Published Books and Stories

Published submissions must be postmarked or courier-dated no later than December 15, 2011 

Submission Rules: Published Work

To qualify, a work must fulfill the following criteria:

1. First publication (includes print, electronic/e-book, or self-published), whether in English or French, in the preceding year (2011) by a Canadian citizen regardless of place of residence, or by a writer, regardless of nationality, who has been granted Permanent Resident status in Canada. The year of publication is determined solely by the copyright date of the book or the short story.

2. If the work was originally published in a language other than English or French, the first English or French translation of the book is still eligible if:
•    this translation is first published in the preceding year (2011), and
•    the author fulfills the above citizenship/residency requirement.

3. If a work is co-authored, at least one of the authors must fulfill the citizenship/Permanent Resident requirement.

4. Special eligibility requirements for the First Novel category: In addition to the above eligibility rules, an author entered in this category cannot have had any other novel of any kind published commercially:
•    in print, electronic/e-book, or self-published, and
•    in Canada or any other country, and
•    in any genre, including literary, and
•    under the author's given name or a pseudonym, and alone or jointly with another author

Note 1: A novel that has an ISBN is considered to be published commercially.
Note 2: The author may be published in other formats (e.g., short stories, non-fiction, plays/screenplays, poetry) and still be eligible to enter in this category.

5. The book or story fits into the crime-writing genre (see above for our description of "crime genre").

Please note that the following books and short stories are not eligible:
•    Translations from English to French or from French to English that have been previously published in the other official language.
•    New editions or revisions that are substantially the same (60% or greater) as the previously published version.

There is a $35 processing fee per title for books and a $15 processing fee per title for short stories; the processing fee for an anthology with more than two eligible stories is $35. Please make out your cheque or money order in Canadian funds for the appropriate amount to Crime Writers of Canada.

If a category has fewer than six (6) submissions in a given year, all books or stories will be held over to be judged in the Arthur Ellis Awards of the following year.

For short stories, please include a photocopy of the original published version or of the table of contents of the magazine or book in which the story appeared. Short stories may be submitted as photocopies of the published work or in manuscript form. If more than one eligible short stories appear in an anthology, publishers may find it convenient to submit the anthology. Up to but no more than three (3) short stories per author may be submitted.

For e-books, please send hard copies of the book printed on 8.5 X 11, white paper. Please include cover, title page and indicia.

Five (5) copies of any work submitted for an Arthur Ellis Award must be postmarked no later than the close of the business day on December 15, 2011.

For each submission please include:
•    Five (5) copies of your book or short story
•    An entry form for each title. Attach your entry form to the cheque. If the books are being sent separately, please attach a copy of the entry form to the shipment. (Publishers, a cover with multiple entries is still acceptable if all the information in the entry form is included.)
•    A cheque or money order in Canadian funds, made out to Crime Writers of Canada, for the processing fee ($35 per book title, $15 per short story title, $35 for an anthology containing more than 2 short stories) If you cannot send a cheque in Canadian funds, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The shortlists will be announced in April 2012.

The winners will be announced at the Arthur Ellis Awards Banquet in Toronto on Thursday, May 31, 2012.

Please send your submission to:

Crime Writers of Canada – 2012 Arthur Ellis Awards
4C-240 Westwood Road
Guelph, Ontario
N1H 7W9

If you are sending books via courier and need a phone number, or for any other inquiry, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Entry Form

PDF Entry Form

PDF Call for Submissions

PDF Le prix Arthur Ellis appel de soumissions

PDF Formulaire d'inscription