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Romance Writing Contest 2023

Congratulations to WritersNL’s 2023 Romance Writing Contest Winners

Happy Valentine’s Day, folks!
WritersNL is excited to celebrate this holiday with you by announcing our 2023 Romance Writing Contest winners, and sharing their works via E-Zine and “audiobook” via WritersNL’s YouTube.

This year’s contest was juried by Cole Hayley, 2022 Romance Writing Contest first place winner Alison House, and Lori Savory.

WritersNL’s 2023 Romance Writing Contest Winners are:

Runner Up ($50): “Screeched in Love” – Lucy Lehr
Runner Up ($50): “Getting Hitched” by Tracy Kreuzburg 
Third Place ($150): “Did I Ever Tell You” by B.A. LeFrançois 
Second Place ($200): “Lost Lands” by Karin Murray-Bergquist 
First Place ($250): “Party Fries” by Willem Peters 

LISTEN to WritersNL’s 2023 Romance Contest Winners reading their works via WritersNL’s YouTube channel.

For bonus listening, click here to check us out on the CBC St. John’s Morning Show on Valentine’s Day morning!

READ WritersNL’s 2023 E-Zine online by scrolling down below to view an image of each page, or by checking us out on Facebook and Instagram!

Thanks for reading our 2023 Valentine’s Day E-Zine.
Stay tuned for more future contests from WritersNL, and follow us on our social media platforms to stay up to date with our programs, services, events, workshops, and more!


Our highly anticipated annual romance writing contest is back and open to all WritersNL Members in good standing! The assignment is simple – Use your writing talents and skills to tell us a love story in your preferred genre of storytelling, then record a reading of your original creation – audio only.

Writers of the top five selected submissions will take home the coveted first, second, third place + runners-up titles (and the accompanying financial prizes), and we’ll show your work off to all WritersNL Members via a special edition Valentine’s Day E-Zine, as well as via a series of audiobook readings on YouTube.

We are ecstatic to announce that this year, WritersNL is offering financial prizes that are bigger and better than ever!

The 2023 Romance Writing Contest prizes are:
? 1st place: $250
? 2nd place: $200
? 3rd place: $150
? Runner Up x2: $50 each

This writing contest will be juried by a panel of professional authors – full details TBA!
Jurors (x3) will be paid $100 each.
Jurors are ineligible to submit to the 2023 writing contest.


How to enter the 2023 Valentine’s Day Writing Contest:

1) Write an original romantic scene up to 500 words.
Genre is open to fiction, non-fiction, poetry, playwrighting, film/TV script, sci-fi, children’s/young adult, mystery, comedy, thriller.
*One entry per person*

2) Record an audio file of yourself reading your original works. This audio clip will be premiered on WritersNL’s YouTube page as an audiobook presentation, giving greater accessibility to your piece.

3) Ensure there are no identifying markers such as your name, contact info, etc. in your written submission and audio clip, as a jury will be selecting our top submissions.

4) Submit your work to WritersNL via email: with the written portion in a .doc file format and the audio clip in an .mp4 format.

Note: 2022 Romance Writing Contest winners and 2023 Jurors are ineligible for the 2023 contest.

Send your submission to info@writersnl.ca using the subject line
“WritersNL Valentine’s Day Submission 2023.”

Deadline for submissions is February 3, 2023 at 5 p.m. NST.

The E-Zine is set to be released on February 14, 2023, just in time for the holiday of love!