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7 Tips That Can Help You Win A Creative Writing Contest

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Writing contests can be intimidating. Some writers think, “I’ll never win,” and ignore contests completely. But— surprise! —some writing contests are easier to win than others, but only if you know how to put the odds in your favor. Writer’s Relief manages our clients’ submissions to writing contests, and guess what? They regularly place or even win.

Here Are Some Strategies Our Clients Use To Win Creative Writing Contests In All Genres!

Exploit your niche. There’s a specialized creative writing contest out there for just about every writer and every subject. And the more specialized, the better! When you enter a contest that has a limited number of entrants due to restrictions, you increase your odds of scoring a win. The key is knowing which contests are open to your particular type of writing (and that’s where Writer’s Relief’s submission management comes in handy!). Hint: You can find a fantastic list of creative writing contests here.

Choose an emotional topic. Judges get bleary-eyed reading page after page of the “same old, same old” work that’s typically submitted to writing contests. So make your readers’ hearts race. Make them laugh or weep with misery. Keep in mind: Sometimes, the most deeply emotional moments of our lives are subtle and quiet…but sometimes they’re as noisy as an 18-wheeler full of sea lions crashing into a gong shop! Whatever tactic you choose, go for the judge’s emotional jugular.

Proofread. You’d think this tip goes without saying, yet here we are saying it—again! At Writer’s Relief, we’re very selective about our client list. All applicants must submit a writing sample prior to admission, which means we read a LOT of submissions. Believe us when we say, a little proofreading will go a LONG way toward impressing the right people. You’d be surprised how many writers overlook this step.

Follow the submission guidelines. Again, this tip should be a no-brainer. But because writing contests tend to have submission guidelines that are a bit persnickety, some writers deliberately overlook the “little things” when it comes to following the rules. Keep in mind: Submissions that DON’T follow the guidelines are usually disqualified right from the start. If your writing contest submission meets the guidelines, pat yourself on the back for a job well done. The odds are in your favor!

Enter a wide range of writing contests. While it would be great to win a “big name” writing contest , smart writers know not to ignore contests that are less well-known. Winning a small contest could mean big things for your writing career—exposure, connections, and of course, prize money! Submitting to a range of contests maximizes the likelihood that you’ll win one of them.

Enter writing that is appropriate for the contest. While there are many no-fee writing contests out there, most contests require writers to pay an entry fee. So it doesn’t make sense to enter a contest that isn’t a very good fit for your particular submission. But— but! —there’s a caveat to avoiding contests that don’t seem like a “perfect” fit. If you’re on the fence, submit anyway (after all, you can’t intimately know the judges’ tastes!). Just be realistic: Don’t submit a poem about dogs to a writing contest about cats.

Surprise your readers. Take risks. Go out on a limb. Do something unexpected and refreshing . When it comes to creative writing submissions, editors have “seen it all.” Show them something new and you’ll be ahead of the pack.

Remember: Submissions Are a Numbers Game

If you don’t win the first few writing contests that you submit to, don’t lose hope. Judges base their decisions on subjective responses—so keep sending submissions! The only way to win a creative writing contest is to enter. And if you follow our tips, you’ll be ahead of the game.

I’ve read somewhere that it’s important to get as close to the max word count without going over. I’ve won several awards and I always do that. Thanks for your help.

I’ve run small writing contest in the past and the one thing I can tell you is a lot of skilled writers play it too safe. If you want your writing to stand out over 100 other entries you need to take risk. Even if you don’t win, your entry will stand out. Trust me!

What risk do you really mean?

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How to win a creative writing competition - top tips

Joe Craig, author of the Jimmy Coates spy series and judge of the National Short Story Week young writer competition, has some tips for budding young writers on avoiding common creative writing pitfalls and how to stand out from the crowd

Read The Promise, the winner of the National Short Story Week young writer competition 2015

Standing out is hard. Sometimes you just want to blend in and stick with whatever everybody else is doing. Creative writing competitions are not those times.

I’ve judged a lot of competitions for young writers, which means I’ve read through thousands of stories, each one trying to stand out. But so many of them fall into the same traps. So often I spot a promising story and wish I could give the writer just a couple of simple pointers that would take their writing above the competition.

Here are the tips I find myself screaming into my hands as I read those entries. Each one is an understandable mistake, and most of them don’t come up in English lessons at school.

Standing out will still be hard, because it takes a little extra time and extra thought to create something original. But if you follow these tips, you’ll give yourself the best chance of finding a spark of something special. Good luck.

