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Short Grain Contest

Contest is closed. 
 

The Short Grain Contest celebrates poetry and prose from across Canada and internationally. In addition to being published in Grain, cash prizes are available for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in each genre.

Grain and the Short Grain Writing Contest have featured the work of diverse writers, both emerging and established, including Lorna Crozier, Zsuzsi Gartner, Louise B. Halfe–Sky Dancer, Tim Lilburn, Guy Maddin, Miriam Toews, Iryn Tushabe, Eleanor Wachtel, and Joshua Whitehead.

 

Grain is grateful for financial support from The Cheryl & Henry Kloppenburg Foundation.

View Entry Guidelines Payments

The 2025 contest is now closed. 

1st prize

$1000 & publication in Grain

2nd prize

$750 & publication in Grain

3rd prize

$500 & publication in Grain

Contest prizes donated in part by The Cheryl & Henry Kloppenburg Foundation.
Each entrant receives a free subscription to Grain magazine.

2025 Judges

Photo Credit: Steph Martyniuk

Fiction

Fawn Parker’s novels have been nominated for the Giller Prize and the Writers Trust Atwood Gibson Prize. Her poetry collection Soft Inheritance won an Atlantic Book Award and a New Brunswick Book Award. Fawn is a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick and the current Poet Laureate of Fredericton.

Read more about Fawn here. 

 

Photo Credit: Jordon Hon 韓寶軒

Poetry

Conor Kerr is an award-losing writer from Edmonton by way of Saskatchewan. He is the author of the novels Prairie Edge and Avenue of Champions, and the poetry collections Old Gods, An Explosion of Feathers, and the forthcoming Beaver Hills Forever. He spends most of his time avoiding writing by agreeing to judge literary contests, wrestling Labrador retrievers, and playing crokinole. 

Read more about Conor here.

Entry Guidelines, FAQs, and Payments

Entry Guidelines 

  1. The basic fee for Canadian entrants is $40 (including GST) for a maximum of two entries in one category (i.e. two poems for the Poetry category, or two stories for the Fiction category).

    The fee for US entrants is $50 and the fee for international entrants is $60, payable in US or Canadian funds.

    Please make your cheque or money order payable to the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild (SWG). You may also pay online via Stripe (see below). Every entrant receives a one-year (four-issue) subscription to Grain magazine, starting after payment is received.

    NEW! Early Bird Offer and Deadline: Submit ONE (1) extra poem or story, at no extra cost, when you submit by February 15.

  2. Each entry must be original, unpublished anywhere, unassisted by any AI means, not submitted elsewhere for publication or broadcast, nor accepted elsewhere for publication or broadcast, nor entered simultaneously in any other contest or competition. Work that has appeared anywhere online, whether in full or as an excerpt, is considered published and is not eligible.

  3. All entries in this contest will be judged anonymously, on merit alone. The judges' decisions are final. Judging is anonymous. Do not print, type, or write your name on the text pages of your entry.

  4. Entries must be accompanied by one cover page, regardless of the number of entries submitted, and must provide the following information. If you are submitting via email, include this information in the body of your email.

    • Your name, complete mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
    • Title of your entry or entries.
    • Category you are entering: Poetry (one or two poems to a max of 100 lines each) or Fiction (one or two stories to a max of 2,500 words each).
    • Word Count (Fiction) / Line Count (Poetry). An absolutely accurate word or line count is required.
    • Method of Payment (if submitting by email).

  5. Entries must be typed (double-spaced for fiction) on 8 1/2 x 11-inch pages and must be sent as individual files if emailed.

  6. Names of the winners and titles of the winning entries of the Short Grain Contest will be posted on the Grain website in August. Contest winners will be notified directly by email.

  7. MAIL: Send your entry or entries to:

    Short Grain Contest
    PO Box 3986
    Regina, SK  S4P 3R9
    Canada

    Mailed entries will not be returned. Keep a copy of your entry

    EMAIL: Send entry or entries as individual files to grainmag@skwriter.com with a subject line that contains the author’s full name, genre(s), and payment method (cheque, money order, or Stripe). For example, "Jane Grain, Fiction, Cheque" OR "Jim Grain, Poetry, Stripe." REMEMBER: Judging is anonymous. Do not put your name on your entry. Acceptable file formats are Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF.

  8. Make your cheque or money order payable to the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild (SWG). If you want to pay online, use the Stripe order form below. If payment is from a name other than that which is on your submission, please let us know.

  9. All entries must be POSTMARKED or EMAILED by the deadline. Entries postmarked or received by email after this date will not be accepted.

  10. Entries by fax will not be accepted.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

No. For each $40 entry fee, you may enter one or two pieces of Fiction OR one or two pieces of Poetry. If you do send one piece of Fiction and one piece of Poetry, we will choose one of them at random to be considered.

You may enter as many times as you like, provided you include another entry fee for each entry beyond the first; therefore, two Canadian entries would cost $80.

Absolutely! Or you could enter four pieces of Poetry, or two pieces of Poetry and one piece of Fiction, but not three pieces of Poetry and one piece of Fiction.

No. Send only one cover page that includes all the information for every piece of writing you are entering. Don't forget to include your complete contact information!

Your Grain subscription will be increased by four issues for each entry fee received beyond the first. So, if you enter twice, you will receive a two-year (eight-issue) subscription to Grain Magazine. If you already have a subscription to Grain, we'll simply add another four issues to your current subscription for each entry fee received. If you’d rather your additional entry fee go towards a subscription for someone else, please indicate this on your cover letter, and provide your friend’s name and mailing address.

Yes. Any piece that is over the word or line count will not be judged. Be conscientious of your word and line counts.

No. Titles or line breaks or spaces between lines of poetry do not count toward the 100 line maximum. Only lines of text count.

All submissions are judged anonymously, on merit alone. Judges may choose to read all entries or have them first read by a preliminary reader. The preliminary reader selects approximinately one third of the total entries to pass on to the judges. The judges read and select the winners from this pool of entries. 

No. Winners and the names of the winning pieces will be posted on our website in August.

Because we are using a postmarked deadline, if the deadline falls on a day when the post offices are closed, we will accept entries postmarked on the next business day.

 

Payment

Pay Online!

You may pay for your online entry by paper means (cheque or money order) or online via Stripe. Use the form below to submit your online payment. Remember: each entry of UP TO two poetry entries or UP TO two fiction entries requires one entry fee. If you submit a poetry entry and a fiction entry, that’s two entry fees. If you submit four fiction entries, that’s two entry fees. All fees are subject to GST (5 %). 

After paying, please print a copy of the Stripe receipt for your records. We will match your payment with your entry by your name. If there is any doubt, we will contact you to confirm your receipt number.

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Our Funders

Grain is grateful to its funders: Sask Lotteries, Canada Council for the Arts, and the financial support from its private donors.
Grain is published by the Saskatchewan Writers' Guild.