The Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest

The Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest: $1000 for one winning essay

Edna Edna Staebler was a pioneer in the field of literary journalism. Her first article, "Duellists of the Deep", a story about swordfishing with Neil's Harbour fishermen, was published in MacLean's when she was in her mid-40s and won the Canadian Womens Press Club Memorial Award. From there, she went on to write many more articles for MacLean's, Chatelaine, Saturday Night, and others in the decades to come, as well as Cape Breton Harbour, a book about the time she spent there. And, of course, many readers know her best as the engaging voice of Food that Really Schmecks, a series of cookbooks so entertaining that people read them in bed.

Edna opened the door for generations of personal essayists, not just with her example but with her generosity, founding many awards, scholarships, bursaries. In 1981, she helped to found The New Quarterly, and in 2005, we were one of many lucky organizations and individuals to receive a gift from her completely out of the blue, a cheque for $25K.

In the spirit of Edna's contributions to the genre, we are interested in essays of any length, on any topic, in which the writer's personal engagement with the topic provides the frame or through-line. Our only restrictions are that the work be previously unpublished and the writer Canadian (citizen or resident).

We offer a $1,000 prize for the winning essay; all submissions will be considered for paid publication ($250) in the magazine.

Entry fee: $40 per submission. Each submission includes a one-year Canadian subscription (or subscription extension) to The New Quarterly.

Eligiblity: Entries may not be previously published, accepted, or submitted for publication elsewhere. There are no restrictions on length or number of entries, as long as the appropriate fees are paid. Entrants' anonymity will be carefully preserved throughout the judging process. Your name should not appear anywhere on the essay. The decisions will be made by August 31; winner(s) and finalists will receive notification by email.
Please note: if you are submitting a Word document, we ask that you submit as .doc not .docx please.

Deadline: Postmarked March 28, 2014

Check out Kim's blog at the literary type:

"What Makes an Essay Personal" by Editor Kim Jernigan

Having technical difficulties? We're happy to help.
email: contests [at] tnq [dot] ca
phone: 519-884-8111 ext 28290

Entry Form:
(you will be redirected to a confirmation/payment page when your entry has been successfully uploaded)

First Name *

Last Name *

Address *

Please note: our contest is only open to Canadian residents or Canadian citizens living abroad.

Email *

Payment *

Though we prefer that you make your payment using our secure online payment system, we can accept cheque payment by mail or credit card payment by phone. Please select your preferred method of payment. You will be redirected to a page with payment instructions after you submit your form.

Subscription Details:

Each entry fee includes a 1-year Canadian subscription for the entrant or a friend. If you are already a subscriber, we'll apply it as a subscription extension unless you tell us otherwise.

Please send the free subscription for my entry to: *

Me, at the address above. (Must be a Canadian address. USA addresses will be billed an additional $20 in postage).

Me, at the address below:

My friend, at the address below:

Subscription Address

Declaration *

I have read the contest guidelines, and my entry meets the necessary conditions. [Note: if you have read the contest guidelines but are not entirely sure that your entry qualifies, please contact Melissa Krone, Managing Editor, at circulation@tnq.ca]

Please let us know how you heard about our contest(s):

Upload a File *

Your file must be in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format, and should not include any headers or footers. Please name the file as the title of your entry. Please include a word count at the end (there is no word limit).

Essay Word Count (no limit) *

Comment

If there's anything more you think we should know about your entry (if you've entered more than once this year, you've temporarily changed the names, etc.), this is the place to tell us.