Literary PrizesThe winner will receive $6,000, a writing residency and have their work published on CBC Books. The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 18 and the winner will be revealed on Sept. 25.The winner will receive $6,000, a writing residency and have their work published on CBC BooksCBC Books · Posted: Sep 11, 2025 9:45 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoWriters from across Canada have been longlisted for the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize. (See individual pages for credit)Twenty-eight writers from across Canada have been longlisted for the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize. The complete list is: I married a spy. The secrecy broke my heart. by Diana Bayko (Calgary) The Sensibilities of Dogs by Antoinette Bekker (Medicine Hat, Alta.) The Space Between Views by Laurel Borisenko (Chemainus, B.C.) Day Shift, Night Shift by Jo-Anne Dusel (Moose Jaw, Sask.) The Pauper by Izzy Ferguson (Dundas, Ont.) Summer Ash by Rachel Foster (Vancouver) Reflections of a Teen Vessel by Cori Francis (Barnwell, Alta.) The Boy Who Loved Alice by Charles Hayter (Toronto) A Mother’s Guide to Urban Gardening by Michelle Hébert (Halifax) I Wash the Purple Water Bottle by Kelley La (Calgary) I got used to You by Yasmin Ladha (Muscat, Oman) Death on the Seventh by Jim Libiran (Scarborough, Ont.) Fishing with My Father: Reflections on Newfoundland’s Cod Culture by Boyd Lundrigan (Spaniard’s Bay, N.L.) Songs for Linda by Carrie Mac (Vancouver) The Invisible Woman by Laura MacGregor (Waterloo, Ont.) We are baptized for the dead in Taber before going to A&W for burgers and root beer by Cheryl Markosky (London, U.K.) Small Miracles by Anastasia McEwen (Fergus, Ont.) The First Apartment by Jennifer McGuire (Owen Sound, Ont.) The Home That Crossed Ocean by Raffi Minas (Calgary) Little America by Nancy Newman (Edmonton) The Townie Time Machine by Ian Orti (Berlin, Germany) Cancer Stage Exit 4: A Memoir by Lena Palacios (Montreal) The Art of Falling Overboard by Loghan Paylor (Chilliwack, B.C.) The Dances We Do With Our Children by Trenton Pomeroy (Rothesay, N.B.) 36 Views of Mount Royal by Lorne Roberts (Montreal) Out of Love by Barclay Rose (North Cowichan, B.C.) In Case I Die by Crystal Semaganis (Bear Island, Ont.) The Morel Moral: A Public Service Announcement by Shelley Wood (Kelowna, B.C.) The longlist was selected from more than 1,300 submissions. Submissions are processed by a two-tiered system: the initial texts are screened by a reading committee chosen for each category from a group of qualified editors and writers across the country. Each text is read by two readers. Meet the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize readers The readers come up with a preliminary list of approximately 100 texts that are then forwarded to a second reading committee. It is this committee who will decide upon the approximately 30 entries that comprise the longlist that is forwarded to the jury. Works are judged anonymously on the basis of the participant’s use of language, originality of subject and writing style. Zoe Whittall, Danny Ramadan and Helen Knott to judge 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers’ longlisted selections. This year’s jury is composed of Zoe Whittall, Danny Ramadan and Helen Knott. The shortlist will be announced on Sept. 18 and the winner will be announced on Sept. 25. The winner of the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. CBC Literary Prize winners get a writing residency — Chanel M. Sutherland shares how it’s life-changing Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books. Last year’s winner was writer Aldona Dziedziejko for her essay Ice Safety Chart: Fragments. You can read the entire 2024 shortlist here. Aldona Dziedziejko’s poetic reflections on land and loss wins 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize The longlist for the French-language competition has also been revealed. To read more, go to the Prix du récit Radio-Canada. The CBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979. Past winners include David Bergen, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields and Michael Winter. 16 famous Canadian writers who won CBC Literary Prizes If you’re interested in other writing competitions, check out the CBC Literary Prizes. The 2026 CBC Short Story Prize is currently accepting submissions. The 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January and the 2026 CBC Poetry Prize will open in April.
6 B.C. writers make 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist
