The Fiddlehead founded the book awards in 2015 in partnership with the Writers' Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB). We co-administered them for 8 years, and now they are administered fully by WFNB. We still sponsor the poetry prize, which is listed below along with the other NB book awards.
For more info, visit the WFNB site:
The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick - New Brunswick Book Awards
Submissions for books published in the 2025 season will be accepted between mid-June and December, 2025. Eligibility criteria: books published in a calendar year by NB residents. Books can be submitted by the publisher or the author. For a co-written book to be eligible, at least one co-author must be a New Brunswick resident. Accepting printed books only, no ebooks.
A NB resident is defined as a person living in the province for three of the last five years, and for more than 50% of each year, including the year of the award, and who has not claimed another province as their primary residence or claimed this book as eligible for a writing award in another province
The Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize
The Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize recognizes the best book of poetry published by a New Brunswick resident in a given year.
Since 2016 the $500 prize has been sponsored by The Fiddlehead, Atlantic Canada's International Literary Journal. Established in 1945, The Fiddlehead is Canada's oldest literary journal, and its pages have featured a who’s who of Canadian Literature.
Mrs. Dunster’s Award for Fiction
The Mrs. Dunster’s Fiction Prize recognizes the best book of fiction (novels or short story collections by a single author) published by a New Brunswick resident each year.
Mrs. Dunster's has been our generous sponsor of this $500 award since 2015. Purchased by Blair and Rosalyn Hyslop in June 2014, Mrs. Dunster’s sells donuts and other baked goods across the Maritime provinces and New England. And while the business may have grown over the years, the products produced by Mrs. Dunster’s in Sussex still carry that homemade taste — the same way Mrs. Dunster would have made them.
(The inaugural) Books for Young Readers award
The Books for Young Readers Award is new for the 2024 season and will celebrate fiction or nonfiction books published in the previous 12 months for middle grade, (ages 8 to 12) up to young adult (ages 13 to 20). Both traditionally-published and self-published books are welcome.
This year, the $500 prize is generously sponsored by JD Irving Ltd., a company which has provided service, quality and innovation since 1882 in a wide variety of industries: agriculture, construction and equipment, consumer products, food, forestry and forestry products, retail and distribution, shipbuilding and industrial fabrication, as well as Transportation and Logistics. Their employees continue to build JDI into a diverse group of performance driven enterprises, using best practices to make the best products, enabling them to better serve their customers. JDI is proud to be Atlantic Canada’s home team.
Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Nonfiction Award
The Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick (WFNB) Nonfiction Book Prize recognizes the best book of nonfiction published by a New Brunswick resident in a given year. WFNB began three decades ago as a few friends gathered in a writers’ living room. Today, they’re a province-wide organization with just under 400 members living in every corner of New Brunswick.
Since 2015 the $500 award has been generously sponsored by the Brennan family on behalf of the WFNB. Ann Brennan was a founding member of the WFNB, and helped form and build the organization from its inception, and her daughter Rayanne, is a former president. We appreciate the Brennan family's continued support.
The Alice Kitts Memorial Award
The Alice Kitts Memorial Award for Excellence in Picture Book Writing recognizes the year’s best picture book written by a New Brunswick author. The award is named after Alice Kitts, who was a writer and artist born in Riverside, New Brunswick. She was the author and illustrator of Emily of the Bend, a historical picture book about a young girl who lived along the Petitcodiac River at the turn of the 20th century. Since this is a writing award, only the author must meet the New Brunswick residency requirement.
The annual $500 prize has been sponsored by Alice’s six children since 2016: Carolyn Wellwood, Burtts Corner, NB; Jim Kitts, Hillsborough, NB; Cynthia Cain, Riverview, NB; Wendy Kitts, San Diego, CA; Colleen Kitts-Goguen, Fredericton, NB; and Kim Kitts-Brawn, Summerside, PE.
Past winners of The Fiddlehead Poetry Book Prize:
- 2023: Fawn Parker, Soft Inheritance (Palimpsest Press), Fredericton
- Runner-ups: Matthew Gwathmey, Tumbling for Amateurs (Coach House Books), Fredericton; Allan Cooper, The Face of Everything (Pottersfield Press), Riverview
- 2022: Sue Sinclair, Almost Beauty (Goose Lane)
- Runner-ups: Amber McMillan, This is a Stick-up (Wolask and Wynn); Michael Pacey, Wild Apples: A Dialogue with Thoreau (Pottersfield Press)
- 2021: Triny Finlay, Myself a Paper Clip (Goose Lane)
- Runner-ups: Rebecca Salazar, sulphurtongue (McLelland & Stewart); Jane Tims, a glimpse of water fall (Independent)
- 2020: Allan Cooper, Waiting for the Small Ship of Desire (Pottersfield Press)
- Runner-ups: M. Travis Lane, Keeping Count (Gordon Hill Press); Emily Skov-Neilsen, The Knowing Animals (Brick Books)
- 2019: Jennifer Houle, Virga (Signature Editions)
- Runner-ups: Lucas Crawford, Belated Bris of the Brainsick (Nightwood Editions); Mathew Gwathmey, Our Latest in Folktales (Brick Books)
- 2018: Jenna Lyn Albert, Bec & Call (Nightwood Editions)
- Runner-ups: Herménégilde Chiasson (trans. Jo-Anne Elder), To Live and Die in Scoudouc (Goose Lane Editions); Kayla Geitzler, That Light Feeling Under Your Feet (NeWest Press)
- 2017: Allan Cooper, Everything We Love Comes Back to Find Us (Gaspereau Press)
- Runner-ups: Wayne Clifford, Flying the Truck (New Brunswick Museum); Kathy Mac, Human Misunderstanding (Roseway)
- 2016: M. Travis Lane, The Witch of the Inner Wood (Goose Lane Editions)
- Runner-ups: Wayne Clifford, The Exile's Papers (Porcupine's Quill); Robert Moore, Based on Actual Events (Signal Editions)
- 2015: M. Travis Lane, Crossover (Cormorant)
- Runner-ups: Phillip Crymble, Not Even Laughter (Salmon Poetry); Michael Pacey, Electric Affinities (Signature Editions)
