The Ampersand Review Essay Contest

The Ampersand Review seeks an innovative and thought-provoking creative non-fiction or personal essay for the inaugural Ampersand Review Essay Prize. The contest will be judged by Alicia Elliott, award-winning author of the bestseller A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, and the forthcoming novel And Then She Fell. 

About Alicia Elliott: Alicia Elliott is a Mohawk writer and editor living in Brantford, Ontario. She has written for The Globe and Mail, CBC, Hazlitt and many others. She’s had numerous essays nominated for National Magazine Awards, winning Gold in 2017 and an honourable mention in 2020. Her short fiction was selected for Best American Short Stories 2018 (by Roxane Gay), Best Canadian Stories 2018, and Journey Prize Stories 30. Alicia was chosen by Tanya Talaga as the 2018 recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Her first book, A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, was a national bestseller in Canada. It was also nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, and won the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Who: Any Canadian writer or writer living in Canada. At this time, we are unable to consider international submissions. Please note that we do not consider or publish work written by current students, staff, and faculty at Sheridan College.

What: A creative non-fiction or personal essay that is 3000 words maximum. 

When: Submit your essay from June 1 – August 31, 2023, at 11:59pm ET.

How: Please complete the entry form on our website and pay the entry fee. Submissions that are not accompanied by an entry fee will not be considered. Once your entry fee has been paid, submit your essay as a Word document and PDF file to ampersandreview@sheridancollege.ca. Essays should be double-spaced and should include the total word count in the submission. 

Entry Fee: $25. All entrants will receive a one-year subscription to The Ampersand Review. 

Prize: The winner will receive $500 and publication in Issue No. 5 of The Ampersand Review. The runner-up will receive $100 and publication in Issue No. 6 of The Ampersand Review. 

For more details including FAQs, please visit https://theampersandreview.ca/essay-contest.