The Morley Callaghan “Best Canadian Short Story” Competition and Award.

$10,000 FOR CANADA’S BEST SHORT STORY!    $2,500 for the Runner up.

Submission period: Ends September 21, 2025.

Open only to Canadian writers.

Complete guidelines and information at: Fiction Poetry Guidelines.

All genres and styles considered.
             • A story’s length is not to exceed 5,000 words. Your story should be submitted with double-spacing, on 8.5x11 pages, in a serif (Times, Garamond, etc.) 11 or 12 point font.
             • There is no restriction on the number of submissions, subject matter, or style.
             • If submitting more than one story, please complete a form for each story.

Important: Do NOT have your name appear anywhere on the pages of the story. Make sure to paginate and put the story’s title on each page.

 • Each story submitted requires a $45.00 fee.
             • Each story submitted will receive a lifetime subscription to our EXILE Quarterly ($175.00 value).
 

The winners and up to four finalists will appear in EXILE Quarterly in 2026.  And we are planning an anthology collection of the winners and selected shortlisted writers, for expected release in 2026.  

• This competition was launched as The inaugural Nona Heaslip $15,000 “Best Canadian Short Story” Competition and Award in memory of Morley Callaghan. Ms. Heaslip died in late 2024 – and so with new anonymous patronage it is now the Morley Callaghan “Best Canadian Short Story” Competition and Award.

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Completing the Submission Form: You will be asked to include the following information:      

a) Full Address (for your subscription).      

b) Email and Telephone Number (in case we need to contact you).      

c) Brief biography that includes previous periodical/online publications and/or book-length releases – publishing related information only, please.      

d) Indicate if you are an Emerging Writer – or a Writer at Any Career Point (with at least three published poetry books under your name). If there is a determination to be made, the judges will assess/confirm your category, based on your biography, books publication, awards, national media recognition, etc.      

e) If you prefer we do not add your email to our mailing list, please indicate this on the submission form. (Each year we send some 10 - 15 notifications about our literary events, updates on Exile Editions books and EXILE Quarterly new releases, follow up on our competitions, etc.). Or, you can indicate you prefer only to receive email updates for this particular contest.

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$45 Fee for submitting.

Payment processed with your Submittable submission.

All materials are recycled and/or properly disposed of.

If you have any submission questions, email: admin@exilequarterly.com

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Administered under the auspices of The Excelsis Group and EXILE Quarterly.