A total of 30 writers from various regions in Canada have been selected for the longlist of the 2026 CBC Short Story Prize from a pool of close to 3,000 submissions. The list includes works such as “YSL Classes” by Oluwatoke Adejoye, “Things I Know for Sure” by Katrina Agbayani, and “Pattern Recognition” by Amber Allen, among others. The selection process involves two rounds of evaluation by a committee comprising editors and writers from different parts of the country, with each submission reviewed by two readers.
The longlist will be further narrowed down by a second reading committee to around 30 entries, which will then be passed on to the jury for final judgment. Entries are assessed anonymously based on language usage, originality of content, and writing style. This year’s jury panel consists of Maria Reva, Terry Fallis, and Tracey Lindberg.
The shortlist for the prize will be revealed on April 30, and the winner will be announced on May 7. The recipient of the 2026 CBC Short Story Prize will be awarded $6,000 by the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and their work will be published on CBC Books. Four finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their stories featured on CBC Books.
Last year’s winner was Dorian McNamara for the story “You (Streetcar at Night).” The French-language competition longlist has also been disclosed. For more details, readers can 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 accept entries starting in September, while the 2027 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January.
