Calgary, Canada - The City of Calgary is now accepting submissions from local authors for the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. This prize is awarded in honour of acclaimed Calgary writer and broadcaster W.O. Mitchell (1914–1998), whose best-loved novel Who Has Seen the Wind (1947) portrayed Prairie life through the eyes of a child and sold almost a million copies in Canada.
Established in 1996, the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize is coordinated through a partnership
between The City of Calgary and the Writers' Guild of Alberta, which administers the award as part of the Alberta Literary Competitions. Since its creation, 29 Calgary writers have received this prestigious recognition. The winning author receives a $5,000 cash prize, presented at the Calgary Awards in June 2026.Submissions will be accepted from Sept. 3 to Dec. 1, 2025. Full award criteria and the entry form can be found at calgary.ca/calgaryawards.
Eligibility and entry details
- Eligible books must have been published anywhere in the world between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2025.
- The author must have lived (permanent address) in Calgary for a minimum of two years, as of Dec. 31, 2025.
- Eligible categories include fiction, poetry, non-fiction, children’s literature, or drama.
- Self-published books with an ISBN are eligible.
Entries are judged by an independent jury recruited by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. Shortlisted authors will also have the opportunity to deliver a public reading.
The 2025 prize went to Calgary writer Julie Sedivy for Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love.
- Clem Martini (Cantata and The Extinction Therapist, 2024)
- Suzette Mayr (The Sleeping Car Porter, 2023)
- Jaspreet Singh (My Mother, My Translator, 2022)
A complete list of previous winners can be found at calgary.ca/calgaryawards.
For more information, visit calgary.ca/calgaryawards or writersguild.ca.
No comments:
Post a Comment