Deadline: October 15th, 2025

The 2026 Portent Prize is for the best script.

Portal invites 1500-word entries from Canadian authors across the country for its annual Portent Contest, with the genre rotating each year among non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and script. 

The winner is decided each winter by a 20-person jury and awards an annual prize of $500 CDN as well as publication in the April issue the following spring.

The entry fee is $25 CDN and all entrants will receive a one-year print subscription to Portal. 

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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

    • Entries must not have been previously published in print or online in a newspaper, magazine, anthology, chapbook, book, website/blog, or on social media.

    • One entry per person in the genres of non-fiction, fiction, and script, but up to 3 poems for poetry.

    • The entry should not exceed 1,500 words.

    • Include only the title and word count on the first page of the submission (no names or addresses).

    • For prose, please double space your work.

    • Please use Word Document format (.doc or .docx).

HOW TO ENTER

Step 1
Submit your work via email to viuportal [at] gmail.com.
In the body of your email, include your:

    • full name

    • mailing address

    • email address

    • entry title

    • word count

Step 2
Provide payment for your $25 entry fee through the VIU Foundation website.

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The winner will be notified via email and announced on Portal’s website and social media. The winner will also be interviewed for the Portal website.

Past Winners include:

Sam Bollinger—Poetry, 2025 “Anthropocene”
Flynn Connolly Sifton—Fiction, 2024 “It Leaves an Impression”
Rachel Davidson—Non-fiction, 2023 “Free and Hard”
Sarah Stirling—Script, 2022 “Be My Neighbour”
Sabrina Mudryk—Poetry, 2021 “They Are Waiting”
Rose McQuirter—Fiction, 2020 “Bump and Strike”
Zach Cooper—Non-fiction, 2019 “On Your Left”