Submission Guidelines
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Eligible Writers
- Canadian citizens or permanent residents over the age of 18.
- Emerging writers who have not been published and are not currently under contract with a traditional publisher.
- Self-published writers are eligible if they meet the other eligibility requirements. (Self-published stories, however, are not eligible as entries.)
- Writers are eligible if prior publication is limited to articles or content in collections or anthologies, magazines or newspapers, textbooks or academic publications, etc.
- Writers retain full copyright of their entries.
Eligible Entries
- Entries must be in English and can be fiction or nonfiction.
- NEW: Entries must not have been published in any format (including self-published with an ISBN, social media, blogs, Substack, etc.).
- AI-generated entries are not eligible. CANSCAIP reserves the right to screen entries to ensure compliance with this rule.
- Text only; no illustrations.
- Word or PDF entry document. (We cannot accept links to file sharing sites.)
- 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 the complete text, up to a maximum of 1,000 words. (Brief illustrator notes to indicate essential visual elements can be included. 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 names of the writers are NOT 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.
- 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, also include a summary (up to 250 words) outlining 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 title of the entry. 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 entry(s).
- After you've registered, you'll get a confirmation email with the link to the entry submission form, and also an invoice number you'll need for the submission form.
- You may complete the entry submission form any time after registration up to the May 31 deadline. Make sure to keep the confirmation email so you'll have the link and invoice number handy.
- When you've completed the entry submission form, you'll be prompted to upload your Word or PDF entry document.
- Select "submit".
- After you submit, you'll see a confirmation screen that indicates your entry has been successfully uploaded. THIS IS YOUR ONLY CONFIRMATION--please see NOTE below. If you don't see this confirmation screen, try submitting your entry submission form again, or contact canscaipwfcc@gmail.com.
- The confirmation screen also has a link to upload another submission. If you've registered for more than one entry, click "Submit another response" to complete your next entry submission form. 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.
NOTE: With over 600 entries received, CANSCAIP cannot email each writer to confirm receipt of an entry. The confirmation screen after the upload to the submission form will be YOUR ONLY CONFIRMATION that your entry was received. However, after the May 31st deadline, we cross-reference registrations with entries received, and if an entry is missing we will contact the writer.
CANSCAIP
Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators and Performers
Davisville Centre | 1920 Yonge Street, Suite 241 | Toronto, Ontario M4S 3E2
Email: office@canscaip.org
Phone: 1-416-515-1559