The deadline for the Crime Writers of Canada’s Award for Best Unpublished Novel is coming up fast!

Submit your mystery or crime novel by October 31

Each year the Crime Writers of Canada hands out Awards of Excellence for various categories of crime novel. They also have an award for Best Unpublished Crime Novel Manuscript written by an unpublished author. the award comes with a $500 prize and a bucketful of prestige.

Last year, Anne Burlakoff and Barbara Stokes, two Quick Brown Fox regulars, were finalists for the Best Unpublished Crime Novel, and Anne won!

The Best Unpublished Novel Award is sponsored by ECW Press. One of the most diversified independent publishers in North America, ECW has published close to 1,000 books that are distributed throughout the English-speaking world and translated into dozens of languages.

For more about ECW and about submitting to them, see here.

Deadline for submissions is October 31, 2026. Full submission guidelines here.

The Shortlists will be announced on April 30, 2027.

Winners will be announced on May 28, 2027

About Crime Writers of Canada

Founded in 1982, Crime Writers of Canada is a professional organization dedicated to raising the profile of Canadian crime writers. Their members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents, as well as many developing authors. Past winners of the Awards have included such major names in Canadian crime writing as Mario Bolduc, Gail Bowen, Stevie Cameron, Howard Engel, Barbara Fradkin, Louise Penny, Peter Robinson, and Eric Wright.

For more about Crime Writers of Canada, see here.

See more writing contests and markets for your short pieces here (and scroll down).

See all of Brian Henry’s upcoming weekly writing classes, afternoon workshops, and wonderful retreats here.

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