2 great contests: The CANSCAIP Writing for Children Competition and Pottersfield Press Creative Nonfiction Prize

Pottersfield Press was founded in 1979 and is located at Lawrencetown Beach, Nova Scotia, Canada. Pottersfield specializes in books about Atlantic Canada but also publishes a wide range of fiction and nonfiction titles in the areas of history, biography,  health, environment and books about the sea.

Pottersfield Press is again looking for submissions from writers who can provide a manuscript of 30,000 to 150,000 words in any of the following categories: history, memoir, autobiography, biography, literary journalism, political or social commentary, travel writing or virtually any existing or new category that uses the nonfiction medium to tell a story or put forward an idea. 

The First Prize winner will receive a contract for the publication of the winning book along with a $1500 advance on 10% royalty for all sales. The Second Prize winner will also see the publication of the book and a $1000 advance on 10% royalties. 

Entry fee is $25 (includes HST
In 2019, first place went to Jennifer M. Smith for her book, Green Ghost, Blue Ocean – a travel memoir of a 40,000 nautical mile adventure spanning 17 years. Many Quick Brown Fox readers will know Jennifer from my Writing Personal Stories and Intensive Creative Writing classes. Green Ghost, Blue Ocean is scheduled to come out in April. You can read more about it and pre-order it if you like here.

Second place went to Odette Barr for her book, Teaching at the Top of the World – also coming out April 202o. Details here.

Deadline for the Pottersfield Prize for Creative Nonfiction is March 31, 2020 Deadline extended to May 31, 2020, but early submissions are encouraged. Details here.

CANSCAIP Writing for Children Competition

CANSCAIP {Canadian Society for Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers} welcomes entries by unpublished writers. 

Four writers will receive $500 for the winning entry of a Picture Book, Chapter Book, Middle Grade, or Young Adult; two finalists for each of these categories will also be selected. 

The registration fee for the Writing for Children Competition is $30 for one entry, $50 for two entries, $75 for three entries.

All entries receive evaluation comments from the first-round readers.  Entries that proceed to second round will get these additional evaluation comments. Entries that proceed to the longlist will get evaluations from each member of the jury.  Evaluations are generally a few sentences or a short paragraph.

CANSCAIP sends the winners and finalists to Annick Press, Kids Can Press, and Scholastic Canada for their consideration, and these entries get written evaluations from the publishers.  Over the years, some of the Writing for Children Competition winners and finalists have had their work published. 

ELIGIBLE WRITERS

Captain Monty, by Jennifer Mook-Sang
a memorable finalist in the CANSCAIP
contest, published by KidsCan press

·         Unpublished writers: no books published in any genre, for any age, in any country, and not under contract for a future book 

·         Self-published writers with sales below 200 copies 

·         Canadian citizens or permanent residents over the age of 18

ELIGIBLE ENTRIES

·         Maximum 1,500 words in English

·         Text only; no illustrations (this applies to all categories, including Picture Book)  

·         Chapter Book, Middle Grade, Young Adult:  first chapter plus other chapters/excerpts; submit up to 1,500 words

·         Picture Book: full text will usually be less than 1,500 words; submit complete story

SELECT A READING AGE CATEGORY

·         When you register an entry, you select one of these reading age categories.  Although your entry may not exactly fit the parameters, select the option that fits best. 

·         PICTURE BOOK (ages 2 to 8): Picture books are usually less than 1,500 words in total, and are for children who don't yet read on their own, or are read aloud to the child.  Picture books usually have a few sentences or a short paragraph on each page. 

·         CHAPTER BOOK (ages 7 to 10): Chapter books have short chapters, and are for readers who are ready to read on their own. 

·         MIDDLE GRADE (ages 9 to 12): Middle grade books have longer chapters, and are for readers who are ready for more complex stories. 

·         YOUNG ADULT (ages 13 and up): Young adult books can be as long as adult novels, and are for teen readers  who are ready for mature concepts. 

Deadline May 31, 2020. Full contest guidelines here.

The best way of upping your game as a writer, may be with a weekly class.  This spring, a full range of courses is on offer – online – introductory to intensive and including writing kid lit:

Southampton Arts Centre School
where Brian will be offering
2 workshops this July

Welcome to Creative Writing, April 10 – June 19. No class June 5. Details here.

Welcome to Creative Writing, Thursday evenings, April 16 – June 25. No class June 4. Details here.

Writing Kid Lit, Thursday afternoons,  April 23 – June 25. No class June 4. Details here.

Next Step in Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, April 14 – June 23. First readings emailed April 7. Details here.

Intensive Creative Writing,  Wednesday evenings, March 25 – June 24. First readings emailed March 18. Details here.

Intensive Creative Writing, Friday mornings, March 27 – June 26. First readings emailed March 20. Details here.

            Details of all spring courses here.

See Brian’s full schedule here, including writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Hamilton, Jackson’s Point, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Southampton, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Navigation tips: Besides checking out the buttons across the top of the page under the banner and the buttons in the right-hand column under More Content, always, check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. If you're searching for book publishers, click here; for children’s and YA publishers, click here {and always scroll down}.