Events & Workshops

The SWG is now receiving submissions for the 2025 John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award in Fiction.

The John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award recognizes excellence in unpublished book-length manuscripts. The award rotates between the genres of poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction.

This award contest accepts unpublished full-length fiction manuscripts. The manuscripts may be for children, young adults or adults. We do not have minimum or maximum word counts but your manuscript must be a full-length completed and polished work of fiction in any of its genres (i.e. short stories, full-length prose in any genre, including but not limited to literary, historical, romance, fantasy, thriller, horror, western, mystery, YA or children’s books, etc).

No more than 50% of the manuscript may have been published in magazines, anthologies or by broadcast or online media. The work must not be accepted for publication at the time of submission, nor can it be published before the announcement of the awards in October (although it may be accepted for publication).

Prizes are:

• 1st place:  $1,000
• 2nd place: $650
• 3rd place: $350

Winners will read from their work at the John V. Hicks Awards ceremony at SWG's Conference in Saskatoon at the Park Town Hotel in Saskatoon on October 24, 2025.

Deadline: Manuscripts must be received by Thursday, June 25, 2025 by 4:30 pm.

NEW for 2025: there are two ways to submit to our Hicks Awards: by hard copy or digitally. 

You can submit manuscripts:

• By Mail: PO Box 3986, Regina SK S4P 3R9 (In the event of a postal strike, please select an alternate submission method from below)
• In Person or Courier to our Regina office: #100-1150 8th Avenue, Regina SK S4R 1C9 (during business hours Mon-Fri - check ebriefs or call if you'd like to drop off on Friday as sometimes staff work remotely)
• NEW: In Person drop off to our Saskatoon office: Admin Centre for Sask Culture, 510 Cynthia Street, Saskatoon (during business hours Mon-Fri)
• NEW: Submitted digitally. Please fill out the digital application form and pay a $15 printing fee.

Your entry must include:

1. Completed application form
2. Your manuscript (2 copies if submitting hard copies, your digital file + $15 if submitting digitally)
3. Payment of the $35 entry fee

Full submission guidelines and award criteria are available at https://skwriter.com/programs-and-services/awards/the-john-v-hicks-long-manuscript-awards. Work that does not follow the submission criteria will not be accepted.