(Oh, and the most important one is number 6…)

1. Don’t start with the weather

It’s an easy way to start, isn’t it? A lovely warm-up for the mind and typing fingers to ease yourself into the story, like spewing out “once upon a time” yet again.

It was a bright, sunny day… It was a dark and stormy night… It was rather chilly with a brisk easterly and a 50% chance of precipitation…

Nobody cares. I don’t even pay attention to weather reports in my real life, let alone take an interest in what’s happening in the sky above fictional characters I haven’t met yet. Start with one of two things, and preferably both: People and conflict. Those two things are the essence of any story. People and conflict. That’s all the reader (your judge) cares about. People and conflict will drive your story forward, will be the essence of everything you write. So start with people and conflict.

(The only possible reason to start with the weather is if your story is ABOUT the weather – perhaps it’s a disaster story about a big storm, or a survival story where extreme conditions threaten an expedition. But even if you think your story is about the weather, it’s really about the people, isn’t it? People in conflict with their environment. So don’t start with the weather.)

2. Cut your first paragraph

It’s amazing how many stories are instantly improved by simply covering up the first paragraph. Try it. Your first paragraph is probably about the weather, anyway.

Or your brain found some other way of warming up. Or you were so excited you just had to tell me some crucial information in the first few lines. Well, that information is not as crucial as you thought it was. It can wait. The right moment will come up later in your story for you to SHOW me that information about your world. Or, even better, I’ll have worked it out for myself from the way you’ve written everything else.

Readers are two things: bright but impatient. It’s OK to plunge us straight into your story without explaining – straight into the conflict (see point one). So once you think you’ve finished your story, go back and see what happens if you cover up your first paragraph. Or cover up your first two paragraphs. Or three. Or scan your first page looking for the most arresting opening line. It’s there somewhere. You might not have realised it was the perfect opening line when you wrote it, but you can find it now and cut everything that comes before it.

3. Don’t write a “spooky story”

Spooky stories are wonderful. But for a writing competition they give you a lot of problems. First, everybody thinks they can write them. But you should want to stand out. Second, it’s very hard to come up with anything spooky that hasn’t already been done a million times. So how can you make your story unpredictable?

But the biggest problem is going to be your ending. Spooky things are usually spooky because they can’t be explained – the supernatural curse, the face at the window, the ghosts and ghouls from beyond our world… So once you reveal what’s behind the spooky stuff it feels like an anticlimax. And if you don’t reveal what’s behind your spooky stuff, what do you end with? You end with dot, dot, dot of course.

Almost two in three stories by young writers that I read for competitions are spooky stories that ‘end’ with a thrilling moment of danger and then… that’s it. No resolution, no explanation, no fun of seeing how the character fights back (or fails to) just the dreaded dot, dot, dot… I can usually guess from the first line whether a story is going to “end” with a dot, dot, dot.

Dot, dot dot is not an ending. It’s a beginning. If you really love the spooky situation you’ve come up with, start your story where you’ve written your dot, dot, dot. Develop it from there, then give me a wonderful, satisfying ending that I wasn’t expecting but which makes sense of everything that’s come before.

Setting up a spooky mystery is easy. I, your judge, will give you no credit for it. Setting up a spooky mystery unlike anything I’ve read before is a bit harder. I’ll still give you very little credit for it. I’m mean. Unravelling a mystery in a satisfying, surprising way… that’s hard. You’re going to need a brilliant twist. Try it if you dare…

4. Avoid celebrities or characters that already exist

Recently I was running a writing workshop for a group of students who had all written stories in preparation for the day with me. The first thing I did was to ask them to put up a hand if they’d written a story about a footballer. About a quarter of the room put their hands up. Then I asked them to keep their hands up if their stories were about either Ronaldo or Messi. All the hands stayed up.

This is pretty typical. And it’s understandable too: it’s easy to plug in a celebrity or existing character to your story. Of course it is. You don’t have to do any of the work of creating a character from scratch. You know a bit about the person so you can imagine them in a story. The same applies to characters from fairy tales or from popular stories that already exist.

I was recently judging a creative writing competition for a big network of hundreds of international schools. Thousands of students from all over the world write stories for this competition every year, and every year the organisation compiles a list of the characters or character names that crop up over and over. Most popular this year: Cinderella. Closely followed by, guess who, Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. There were superheroes on the list too, including Superman, Batman, The Hulk and One Direction (yes, of course they count as superheroes). James Bond was there, alongside, for some reason, the Tooth Fairy.

