05/04/2026
ENTRIES FOR WIBA 2026 ARE NOW CLOSED!
As the calendar turned from April to May, the 2026 submission window for the Whistler Independent Book Awards came to a close. During the past two-months, our Inbox received a daily influx of notifications from self-published authors who keenly entered their book (and sometimes, books) for consideration. Not only did a healthy representation come through from Canadian self-published authors, but we also heard from authors in Australia, United Kingdom, United States, and even Japan! WIBA really did go global this year.
Not only that, but we were so incredibly amazed this year by the sheer number of submissions. For a bit of perspective, our all-time record, from WIBA 2024, stood at 203 submissions. Last year, the number dipped ever so slightly to 183. This year, in 2026, a whopping 314 authors submitted their books for consideration (yes, three hundred and fourteen!).
Every single author who entered WIBA 2026, from wherever in the world, definitely deserves a hearty round of applause and a resounding hip-hip-hooray! We are so incredibly proud of your independent writing endeavours.
WIBA is also incredibly grateful for the historic and ongoing support from The Writers’ Union of Canada. TWUC was founded in 1973 to work with governments, publishers, booksellers, and readers to improve the conditions of Canadian writers. With almost 3,000 members, TWUC advocates on behalf of writers’ collective interests, and delivers value to members through advocacy, community, and information. TWUC believes in a thriving, diverse Canadian culture that values and supports writers.
While submissions for WIBA are now closed, the hard work truly begins. The WIBA committee is diligently examining all 314 entries, in each of the four categories (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Children’s), to determine which books will make it to the second round of consideration. This Longlist will be announced on May 13. Then we will go straight back to work to determine the Shortlist. Shortlisted books will proceed to a separate round of judging, organized by the Whistler Writing Society, who will determine the finalists. Our Finalist Judges will then ultimately determine the winners. Winners will be announced in November, at the Whistler Writers Festival.
In past posts, we introduced our finalist judges for Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Children’s. For the poetry category, we are so pleased that our Finalist Judges are Richard Lemm and Rob Taylor.
Richard Lemm taught creative writing and literature at the University of Prince Edward Island from 1988 to 2025. He is the author of six poetry collections, a short fiction collection, and a biography of Milton Acorn, Canada’s People’s Poet. A past-president of The League of Canadian Poets and past co-chair of Access Copyright, he has served on juries for The Canada Council for the Arts, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the CBC Radio Literary Competition, and the Governor General’s Award for Poetry. Richard’s website
Rob Taylor is the author of five poetry collections: Weather (Gaspereau Press, 2024), Strangers (Biblioasis, 2021), Oh Not So Great: Poems from the Depression Project (Leaf Press, 2017), The News (Gaspereau Press, 2016) and The Other Side of Ourselves (Cormorant Books, 2011). Rob’s books have been won, or been a finalist for a number of awards, including the Raymond Souster Award (Weather, 2025), the Fred Cogswell Award (Weather, 2025), the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize (The News, 2017) and the Alfred G. Bailey Prize (The Other Side of Ourselves, 2010). Rob’s website.
Thank you to all the self-published authors who submitted to WIBA 2026.
Stay tuned for Longlist announcements on May 13.
Whistler Independent Book Awards WIBA
Whistler Writers Festival
The Writers' Union of Canada
