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Eligibility and Submissions

Criteria

  • The work must be literature of the fantastic, which includes fabulist, fantasy, magic realist, science fiction, speculative, supernatural horror, and surrealist works.
  • The work must be a novel, or novel-length short story collection. Short stories have their own category and are any length less than 7,500 words.
  • The author must be Canadian—that is, a Canadian Citizen (native or naturalized; resident in Canada or residing outside Canada) or Landed Immigrant in Canada.
  • Translations into English are considered on an equal footing with works written originally in English. Only the first translation of a work is eligible.
  • The work must be substantially text-based and have been published in book or in e-book form with either an ISBN or ISSN. Short stories may also have been published in an online magazine. *Material posted on personal websites is not eligible.
  • Novels and short story collections published in any given calendar year are eligible for consideration in the following calendar year. If a work was not submitted in its first year of eligibility it can then be submitted for consideration one year later. No work can be submitted twice. Short stories have only one year of eligibility.

The Sunburst Award Administrative Committee reserves the right to make the final determination of a work's eligibility.

The January 31st deadline to submit to the 2019 award is now passed. Please check back to this page in October to submit to the 2020 award.