We are currently accepting submissions to the 2026 Montreal Fiction Prize, judged by Heather O'Neill.
Annual Submission Windows:
Spring Print: January 5th–January 31st
Digital: February 1st–May 31st
The Montreal Fiction Prize: June 1st-June 30th
Fall Print: July 1st–July 31st
Digital: August 1st–November 30th
We do no accept submissions of any kind during December and June (except for The Montreal Fiction Prize in June).
Our print publication is open to all Canadian writers. For our publication, we consider this to be:
-Anyone with Canadian Citizenship or Permanent Resident status, residing here or abroad
-Anyone that currently resides in Canada
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Yolk is a Montreal-based literary journal that publishes fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and visual arts in our print (Canadian citizens and residents of Canada) and digital (Canadian + international) publications. Our mandate is to publish fine work by established and emerging artists.
We encourage submissions from all artists and writers, including those from marginalized communities and those generally under-represented in literature, in particular Indigenous writers, writers of colour, LGBTQ+ writers, and writers with disabilities.
PAYMENT AND COPYRIGHT
- Yolk believes in paying artists. We offer a $100CAD honorarium for our digital publication. For print, we offer $30 per page up to a maximum of $200. We also pay $200 for our cover art. Prizes are handled separately.
- All contributors whose work has been selected for publication in our print issues will also receive a free copy of the journal.
- Yolk does not accept written work that has been previously published in print or online (we also will not consider work that has previously appeared on social media or on public personal blogs). For visual arts, we do not accept work that has been previously published in print. We will consider visual art that has appeared on personal blogs/social media and in galleries/exhibitions.
- Yolk acquires First Serial Rights and the right to archive your work on our website, though copyright reverts to the author upon publication.
There is a nominal $3 submission fee. Yolk is a registered NPO and these charges will go towards sustaining operating costs. We will always have a free submission option available for those for whom the submission fee is preventative. In recognizing the additional cultural and socioeconomic barriers Indigenous people overcome, we are waiving submission fees for submissions by Indigenous people for print and digital publication (see "INCLUSIVE ACCESS" below).
RESPONSE TIME/SUBMISSIONS
- Please do not inquire about the status of your submission. Each submission will be carefully reviewed by our editorial committee, and you will receive a response within one to four months.
- Though we accept simultaneous submissions, notify us immediately should your work be accepted elsewhere.
- Please note that rejected submissions do not receive editorial feedback. While we wish we could, the volume of submissions we receive prevents us from doing so.
- For digital publication, writers and artists may submit twice per year per genre. For print issues, writers and artists may submit once per submission window for poetry and visual arts, and twice per submission window for fiction and nonfiction. One submission in poetry consists of up to three poems. One submission in visual arts consists of up to ten pieces. One submission in fiction and nonfiction consists of one piece of up to 4'000 words. (Note that these restrictions do not apply to contests.)
Please ensure you carefully read all of these general submission guidelines before submitting.
We submit work published in our journal to the National Magazine Awards, the Best Canadian Anthology series, the Best American Anthology series, Best of the Net, and for Pushcart prizes.
For all other general inquiries, please contact us at themail@yolkliterary.ca
Thank you for submitting to yolk
Yolk's 2026 Montreal Fiction Prize
Prize Money: Worth a total of $3000
Submissions Closing: June 30th, 2026
Judged by: Heather O'Neill
Yolk welcomes entries to the Montreal Fiction Prize, a Canadian award for original short stories written in English. We are accepting submissions from June 1 to June 30, 2026. The winner will receive $2,000 and publication in our Fall 2026 print issue, Vol. 6.1; second and third place will receive $500 each and publication in Vol. 6.1. The prize is open to all Canadian writers.
For our publication, we consider this to be:
-Anyone with Canadian Citizenship or Permanent Resident status, residing here or abroad
-Anyone that currently resides in Canada
This year, Heather O'Neill will be our guest judge for the prize!
Heather O’Neill is a Montreal-based novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. She is the author of Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, and Daydreams of Angels, and has been shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction, the Giller Prize in two consecutive years, the Orange Prize for Fiction, and has won CBC Canada Reads, the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and the Danuta Gleed Award.
Yolk warmly acknowledges the generous support of the Conseil des arts de Montréal in making this contest possible.
General Rules, Formatting, and Information:
- We seek original short stories up to 4,000 words on any subject and in any style.
- We will only review self-contained works. Excerpts or chapters from a larger body of work will not be accepted.
- The entry fee is $20. Contestants can submit more than one story, but will have to submit them individually and pay the entry fee for each story submitted.
- The longlist will be announced in September, and the winners shortly afterwards. Do not contact us about the status of your submission until after this period if you haven't heard from us.
- For all written works, use a legible font and 1.5 line spacing. Though yolk is especially fond of Garamond, 12-point, we do not discriminate against other styles. Should you be compelled to justify your text, do so knowing that you will be choosing a side in a tireless internal dispute at yolk.
- Do not include any personal information in your text or file name. Our readers evaluate anonymously—any submissions including personal information (name, email, etc.) within the text will not be considered.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Is this prize only open to Montreal writers?
A: No. Despite the name, this prize is open to all Canadian writers. For our publication, we consider this to be: Anyone with Canadian citizenship or permanent citizenship, residing here or abroad; and anyone that currently resides in Canada.
Q: Is there a theme for the prize?
A: No. Although the winners will be published in a print issue with a theme, the contest is handled separately, and no submissions are expected to adhere to a theme.
Q: Can I submit multiple entries to the Fiction Prize?
A: Contestants can submit more than one story, but will have to submit them individually and pay the entry fee for each story submitted.
Q: Can I submit to the Fiction Prize and to regular print consideration?
A: Yes, though you'll have to submit to them separately and pay the separate submission fees.
Q: Can I submit the same story to both the Fiction Prize and to regular print consideration?
A: Yes, though we recommend submitting separate stories to increase your odds of publication.
Q: When will I hear back about my story?
A: The longlist will be announced at the end of September.
Q: Are submissions read anonymously?
A: Yes. Therefore, do not include any personal information in your text. Our editors read anonymously—any submissions including personal information (name, email, etc.) within the text will not be considered.