The SWG's John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award recognizes excellence in unpublished, book-length manuscripts. The award rotates between the genres of poetry, fiction, and literary nonfiction.
The genre in 2026 is literary nonfiction.
Prizes
- 1st place: $1,000
- 2nd place: $650
- 3rd place: $350
The winners will read from their work at the John V. Hicks Awards Ceremony during the SWG's Annual Conference in Regina on Friday, October 23, 2026
DEADLINE for 2026 submission is Tuesday, June 23, 2026, by midnight. Please submit digitally below.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email programs@skwriter.com.
NEW! We've gone completely digital! For many years, we have shipped our jury paper copies of your submitted manuscripts. This has meant thousands of printed pages and a big box of shipped manuscripts after the deadline. In an effort to be more environmentally friendly, we are supplying reusable e-readers to our jury to read your potentially award-winning manuscripts. This saves a lot of trees while still ensuring that reading your manuscripts is comfortable and accessible to our jury members. Thanks for supporting us in being a little greener!
How to submit
Please read through all of the criteria below and ensure that your submission follows SWG criteria guidelines. If it does not, your submission may not be accepted.
Your submission includes two parts:
- A completed application form (below), which include an attachment of your manuscript (in either Word or PDF format).
- Pay your $40 entry fee. There are four options for your payment:
- Online by credit card
- Credit card over the phone - call 306-791-7740 Mon-Fri 8:30-4:30
- Etransfer to director@skwriter.com
If you require assistance in submitting your application, please contact programs@skwriter.com for help or an alternate way of submitting.
Criteria and Formatting Info
- Entrants must be Saskatchewan residents as of December 31, 2025.
- Only one entry per person is allowed in the manuscript awards.
- All entries must be original and human-generated work. If the work is an adaptation of material not in the public domain, permission of the original creator must accompany the entry. We do not accept submissions written or developed by generative AI tools such as Chat GPT, nor will we accept plagiarised work.
- Copyright for the entry remains with the author.
- No more than 50% of the manuscript may have been published in magazines and 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 (including self-publication) before the announcement of the awards in October although it may be accepted for publication.
- This award contest accepts unpublished full-length literary nonfiction manuscripts. Prose submissions are welcome, but are not limited to, these creative nonfiction subgenres:
- memoir
- biography
- historical investigation
- literary journalism
- political commentary
- social or cultural criticism
- essays (personal, lyric, or narrative)
We will not accept nonfiction work that is technical or instructional work, conventional newspaper reportage or nonfiction work characterized by a neutral (so-called objective) third-person perspective.
- 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 nonfiction in any of its subgenres.
- Illustrations, photographs and images are discouraged: our jury members are tasked with judging the quality of the text, not its accompanying images.
- The writer’s name and contact information should NOT appear on the manuscript. All entries will be numbered upon receipt so that they may be judged anonymously. If the writer’s name appears on any page of the manuscript, it will not be accepted for the competition.
- Your manuscript must follow these submission criteria:
- Entries must be in English
- Use plain text fonts (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial, Courier) in black
- 12 point font
- Double-spaced text
- At least a one-inch margin on all sides
- The title and page number must appear on each page
- Illustrations, photos or graphics are discouraged
- Winners agree to permit the use of their name and the title of their work in promotion by the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild.
- Winners agree to acknowledge the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild in any publication of the winning works.
The Jury
The Hicks Long Manuscript Award is judged by two established Canadian writers working in the genre under review. Their names will be announced after the award winners are announced. The jury may decide not to award a particular prize if they believe none of the submissions merits it. The decisions of the jury will be final.
Past Recipients
|
2025 (Fiction)
2024 (Poetry)
2023 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2022 (Fiction)
2021 (Poetry)
2020 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2019 (Fiction)
2018 (Poetry)
2017 (Literary Non-Fiction)
|
2016 (Fiction)
2015 (Poetry)
2014 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2013 (Fiction)
2012 (Poetry)
2011 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2010 (Drama)
2009 (Fiction)
|
2008 (Poetry)
2007 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2006 (Drama)
2005 (Fiction)
2004 (Poetry)
2003 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2002 (Drama)
2001 (Fiction)
2000 (Poetry)
|
About John V. Hicks
Distinguished Saskatchewan poet John V. Hicks was widely published and the recipient of many honours and awards.
His poetry collections, most of which were published by Thistledown Press, include Now Is a Far Country (1978), Winter Your Sleep (1980), Silence Like the Sun (1983), Rootless Tree (1985), Fives and Sixes (1987), Sticks and Strings (1988), Month’s Mind (1992), Overheard by Conifers (1996), and Renovated Rhymes (1997). His poetry was also widely published in anthologies and in North America’s most distinguished literary publications.
In 1987, his short essays on the craft of writing were published in book form as Side Glances: Notes on the Writer’s Craft (co-published by Thistledown and the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild). Hicks was also a fine children’s writer whose stories have been published in school reader anthologies and the Canadian Children’s Annual. As well, his work in both poetry and prose has been aired on CBC Radio.
Honorary writer-in-residence for the city of Prince Albert since 1978, he was installed as Honorary Fellow of the University of Emmanuel College, Saskatoon, in 1979; was awarded an honorary D.Litt. from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987; received a Lifetime Award for Excellence in the Arts from the Saskatchewan Arts Board in 1990; and received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, the highest honour accorded by the Province of Saskatchewan, in 1992.
John Hicks died June 16, 1999, at the age of 92.
For more information, please contact:
Program Director
T: 306.791.7743 | E: programs@skwriter.com
