The SWG's John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award recognizes excellence in unpublished, book-length manuscripts.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 2025 is fiction.
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 Saskatoon on Friday, October 24, 2025.
Submissions for 2025 are now CLOSED.
NEW for 2025: there are two ways to submit to our Hicks Awards: by hard copy or digitally. Please read how to submit below. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email programs@skwriter.com.
How to submit - Hard Copy
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 three parts:
- A completed application form, which may be printed off in Word or PDF format and submitted with your printed manuscript.
- Two (2) copies of your printed manuscript, following the criteria below, submitted to the SWG office.
- By Mail: PO Box 3986, Regina SK S4P 3R9
- 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)
- Pay your $35 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
- Cheque with your printed manuscript. Cheques can be made out to the "Saskatchewan Writers' Guild"
Please note - you do NOT have to pay the $15 digital printing charges if you are submitting your manuscript in hard copy form.
If you are mailing your submission, please note your package must be received at the SWG Regina or Saskatoon office by the deadline of June 25th. In addition to mailed packages, we will accept couriered packages, you can drop off your manuscript at either Regina or Saskatoon office location or you can submit your manuscript electronically with an additional $15 printing fee. If you need to discuss alternate submission arrangements, please email programs@skwriter.com.
How to submit - Digitally
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 will include an attachment of your manuscript.
- Pay your $35 entry fee PLUS $15 for printing of your manuscript by the Guild. 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
- Cheque with your printed manuscript. Cheques can be made out to the "Saskatchewan Writers' Guild"
Criteria and Formatting Info
- Entrants must be Saskatchewan residents as of December 31, 2024.
- 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 before the announcement of the awards in October (although it may be accepted for publication).
- The manuscript must be fiction and may be a collection 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, children's books, etc).
- 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 this 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
- If submitting printed copies: may be printed double-sided. Bind the manuscript with a large clip or elastic - please do not staple or bind
- If submitting digitally, please pay your digital printing fee
- Illustrations, photos or graphics are discouraged
- Winners agree to permit the use of their name and 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
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2024 (Poetry)
2023 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2022 (Fiction)
2021 (Poetry)
2020 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2019 (Fiction)
2018 (Poetry)
2017 (Literary Non-Fiction)
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2016 (Fiction)
2015 (Poetry)
2014 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2013 (Fiction)
2012 (Poetry)
2011 (Literary Non-Fiction)
2010 (Drama)
2009 (Fiction)
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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
