CBC Poetry Prize
The CBC Poetry Prize is open from April 1 to June 1
The CBC Poetry Prize is open between April 1 and June 1 at 4:59 p.m. ET.
The winner receives $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books.
Four finalists each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and their work is also published on CBC Books.
Who can enter?
The prize is open to all Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada.
There is no age requirement, but if you are a minor, there is a box to check on the entry form. You will need a parent or guardian's signed authorization only if your entry makes the longlist.
What can you submit?
You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems. The submission will be judged as a whole and must be a maximum of 600 words (including titles). There is no minimum word requirement.
Work that has been published online or in print or recorded for broadcast is considered "previously published" and is not eligible.
While the competition is active, submit online by creating an account through Submittable. A fee of $25 (taxes included) for administration purposes is required for each entry.
The prize is for one long poem or a collection of poems. You only need to fill out one entry form and make one $25 administration fee payment, but the submission will be judged as a whole. You may submit as many times as you like; each entry will require the $25 submission fee.
What can you win?
The winner will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have their work published on CBC Books.
"As much as a residency is about your individual practice, it can also be about building your writing community," two-time CBC Literary Prize winner Chanel M. Sutherland told CBC Books about her residency. "Before I knew it, I'd become part of a community of writers who to this day continue to inspire and support me."
"My visit let me recommit to trying to carve out pieces of time in my life for writing. I came home thinking, 'How do I do that at home?' It's so easy for the writing time to slip away. But I came home with a project that I now think is possible. That was the big deal," 2016 CBC Nonfiction Prize winner Leslie A. Davidson told CBC Books after completing her residency.
Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books. All the longlisted writers will be featured on CBC Books.
Who is judging the prize?
A team of readers from across Canada will read the entries and determine the longlist. The shortlist and winner will be decided by a jury comprised of Shani Mootoo, Garry Gottfriedson and Emily Austin.
The judging process is blind, so your name will not be known by the readers or jurors until the final decisions have been made. The results (longlist, shortlist and winner) will be revealed in fall 2024.
We have different readers and jurors every year. The 2025 readers and jurors will be announced during the submission period, between April 1 and June 1.
"Knowing that some of the top writers in the country will be reading your work forces you to polish your poem(s)," 2022 CBC Poetry Prize winner Bren Simmers told CBC Books.
Recent past CBC Poetry Prize jurors include Joseph A. Dandurand, Catherine Graham and Tolu Oloruntoba; Armand Garnet Ruffo, Megan Gail Coles and Hoa Nguyen; Louise Bernice Halfe, Canisia Lubrin and Steven Heighton; and Kaie Kellough, Dionne Brand and Stephen Collis.
Who has won before?
The winner of the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize will join some esteemed company!
Last year's winner was Kyo Lee — the youngest ever CBC Poetry Prize winner — for her poem lotus flower blooming into breasts, Lee's winning poem was selected from over 2,400 submissions.
"I'm overwhelmed with gratitude. Winning the prize is not something that I ever imagined happening. The phone call through which I was notified feels like a dream. It's been a blessing to be reminded that there are stories that I can tell that matter to people.
"I don't know where life will take me, but I hope that I will be writing through all of it," Lee told CBC Books.
The CBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979.
Other past CBC Literary Prize winners include Susan Musgrave, Lorna Crozier, Alison Pick, Michael Ondaatje and Carol Shields.
What if I need help?
"I'd encourage anyone to enter the CBC Literary Prizes. It's a wonderful way to get your work out there, connect with a community of writers across the country and support CBC! The annual deadlines are a great motivation to finish or rework something to give it that extra oomph," 2020 winner Matthew Hollett told CBC Books.
Make sure to subscribe to the CBC Poetry Prize newsletter for support along the way. We will send you writing tips, tricks and prompts every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday while the CBC Poetry Prize is open.
You should also consider joining our Canada Writes Facebook group! It's a place where writers across Canada can connect with each other, support each other and even offer each other feedback.
Anything else I need to know?
The 2025 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September and the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January.
If you're looking to submit to the French poetry prize, you can enter here.
You can see the complete rules and regulations here.
If you are a writing group, library, school or bookstore who wants to let your community know about the CBC Literary Prizes, you can download a poster here.
Have questions? Check out our frequently asked questions or email us at canadawrites@cbc.ca.
