The annual President’s Creative Writing Awards, the Lorna Marsden Prize for Creative Writing in French, the Daniel Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize for Emerging Poets and the Richard Teleky Short Fiction Prize are accepting unpublished and original writing submissions.
The President’s Awards and the Marsden Prize are open to all full or part-time York University undergraduate students. The Whittaker-Van Dusen and Teleky prizes are open to both undergraduate and graduate students.
Any undergraduate submissions to the President’s Awards in poetry will automatically also be considered for the Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize; Any undergraduate submissions to the President’s Prizes in poetry will automatically also be considered for the Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize; Any undergraduate submissions to the President’s Awards in fiction will automatically also be considered for the Teleky Prize.
The President’s Creative Writing Awards is looking for submissions in the following four categories: poetry, short fiction, screenplay and stage play. Submissions for the Lorna Marsden Prize for Creative Writing in French are accepted in any of the above creative genres, as long as the work is written in French.
There is no minimum or maximum length requirement in each category, but submissions must fall within the above genres. The awards are not open to novels and opera librettos, for example. Contestants may enter a writing piece in each category but may not submit more than one entry in each category.
The winning entry for the Marsden Prize, and in each genre for the President’s Awards, will receive $1,000. The Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize carries an award of $1500 and the Teleky Prize winner will receive $2000. No prize will be awarded in the event that the judges feel entries are of insufficient merit. The decision of the judges is final.
The competition results will be announced in the spring, and prizes will be awarded at the annual Creative Writing Awards reception. Names will be published in YFile and on the English Department and Creative Writing Program website.
The deadline for online submissions is Jan. 21, 2021. For additional information, submission requirements and contest rules, see here. For further questions, contact Kimberly Wilson, Creative Writing Program assistant, by email at kimberly@yorku.ca.