30 writers from different regions in Canada have been selected for the longlist of the 2026 CBC Short Story Prize out of nearly 3,000 entries. The list includes works such as “YSL Classes” by Oluwatoke Adejoye from Burnaby, B.C., “Things I Know for Sure” by Katrina Agbayani from Toronto, and “Pattern Recognition” by Amber Allen from Guelph, Ont.
Submissions undergo a two-tiered review process, starting with a reading committee of editors and writers who screen the initial texts. Each submission is reviewed by two readers, leading to a preliminary list of around 100 entries forwarded to a second reading committee. This committee then selects the final 30 entries for the longlist to be reviewed by the jury.
Entries are evaluated anonymously based on language use, subject originality, and writing style. The shortlist and eventual winner will be chosen from the longlisted selections by the jury comprising Maria Reva, Terry Fallis, and Tracey Lindberg. The shortlist announcement is scheduled for April 30, with the winner to be revealed on May 7.
The winner of the CBC Short Story Prize will receive a $6,000 prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and publication on CBC Books. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their works published on CBC Books.
Last year’s winner was Dorian McNamara for his story “You (Streetcar at Night).” The French-language competition longlist has also been released. For more information, visit the Prix de la nouvelle Radio-Canada website.
For those interested in the CBC Literary Prizes, submissions for the 2026 CBC Poetry Prize are open until June 1. The 2027 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September, and the 2027 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January.