Writers' Trust of Canada - 50 Years
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Encouraging the future of Canadian literature

RBC Bronwen Wallace Awards for Emerging Writers

Highlights

GuidelinesPrize History

Prize

  • Winners $10,000
  • Finalists $2,500

2027 Important Dates

  • Submissions to open October 2026
  • Winners to be announced June 2027

Eligibility

  • Canadian citizen or permanent resident
  • At least one literary publication credit
  • Unpublished in book form and without a contract

Questions?

Please contact:
Devon Jackson, Associate Program Director
djackson@writerstrust.com

About the Award

The first Bronwen Wallace Award was awarded in 1994 in memory of the late Bronwen Wallace, a writer and mentor who believed that Canadian writers should have more opportunities for recognition early in their careers. With the support of RBC since 2007, it has grown to recognize developing writers in three categories: creative nonfiction, poetry, and short fiction. 

Applicants to the RBC Bronwen Wallace Awards for Emerging Writers must have previously published literary work in a magazine, anthology, or journalistic publication. They must not yet have published a book or entered into a book-publishing contract. Submissions are anonymized. 

Writers’ Trust appoints a separate jury for each category. Each jury selects three shortlisted works and chooses one as the category winner. Finalists receive $2,500 and winners receive $10,000. All finalists receive unique career development experiences over three days in Toronto each spring. 

RBC’s support gives all applicants access to skills training to accelerate their creative growth, along with mentorship and networking opportunities in the Canadian literature industry. In addition, RBC funds a tailored development program for the winners.

2026 audiobooks now available!

2026 Winner
Poetry

Renato Gandia

Psalmody for the Estranged

Jury Citation

“In ‘Psalmody for the Estranged,’ Renato Gandia reminds us of the affinity between prayer and poetry. These poems appeal to our basic needs to belong, to experience awe, to be seen, and to be accepted. They are alchemical and spellbinding in the way they transform small, quiet moments — a turn of phrase, a partner’s touch, familiar objects, a domestic routine — into moments of sacred encounter. The understated nature of Gandia’s poems is what lets them shine. We are immersed in a world resonant with devotion and reverence for the everyday. Gandia achieves the ancient task set out for a poet: to reveal the profound in the seemingly ordinary and to bring our ear closer to what resonates with meaning.”—2026 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers Poetry Jury (Jeff Latosik, Zehra Naqvi, Chuqiao Yang) 

2026 Winner
Creative Nonfiction

Graham Slaughter

The Perfect Home For Your Child

Jury Citation

“‘The Perfect Home for Your Child’ brings equal measures of acuity and empathy to its story of a would-be adoptive couple as they wait for a prospective birth mother to decide if she will keep her child. With an exquisite breathlessness mirroring the couple’s nerve-racked hopes, Graham Slaughter offers an intimate perspective on byzantine regulations, daunting financial barriers, and the complicated bonds between strangers amid emotional tumult. Taut, heartbreaking, and hopeful, it’s a story in which the family’s future is less a branching tree than a garden of forking paths.”—2026 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers Creative Nonfiction Jury (Alison Calder, Robert McGill, Padma Viswanathan) 

2026 Winner
Short Fiction

Julia Cottrelle

The Old Turtle Climb

Jury Citation

“Just as a bumblebee seems to defy the laws of physics every time it takes flight, so too does Julia Cottrelle’s quietly devastating story ‘The Old Turtle Climb’ carry such emotional and thematic weight as to risk failure, which is the mark of true artistry. Through assured and coolly intelligent prose, Cottrelle explores a mother’s raw grief at the loss of stillborn baby, intertwined with images of animal birth and death that are at turns clinical, heartbreaking, and bleakly funny — and often all at once. This is a haunting and authentic depiction of a wounded soul attempting to live through a deep hurt.”—2026 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers Short Fiction Jury (Jamaluddin Aram, Jen Neale, Nathan Whitlock)  

2026 Finalists - Poetry

2026 Finalists - Short Fiction

2026 Finalists - Creative Nonfiction

Jury

Poetry (2026)
A jury composed of Jeff Latosik, Zehra Naqvi, and Chuqiao Yang read 143 submissions to select finalists in the poetry category.

Jury

Short Fiction (2026)
A jury composed of Jamaluddin Aram, Jen Neale, and Nathan Whitlock read 172 submissions to select finalists in the short fiction category.

Jury

Creative Nonfiction (2026)
A jury composed of Alison Calder, Robert McGill, and Padma Viswanathan read 108 submissions to select the finalists in the creative nonfiction category. 

Publishing can be a confusing and tough industry to navigate, and I am truly grateful that the Bronwen Wallace Award has been like a foot on the gas pedal for my career.

— Teya Hollier

About Bronwen Wallace

Bronwen Wallace (1945–1989) was a poet, short story writer, essayist, and mentor to many aspiring authors as a creative writing instructor at Queen’s University and St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ontario. This prize was established in her honour in 1994 by a group of friends and colleagues. Wallace felt that writers should have more opportunities for recognition early in their careers. This annual award will be presented to three writers — one each in the categories of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction — who have been published in literary journals or anthologies but have yet to publish in book form. Past winners include Michael Crummey, Alissa York, Sonnet L’Abbé, Alison Pick, Noor Naga, Maria Reva, and John Elizabeth Stintzi.  

Sponsor

RBC aims to support the careers and development of emerging Canadian creatives through skills development, mentorship programs, education, and access and exposure to new audiences.