Five Tips to Winning Writing Contests
Writing contests are a great way to get started in the writing world. As you review your pieces and feel a bit nervous about sending it to agents, a creative writing contest is a perfect way to get feedback on your writing, and possibly even make money along the way. As you prepare to enter writing contests, we've got a selection of five great tips to help you beat out the competition and get the recognition you deserve.
Literary magazines are free writing contests
When people look for creative writing contests, they view the prizes for winning as a metric for the contest. If a writing contest offers a thousand dollar prize, it immediately becomes attractive. However, these prizes carry several caveats. First, these prizes often attract larger applicant pools, making it harder to win and stand out. Second, these contests often have a price of entry, making it less appealing, and more costly to enter. If you look at literary magazines as contests, they are often some of the best free writing contests. While you often won't win money for your submission, it does get you presence in the writing community, and earn you some needed recognition. So don't shy away from these opportunities, and instead, view them as free writing contests.
Keep an eye on upcoming writing contests
The good news about writing contests is that there are always more. Every month brings new contests, and every year brings repeats of the same ones. Literary magazines come out every few months, meaning you can always send them new pieces. The important thing, is finding lists of writing contests that are regularly updated, and to always stay one step ahead. Don't look for contests that have deadlines in the next few days, as you don't want to rush your submission out. Check for writing contest deadlines that are a month away, so you have time to tailor your pieces to the contests requirements. Check out our other articles for details on where to find other contests.
Pay attention to writing contest requirements
Every writing contest has its own set of contest requirements. Whether it be word count, themes, or things featured in your stories, every contest has something that makes it unique. When you submit your writing, you don't want to give the judges any reason to rule out your submission. They will be paging through countless submissions, so anyone that failed to meet the requirements will be quickly trashed. In other sections of the site, we provide tips on how to save time and make sure you can adapt your pieces to fit every contest's requirements.
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again
When you submit to writing contests, it's hard to gauge how many other people are submitting to these contests. In truth, there are often thousands, including professors, published authors, and many writing enthusiasts. The best way to win a contest is by trying to win every writing contest. The more you submit your work, the better chance someone will read it, and you will find an acceptance letter in the mail.
Go for mail only contests too
More and more, creative writing contests are going online, with the opportunity for email submissions. While these contests are welcomed, as they make it easier for you to submit your writing, don't opt out for contests that require you to mail in your submissions. While these contests will cost you postage, and require leg work for you to send them out, everyone else has to do this work too. The more work involved in sending in your submission, the less likely other people are sending in their submissions. As such, don't be afraid of mail-in only contests as the applicant pool thins and your work has a better chance of being recognized.
These tips are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to handling creative writing contests. Take them as a starting point, and look into the areas that interest you to help improve your chances of winning contests. And of course, get writing!
Latest Articles About Creative Writing Contests
- Where to Find Writing Contests - 2011-02-16 08:36:12
As you try and find writing contests to send your writing, it can be a daunting task to find ones that work well for you. We've built up a list of the best resources available to find online writing contests, free writing contests, and literary magazines. Check out the information, find what works best for you, and get to sending out your writing!
- Pros and Cons of Writing Contests - 2011-02-22 08:57:14
While writing contests seem to be a surefire way to get your writing out there, they aren't without their flaws. Here we breakdown everything you need to know about whether writing contests are right for you.
- Adapt Old Pieces for Contests - 2011-03-17 09:09:11
Just because a writing contest has a silly requirement doesn't mean you can't use old pieces. You just need to adapt them.