2025/2026 National Student Short-Story Contest Entry Form (for K-12 students in Canada)

Privacy Policy: Your privacy is important to us. The information provided here will be used solely for the purpose of this contest (i.e. to notify participants regarding contest results and the ensuing publication). No information will be sold or distributed.

The way you type your Preferred and Legal Last Name in this form is how it will appear on the correspondence we mail if your entry is selected for publication.

Please input carefully, using proper capitalization (rather than all lowercase or all uppercase).

We require your Legal First and Last Name for the author's release or if you are a prize winner. All other correspondence will use your Preferred First and Legal Last Name.

Legal First Name*

Preferred First Name (the first name you use in everyday life, for correspondence and if published)*

Middle Name or Initial

Legal Last Name*

Grade (K-12)*

Postal Mailing Address (must be in Canada)*

ex: 14510 Mallard Rd (or if you live in a townhouse or apartment: 21-20841 101 St)

ex: PO Box (or Unit Number of apartment or townhouse and did not include it in the line above)

CityProvince

Postal Code

Parent/Guardian's Full Name*

Parent/Guardian's Email*

Please note school emails may not allow us to reply or send you an attachment (such as a proof sheet if your work is accepted).

Additional Email (optional)

Would you like to join our email mailing list to be notified of final prize winners and future contests?*

Yes, email me updates a few times a year (select this if you have already subscribed and would like to remain; we won't send duplicates).No, I will check your website myself for updates and to view final prize winners.

Phone Number*

Phone Number

School Name*

Please put Home School if homeschooled. Please put Tutor or the tutor's company if submitting through a tutor not at your regular school.

Teacher's First and Last Name*

If you are submitting on your own, we still require a teacher contact. This can be any teacher at your school who knows you, including the principal, your homeroom teacher, or a librarian. The teacher must work at the school you provide. If homeschooled, put your parent/guardian's name. If you are submitting through a tutor not at your regular school, use the tutor's mailing address. Please check with any contact before submitting and let them know to expect mail with your results around mid-February 2024.

School Mailing Address (for Canada Post) - if homeschooled, use home address*

School Street Address

School Unit Number or PO Box

School CitySchool Province

School Postal Code

About the Author*

Number of Words (450 max.)*

Your entry will be disqualified at any point in the contest if discovered to be over the 450-word maximum.

Title of Entry*

Entry (copy and paste short story)*

To conserve paper, please use hard returns (Enter key) at the end of each paragraph. (A paragraph is a group of sentences; please don’t add a hard or soft return after each sentence or line.) Please remove all tabs/indents or any extra spacing such as blank lines between paragraphs. If your story requires italics for specific words/phrases, please add a star *before and after* the word/phrase. Note that line breaks may appear differently depending on the size of the screen you are using. As long as you have used proper hard returns (Enter key) rather than soft returns (Shift + Enter) at the end of each paragraph, the formatting should appear correct on our end. 0/450

By submitting this entry, I confirm that all passages and characters are original and of my own creation (for example, I have not used Spider-Man, Pokémon, celebrities, etc., used a writing prompt where I have copied line(s), or copied sentences found in a book or online).

I understand that peer editing (same age/grade or younger) is allowed, but all other editing (by parents, older siblings, teachers, etc.) is not permitted, except for legibility.

If a phrase is not my own, I have properly cited it using quotation marks and noted the source (i.e. author and title of work, including books, videos, games, media, TV, movies, etc.) in a footnote.

If I have used the names of people I know, I have received their express written permission.

If my story was inspired by another poem, story, song, video game, YouTube video, movie, etc., I have provided the source in the "Additional Comments" section below or before the start of the story.

This work is not posted anywhere online, and I will not share it online until after June 2026 if it is accepted for publication.

I have not submitted this work elsewhere recently and do not plan to submit it elsewhere in the near future (no simultaneous submissions).

I confirm my parent/guardian and I have read and agree to the above declaration.*

Yes

Comments to the Judges (request special consideration due to disability/ ESL, add citation note, etc.)

Before you press submit . . . if you used the AUTOFILL feature of your browser, please go back up and check all fields as it may have replaced information (ex: your parent's name has become your preferred name).