THE 9TH ANNUAL INDIGENOUS VOICES AWARDS is now open!
The Indigenous Voices Awards launches ninth-annual contest for emerging writers
“The IVAs are a really important example of community rooted advocacy for the best literature in the country—and in the world, frankly. The IVAs open real doors and provide real support, encouragement, and resources for writers who are changing the landscape of literature in this country and beyond.”
—Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee), professor, author and IVAs champion
December 8, 2025: The ninth annual Indigenous Voices Awards (IVAs) opened submissions today for its English language prizes for a total of $14,000. The categories this year include Published Prose in English ($5,000), Published Poetry in English ($5,000), and $2,000 each for the categories of Unpublished Prose and Unpublished Poetry, to be split among all the short-listed applicants. Emerging Indigenous authors have until February 13 to apply. Founded in 2017, the IVAs have to date awarded $247,000 (CAD) to Indigenous authors, working in a variety of genres and languages. Over 145 writers have been nominated for IVAs since its inception, introducing audiences around the world to compelling new literary voices, including Brandi Bird, Maya Cousineau Mollen, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Tanya Tagaq, Émilie Monnet, and jaye simpson.
In 2025 the Indigenous Voices Awards English prizes will be administered by three co-chairs: SFU professors and literary scholars Deanna Reder (Cree-Métis) and Sophie McCall (settler), and poet and UBC professor Billy-Ray Belcourt (Cree). This year’s jurors for the English prizes are Richard Van Camp, Kayla Lar-Son, Marilyn Dumont, Emily Riddle, Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek, Tenille K Campbell, Joanne Arnott, and Smokii Sumac.
Shortlisted finalists for the English prizes will be announced in May and recipients announced on June 21, Indigenous Peoples Day. All eligible IVAs applicants will be invited to participate in mentorship initiatives, designed to cultivate relationships among emerging and established Indigenous writers and to provide both career and creative support.
Applications for the English categories are open now via IndigenousVoicesAwards.org.
The French Prizes (PVAs) will open in late January, with two prizes of $5,000 each for published work. Conditions and details will be available via the Kwahiatonhk! website and Facebook page. To best support and represent the French-speaking Indigenous literary community, administration of the IVAs French-language prizes are a collaborative effort between the IVAs and Kwahiatonhk!, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development, promotion and diffusion of Indigenous literature, with the support of Université Laval’s Chaire de leadership en enseignement sur les littératures autochtones au Québec (Maurice-Lemire). The PVA committee is formed by Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui (Kwahiatonk!), Marie-Eve Bradette (U. Laval) and Alec Mahoney (PVA coordinator). French prizes will be awarded in June.
Previous IVAs finalists in unpublished categories who went on to publish their work include Brandi Bird, Kelsey Borgford, Francine Cunningham, Marie-Andrée Gill, Elaine McArthur, Smokii Sumac, Francine Merasty, Amanda Peters, and Cody Caetano. Over 50 works from IVAs writers can also be found in Carving Space: The Indigenous Voices Awards Anthology published by McClelland & Stewart (2023), co-edited by Jordan Abel, Carleigh Baker, and Madeleine Reddon.
Support for the Indigenous Voices Awards is welcome through the Ontario Arts Foundation: https://oafdn.ca/make-a-donation/.
The Indigenous Voices Awards is grateful to acknowledge support from Canada Council for the Arts. The IVAs has also received generous support from Scholastic Canada, the Writers’ Trust of Canada, the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA), Penguin Random House Canada and the Pamela Dillon & Family Gift Fund . In addition, the IVAs co-chairs gratefully acknowledge support from Douglas & McIntyre for its donation of a portion of its sales of Richard Wagamese’s What Comes From Spirit and royalties from the republished version of Days of Augusta, by Mary Augusta Tappage Evans. The IVAs co-chairs also thank the countless supporters who have donated to the IVAs crowd-sourced fund over the years.
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The IVAs logo is designed by Lou-ann Neel (Kwakwaka’wakw).
For images, interviews or more information please contact:
Katie Saunoris | KSPR
katiesaunoris@gmail.com
Prizes
This year, two $5,000 prizes will be awarded: one for Published Prose in English and one for Published Poetry in English. Two $2,000 prizes will be given for Unpublished Prose and Poetry, with the prize money divided equally among all finalists in these categories.
Jurors
The IVAs have always had wonderful support from a variety of talented jurors from the writing and academic community. This year’s jurors are Richard Van Camp, Kayla Lar-Son, Marilyn Dumont, Emily Riddle, Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek, Tenille K. Campbell, Joanne Arnott, and Smokii Sumac.
Dates
Applications (English) are now open and will close on Friday, February 13, 2026
Shortlisted finalists for the English prizes will be announced in May, and recipients will be announced on June 21, Indigenous Peoples Day. All eligible IVAs applicants will be invited to participate in mentorship initiatives designed to cultivate relationships among emerging and established Indigenous writers and provide career and creative support.
The IVAs and Kwahiatonhk! to collaborate on French-language prizes
dates to be announced
New since 2025, to better support and represent the French-speaking Indigenous literary community, administration of the IVAs French-language prizes is a collaborative effort between the IVAs and Kwahiatonhk!, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development, promotion and diffusion of Indigenous literature.
Administered by Kwahiatonhk! with the support of Université Laval’s Chaire de leadership en enseignement sur les littératures autochtones au Québec (Maurice-Lemire), and a committee composed of Louis-Karl Picard Sioui (Kwahiatonhk!), Marie-Eve Bradette (Chaire de leadership en enseignement sur les littératures autochtones au Québec), and Alec Mahoney (coordinator), the French prizes are awarded in June. Visit the Kwahiatonhk! website and Facebook page for dates and more information.
This year, there are two French-language prize categories totaling $10,000 in prizes for emerging Indigenous writers. The categories are to be announced.
Submissions dates for LES PRIX VOIX AUTOCHTONES will be announced shortly.
Our Impact
Founded in 2017 with a crowd-funded purse of just over $115,000, as of June 2025 the IVAs have awarded $247,000 to emerging Indigenous writers working in various genres and languages.
The Indigenous Voices Awards (IVAs) celebrate emerging Indigenous writers and foster wider readership and publication. Since its inception, the IVAs have showcased over 145 Indigenous writers, introducing their compelling voices to global audiences.
Les Indigenous Voices Awards (IVAs) célèbrent les écrivains indigènes émergents et favorisent l'élargissement du lectorat et de la publication. Depuis leur création, les IVA ont mis en lumière plus de 145 écrivains indigènes, présentant leurs voix captivantes au public mondial.
The IVAs logo is designed by Lou-ann Neel (Kwakwaka’wakw).