Presented by Ryerson Press,[1] the award was given to an unpublished manuscript by a new or emerging writer, which was then published by Ryerson Press,[2] and the prize consisted of $1,000 of which $500 was an advance on royalties.
[1] Although it was considered one of the major Canadian literary awards in its era, few of the winning novels remain well-remembered today.
[2] Only five titles which won the award ever went on to a subsequent paperback reprint,[2] with Edward McCourt's Music at the Close the only title that was selected for McClelland & Stewart's New Canadian Library reprint series in the 1970s.
[2] Two works, G. Herbert Sallans' Little Man and Philip Child's Mr. Ames Against Time, won both the Ryerson Fiction Prize and the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction in the same year; one other writer, Laura Salverson, won both awards for different works.
Three writers — Child, Will R. Bird and Gladys Taylor — won the award twice, although both of Bird's wins and one of Child's were in ties with other writers.