The New Brunswick Book Awards

2027 New Brunswick Book Awards Entry Form

Submissions for books published in 2026 (January - December) are now open. The New Brunswick Book Awards are open to traditionally published and independently-published authors who have lived in the province for three of the last five years, including the award year.

Eligibility criteria 

1) You must be a resident of New Brunswick to participate. For co-written books to be eligible, at least one co-author must be a New Brunswick resident. - A NB resident is defined as a person living in the province for three of the last five years, and for more than 50% of each year, including the year of the award, and who has not claimed another province as their primary residence or claimed this book as eligible for a writing award in another province. 

2) Submitted books must have been published in the current calendar year (Jan - Dec) by NB residents. Books can be submitted by the publisher or the author.  

3)  Non-eligible titles: Unfortunately, we do not accept anthologies, translations, reprints, or re-issues.

4) We accept printed books only: no ebooks, please.

6) Human-authored books only: Content that has been generated in whole or in part using large language models (generative AI) are not admissible. This includes illustrations. (Read our policy on generative AI)

7) A book is defined as being at least 48 pages long, with an ISBN number and is readily available for sale in printed form. In the case of picture books, for the The Alice Kitts Memorial Award for Excellence in Picture Book Writing, please note the following guidelines:

Picture books are a unique visual and literary art form, in which the illustrations and text are interdependent. Eligible pictures books will be 24-48 pages in length (average, 32 pages) with a maximum word count of 1000 words. Both nonfiction and fiction picture books are eligible and the target audience must be three-to-six-year-olds.


Eleventh Annual New Brunswick Book Awards Winners Announced

June 1, 2026 - The eleventh annual New Brunswick Book Awards were presented at a ceremony Saturday, May 30 in Saint John, celebrating writing excellence in picture book, books for youth, poetry, nonfiction and fiction. 

This year’s winners are as follows:

The Alice Kitts Award for Excellence in Picture Book Writing, sponsored by the Kitts Family: Jennifer McGrath, Hillsborough, The Pony and the Starling, Groundwood Books.

The Books for Youth and Young Adult Award, sponsored by JD Irving Ltd. – Evan Jones, Moncton, What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do (Independent)

The Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize, sponsored by The Fiddlehead – Ian LeTourneau, Fredericton, metadata from a changing climate (Gaspereau Press)

WFNB Nonfiction Award, sponsored by the Brennan Family – Karissa Donkin, Fredericton, Breakaway: The PWHL and the Women who Changed the Game, (Goose Lane Publishing)

Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction, sponsored by Mrs. Dunster’s Bakery: Robert Stutt, Fredericton, Puppet, Merlin Star Press

The competition for the 12th annual New Brunswick Book Awards will open in June. Traditionally published and self-published authors who have lived in the province for three of the last five years, including the award year (2026) are welcome to enter. The deadline for entries is December 1, 2026.

A Legacy Award was also presented to Nancy Bauer of Fredericton, who has been a longtime writer, editor, publisher, NB arts journalist and reviewer, and a founder of arts organizations and writers’ groups.

The awards program is a production of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB), which for more than 40 years has passionately supported the development of home-grown writers at all stages of development.

The book awards ceremony was held at Lily Lake Pavilion as part of WFNB’s annual writing festival, WordSpring.



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