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Literary Prizes

Gold by Julia Williams

The Calgary-based writer is on the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist

The Calgary-based writer is on the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist

CBC Books ·
A headshot of a woman with short gray hair.
Julia Williams is a writer living in Calgary. (Submitted by Julia Williams)

Julia Williams has made the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Gold. 

The winner of the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. The four remaining finalists will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and have their work published on CBC Books.

The shortlist will be announced on April 10 and the winner will be announced on April 17. 

If you're interested in other CBC Literary Prizes, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1.

The 2026 CBC Short Story Prize will open in September and the 2026 CBC Nonfiction Prize will open in January. 

About Julia Williams

Julia Williams is a Calgary writer whose work has appeared in The Fiddlehead, The Capilano Review and The Literary Review of Canada. Her first book of poetry, The Sink House, was published by Coach House Books a long time ago. You may also have seen her work on billboards, websites and annoying pop-ups and YouTube ads (she's a copywriter). She lives in Calgary with people she loves. 

Entry in five-ish words

"Wedding, goldfish, multi-cell thunderstorm." 

The short story's source of inspiration

"There was a storm just like this at my brother's southern Ontario wedding (all similarities end there). I've tried a few times to write about a wedding and a storm, but nothing worked until the fish showed up. They made it darker and funnier. I think it's very human to romanticize and aestheticize nature, and then be reminded that nature doesn't care about us at all." 

First lines

By the time the bride's parents showed up with fish for the centrepieces, the sky was the colour of a bruise. The photographer said this was actually great. Every couple wants sun, but sun causes squinting and nose shadows. Anyway, rain was romantic. 

This reassured the bride, who was a lot more worried than the groom. She hadn't even got her gown on and it was almost two o'clock. The groom said all he wanted to do that day was get married and the details of it didn't bother him. He'd been saying that for months, to everyone they knew, and people thought it was romantic. 

Check out the rest of the longlist

The longlist was selected from more than 2,300 entries. A team of 12 writers and editors from across Canada compiled the list. 

The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections. This year's jury is composed of Conor Kerr, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Michael Christie. 

The complete list is: