--Trent Pomeroy, first place, 2022

"It’s always rewarding to have our words recognized in some way, but for me the real value of submitting to the WFNB competition is that it gives me the motivation to polish and complete a work in progress, and the opportunity to receive feedback if it places. --Deb Carr, second place winner, 2022


© 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.

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software