Open to Regina Writers of All Genres
The City of Regina Writing Award, funded by the City of Regina, is an annual award for literary merit in creative writing; it is open to Regina writers in all genres.
The award is designed to enable one local writer to work on a specific solo writing project for a three-month period. The winner will receive $4,500. Each runner-up will receive a one-week individual retreat at St. Peter's Abbey in Muenster, SK. The award competition is juried anonymously by professional writers from outside Saskatchewan.
You are eligible to apply for this award if you are 19 years and older and if you were a Regina resident as of January 1, 2024. Applicants may submit one entry to this competition per year. Previous winning entries (for both winners and runners-up) may not be submitted again.
The decision of the jury will be final. Jurors may choose to not award the prize if they believe no submission merits it. The winner will be announced in April 2025, and will be celebrated at the City of Regina Writing Award ceremony on May 29, 2025.
Our 2025 City of Regina Writing Award application period is now OPEN. Deadline for applications is January 21, 2025.
Application process
There is no application form for this program. Instead, send the following material as three separate documents:
- a 1 page cover letter which includes the following information:
- your contact information (including mailing address including postal code, email and primary phone number)
- a statement confirming that you are 19 years or older AND you have been a resident of Regina since January 1, 2024
- a 1-2 page statement of intent indicating how you will use the funds for your writing as well as a description and brief outline of your writing project
- this statement is to be separate from the cover letter and should NOT contain identifying information
- the outline or synopsis of the project is not considered to be part of your writing sample
- a 10 page sample of your writing (prose or poetry)
- this sample must follow the submission guidelines below - samples that do not follow guidelines will not be accepted
- this sample must be a portion of the project to be worked on
- do not send extra pages, as they will not be forwarded to the jury
Note: All entries are numbered upon receipt so that they may be judged anonymously. Your name, biographical information and/or previous work titles cannot appear on the statement of intent, sample of writing, and cannot be referred to on any part of the outline or synopsis—your entry will be returned if your name/previous work does appear or if the guidelines are not followed.
Do not submit literary resumes, letters of support, reviews of previous work, or evaluations; these will be discarded.
Submission guidelines
To ensure that your application is processed, please follow the submission guidelines below:
- all material must be typed in plain text fonts (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial, Courier)
- font size 12 point with at least a one inch margin on all sides
- include title of project and page number in header of each page
- writing sample should be:
- double-spaced for prose
- single or double-spaced for poetry
- text only - do not send illustrations or photos
- please send documents as Word or PDF files - do not send Google docx or other files
Applications must be emailed to programs@skwriter.com. 2025 Applications are due by January 21, 2025. Applications that do not meet our guidelines will not be accepted. Accepted applications will receive a confirmation email within two business days.
Conditions for Awards
The recipient of the $4500 award must complete the three-month period/work stated in their application by January 2026 and submit a 1-page report to the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild on how the funds were used. This is shared with our funders.
The runners-up win a prize of a retreat stay organized by the Guild within a year. The runners-up can choose a retreat to attend within a one year period (August 2025 to July 2026). Options includes a week-long stay at the Winter or Summer Writers' Retreats, a three-day Facilitated Retreat, or any other retreat being offered by the SWG in this time frame. The retreat prize is not transferrable to another time, receipient or paid out if the runners-up are not able to use it.
Current and past recipients
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For more information, please contact:
Program Director
T: 306.791.7743 | E: programs@skwriter.com
