Entry Guidelines
Honouring Writing That Achieves Excellence Without Sacrificing Popular Appeal
The information on this site currently reflects the 2010 awards.
The Canadian Authors Association manages awards in the following categories:
- The CAA Awards for Adult Literature
- The CAA MOSAID Technologies Inc. Award for Fiction
- The CAA Lela Common Award for Canadian History
- The CAA Poetry Award
- The CAA/Carol Bolt Award for Drama
- The CAA/BookLand Press Emerging Writer Award
- The Allan Sangster Award
Awards For Adult Literature
- CAA MOSAID Technologies, Inc. Award for Fiction: $2500 and a silver medal
For a full-length novel - CAA Lela Common Award for Canadian History: $2500 and a silver medal
For a work of historical non-fiction on a Canadian topic - CAA Poetry Award: $1000 and a silver medal
For a volume of poetry by one poet
Eligibility Criteria
- Entries must be full-length English-language literature for adults.
- The author must be a Canadian or permanent resident of Canada.
- The entry must have been first published in 2009.
- Publication may have taken place outside Canada.
- Entrants are not eligible to win a prize for the same category two years in a row. (Previous winners may submit entries to any of the other CAA Literary Award categories.)
- Reprints, translations and posthumous entries are not eligible.
Entry Fee
$35 per title entered.
Deadline
Entries must be postmarked by December 31, 2009. (Works published after December 1, 2009 must be postmarked no later than January 15, 2010.)
To Enter
Send four copies of the entry, plus a completed entry form (PDF - 56k) and the $35 fee to:
- CAA Awards
- 74 Mississaga St East
- Orillia ON L3V 1V5
Process
The CAA Awards Chair appoints a trustee for each award. That trustee selects two judges. The identities of the trustee and judges are confidential throughout the judging process. Decisions of the trustee and judges are final, and they may choose not to award a prize.
A shortlist of the best three entries in each category will be announced in April 2010. The winners will be announced at the gala awards banquet during the annual CanWrite! conference in Victoria in June 2010.
Please note: Ineligible entries and their accompanying fees will not be returned.
Questions?
Call 1 866 216 6222 or 705 653 0323, or email to: .
Download a printable copy of these guidelines (PDF - 34k).
The CAA/Carol Bolt Award For Drama
Prize
$2500 and a silver medal.
This award is made possible through the generosity of the Playwrights Guild of Canada and Playwrights Canada Press.
Eligibility Criteria
- Entries must be full-length English-language plays for adults.
- The playwright must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
- The play must have been first published (singly or in a collection) or performed in 2009.
- If the entry was performed only, and has not been published, the working script for the production must be submitted.
- Performance or publication may have taken place outside Canada.
- Entrants are not eligible to win a prize for the same category two years in a row. (Previous year winners may submit entries to any of the other CAA Literary Award categories. In subsequent years, they may again submit entries for the drama category.)
- Please note that reprints, translations and posthumous entries are not eligible.
Entry Fee
$35 per title entered.
Deadline
Entries must be postmarked by December 31, 2009. (Works published/performed after Dec. 1, 2009 must be postmarked no later than Jan. 15, 2010.)
To Enter
Send four copies of the script, plus a completed entry form (PDF - 56k) and the $35 fee to:
- CAA Awards
- 74 Mississaga St East
- Orillia ON L3V 1V5
Process
The CAA Awards Chair appoints a trustee for each award. That trustee selects two judges. The identities of the trustee and judges are confidential throughout the judging process. Decisions of the trustee and judges are final, and they may choose not to award a prize.
A shortlist of the best three entries in each category will be announced in April 2010. The winners will be announced at the gala awards banquet during the annual CanWrite! conference in Victoria in June 2010.
Please note: Ineligible entries and their accompanying fees will not be returned.
Questions?
Call 1 866 216 6222 or 705 653 0323, or email to: .
Download a printable copy of these guidelines (PDF - 34k).
The CAA/BookLand Press Emerging Writer Award
The BookLand Press Emerging Writer Award goes to the Canadian writer deemed to show the most promise in the field of literary creation. There are no restrictions as to the genre, and a writer may be selected based on a body of work in a variety of forms, or on a body of work in a single genre or writing form.
Prize: $500, plus a one-year membership in the Canadian Authors Association.
Eligibility Criteria
- The nominee must be under 30 years of age (as of May 30 in the year of the competition) and a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada.
- Self-nominations are not accepted. Nominations may be made solely through CAA branches, other writing and arts organizations, publishers, agents, and creative writing coaches, teachers or professors at public or private schools and universities.
- Book-length publication is not required, but the nomination package should include copies of books, when possible, or at minimum excerpts that adequately reflect the writer's skill.
- Nominees are not eligible to win this prize two years in a row. However, previous winners may submit entries to any of the other CAA Literary Award categories, and there is no limit on the number of times a writer may be nominated before the age limit.
Entry Fee
There is no entry fee for this award.
Deadline
Nomination packages must be postmarked by April 30, 2010.
To Nominate a Writer
- Complete the Emerging Writer Award nomination form.
- Prepare a nomination package that includes a) a cover letter outlining why your nominee is deserving of this award, b) your nominee's bio (up to 200 words), and c) samples of the writer's written work.
Send the completed nomination form (PDF - 63k) and three copies of the nomination package to:
- CAA Awards
- 74 Mississaga St East
- Orillia ON L3V 1V5
Process
A shortlist of three will be announced in May 2010. The winner will be announced at the CAA Literary Awards gala during the CanWrite! conference in Victoria on June 26, 2010.
This award is made possible through the generous sponsorship of BookLand Press. The Canadian Authors Association administers this award on behalf of the sponsor, who has no involvement in the judging process. Decisions of the judges are final, and they may choose not to award a prize.
Questions?
Call 1 866 216 6222 or 705 653 0323, or email to: .
Download a printable copy of these guidelines (PDF - 60k).
The Allan Sangster Award
The Allan Sangster Award honours one of the CAA's own members for extraordinary service to the Association.
This award winner is chosen by the previous winners.
www.CanAuthors.org/awards/guidelines.html
Updated July 28, 2010
