Submission Guidelines

Eligible Writers

• Canadian citizens or permanent residents over the age of 18.
• Unpublished or self-published writers, with no traditionally published books for any age, and not currently under contract with a traditional publisher.
• Writers are eligible if prior publication is limited to articles or other content in collections or anthologies, textbooks, magazines or newspapers, legal or academic publications, etc.
• Writers retain full copyright of their entries. 

Eligible Entries

• Entries must be in English and can be fiction or nonfiction
• Text only; no illustrations
• Word or PDF entry document; we cannot accept links to file sharing sites
• 11 or 12-point plain font (e.g., Times Roman or Arial—no fancy fonts!), double-spaced with 1-inch margins
• Select one category for your entry: Picture Book (PB), Middle Grade (MG), Young Adult (YA); if you aren’t sure, see Book Categories for information
• PB: Submit complete text or up to 1,000 words. No illustrations, but you can include brief illustrator notes about essential visual elements not indicated in the text. (Illustrator notes are not counted in the word limit.)
• MG and YA: Submit the first 1,500 words of the story
• Previously submitted entries may be resubmitted 

The identities of the writers will not be provided to the Competition's readers.  To ensure anonymity DO NOT include your name or any identifying information on your entry document. 

How to Set Up Your Entry

• Do not include your name or other identifying information anywhere in your entry document.
• PB: Submit the complete story up to 1,000 words. No illustrations, but you can include brief illustrator notes about essential visual elements not indicated in the text. The illustrator notes are not counted in the word limit.
• MG and YA: Submit the first 1,500 words of the story.
• On the first page of every entry, include the title, the category (PB, MG, YA), and the word count.
• On the first page of MG or YA entries, include a summary (less than 250 words) with key characters, plot points, and the ending. The summary provides Competition readers with context for your story. (The summary is not counted in the word limit.)
• Name your file with the category (PB, MG, YA) and the title (example: PB – The Little Bunny).  Do not include your name in the file name. 
• Save your file as a PDF or Word document.
• If submitting more than one entry, create a separate file for each one as they will need to be uploaded individually.

Entry Submission Form & Uploading Your Entry

• Register and pay for your entries. 
• After you've registered, you'll receive a confirmation email with a link to the entry submission form and an invoice number you'll need when you upload your entry.
• You may complete the entry submission form any time after registration up to the May 31 deadline, but keep the confirmation email handy as you'll need that invoice number.
• On the entry submission form, provide your name, mailing address, email,  , and the invoice number.  Identifying information will not be provided to the Competition readers.
• Complete the entry submission form, which will prompt you to upload your Word or PDF entry document. 
• If you've registered for multiple entries, complete a separate entry submission form and upload each entry separately. Use the same invoice number from your registration confirmation email on each separate submission form. If you're not ready to submit all your entries, you can complete additional submission forms at a later date. Make sure to keep the registration confirmation email so you'll have the link and invoice number handy. 
• After you submit your entry submission form, you'll see a confirmation screen that indicates  your entry has been successfully uploaded.  If you don't see this screen, try submitting your entry form again, or contact canscaipwfcc@gmail.com. This screen also has a link to upload another submission, and if you've registered for more than one entry, click this link to submit your next entry.

NOTE: With over 600 entries received, CANSCAIP cannot email each writer to confirm receipt of an entry.  The confirmation screen after your upload is proof that your entry was received. However, after the May 31^st deadline, we cross-reference registrations with entries received, and if an entry is missing we will contact the writer.