The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction is the first major English-language literary prize to celebrate creativity and excellence in fiction by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United States, awarding $150,000 USD to its winner, and $12,500 USD to each of its four finalists.

The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction aims to address the continued inequality of women in the literary world. Novels, short story collections, and graphic novels written by women and non-binary authors and published in the United States and Canada are eligible for the Prize.

Co-founded by Susan Swan, C.M., Janice Zawerbny, and Don Oravec in 2012, the Prize presented its inaugural award in 2023 to Emmy-nominated author and filmmaker Fatimah Asghar for their novel When We Were Sisters. Learn more about each years’ Longlist, Shortlist, and Winners here.

Prizes

• The winner of The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction is awarded $150,000 U.S. dollars.
• Four finalists will also each receive $12,500 U.S. dollars. Should a translation win the Prize, $100,000 will be awarded to the author and $50,000 to the translator.

Submission Deadlines

• Books published between January 1, 2024 – July 31, 2024 must be received on or before Monday July 15, 2024, at 11:59pm PST.
• Books published between August 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024, must be received on or before Wednesday October 16, 2024, at 11:59pm PST.

In addition to the Prize, The Carol Shields Prize Foundation itself supports women and non-binary writers through a range of mentorships, scholarships, and residencies across Canada and the U.S.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and spelling check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.