The annual President’s Creative Writing Awards returns, inviting students to submit unpublished work for recognition, including poetry, short fiction and – a new category addition this year – creative non-fiction.
In addition to the President's Prize in poetry, short fiction and creative non-fiction, the Lorna Marsden Prize for Creative Writing in French, the Daniel Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize for Emerging Poets and the Richard Teleky Short Fiction Prize are accepting unpublished and original writing submissions.
The President’s Awards and the Lorna Marsden Prize are open exclusively to full- or part-time undergraduate students, while the Whittaker-Van Dusen and Teleky prizes welcome submissions from both undergraduate and graduate students.
For the President’s Awards, writers may submit work in poetry, short fiction or creative non-fiction. Creative non-fiction – new this year – includes personal essays, memoir, travel writing, literary journalism and other narrative prose that is neither reportage nor academic. Entries for the Lorna Marsden Prize may be in any of these genres, provided they are written in French.
Undergraduate submissions in poetry will automatically be considered for the Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize, and those in short fiction will also be reviewed for the Teleky Prize. There are no length restrictions, but submissions must fit the specified genres; novels and opera librettos are not eligible. Participants may enter one piece per category.
Prizes recognize excellence with significant awards: each President’s Award category winner will receive $1,300; the Lorna Marsden Prize winner $1,000; the Whittaker-Van Dusen Prize recipient will recieve $1,200; and the Teleky Prize winner $2,000.
Winners, announced in Spring 2026, will be honoured at the annual Creative Writing Awards reception. The deadline for online submissions is Jan. 9, 2026.
For information, submission requirements, contest rules and how to apply visit the University-wide Writing Prizes webpage.
For questions, contact Michelle Anacleto, creative writing program assistant, at michana@yorku.ca.