So think twice before grabbing an existing character or personality for your story. Fan fiction is great, and a wonderful way to start out as a writer. It can help you hone your skills and be a launchpad for your own imaginative journeys. But it’s not going to win a creative writing competition.

If you want to write about Harry Potter, or a footballer or superhero or celebrity, it doesn’t take that much extra time and imagination to use someone you’ve heard of as a starting point but then tweak it. Make it your own. Change the name. Change the situation. What are you really trying to say about that character? Try exaggerating an aspect of the personality to make your point bolder. Or, for a quick fix, mash two things together: a footballer superhero. A boy band that goes round after dark collecting people’s teeth. Suddenly, you’re in fresh territory and you won’t see your characters crop up on a list of what everybody else is writing.

5. Calm down. Keep it simple. Your words are giving me a headache.

When writing competitions are split into age categories, I see a really odd trend in the stories. Writers in the older age groups try to show me how well they can use fancy words. The younger writers are better at telling a story. Which do you think is more important? If you’re in the older age-group category, you might find that a tricky question. It isn’t. The story is ALWAYS more important.

Writing a good story is not the same thing as writing to get ticks from an English teacher. All those fancy words, the complicated constructions, the flowery images… cut them. Pretend you’re still a young kid who just wants to hear a story. Focus on that.

Want an easy way to work out whether you’re overwriting? Count your adjectives. Try to limit yourself to a couple per page. More than one per sentence is definitely not a good idea. Count your adverbs too. Then cut all of them.

There’s always a better way of SHOWING me your story than just TELLING me what to imagine by using an adjective or adverb. And the more syllables there are in your adjectives, the more they’re getting in the way of your story.

So calm down with your thesaurus. Nobody’s trying to break the English language into a new dimension. We just want to hear a story.

6. Write an ending

Remember why I warned you not to write a spooky story? Remember the dreaded dot, dot, dot…? Well, it turns out endings are difficult no matter what kind of story you’re writing. But remember this: if your story doesn’t have an ending, you haven’t written a story. At best, you’ve written a set-up. If you’re entering a story-writing competition, you’re going to need to write a story, and that means you need an ending.

Have you any idea how frustrating it is to read entry after entry, all of them setting up story situations, some of them excellent, but hardly any of them leading anywhere or giving me the satisfaction of a pay-off? Please, I’m begging you: give me that sense of completion that every story should promise – and deliver. Write an ending.

If you’re finding it tough to work out an ending to your story: that’s the way it should feel. Endings are hard. But they’re worth it.

Here are a couple of hints to help you. The great film director Alexander Mackendrick said, “If you’ve got a beginning, but you don’t yet have an end, then you’re wrong. You don’t have the right beginning.” He also said, “There are no wrong endings, only wrong beginnings.”

I suggest you come up with your ending first. Plan that out, then plan how you’re going to get there.

How about writing just an ending? Remember up in point two, when I said you could cut your first few paragraphs? What if you cut the whole of the start of the story and just threw me, your reader, straight into a brilliant ending?

The writer Kurt Vonegut suggested something like that. One of his 8 tips on how to write a good short story is simply: “Start as close to the end as possible”

7. Get out of school

A quick one. A simple one. Most people hear about writing competitions in school. So they look around and they start writing a story set in a school. Break the mould. Think beyond the walls of the space you’re in.

8. Write from an adult’s point of view

Remember I suggested you think beyond the walls around you and write something that isn’t set in a school? How about getting beyond the body you’re in too? Try writing something with an adult as the main character, or from an adult’s point of view. Why not? It might seem difficult at first, but if I can write books starring a genetically-engineered assassin who’s only 12, you can make the leap into an adult’s existence.

Try it. Trust me: nobody else in the competition is doing it.

9. Challenge every word

The best stories are the most re-written stories. It’s that simple. And the more you re-write, the more you’ll stand out from every other entry in a creative writing competition. Find the best bits of your story and hone them to make them better. Change what’s around them to show them off. Find the weaker parts – cut them. Cut and rewrite furiously. Are there sections where you’re rushing? Slapping down too much information at once? Are you explaining when you could be showing?

I could write a whole new piece on how to rewrite. I love rewriting. I don’t write a message in a birthday card without a rough draft I can tear apart and reconstruct into something better.

But it all boils down to this:

Make every line count – for the story, not for its own beauty.

Challenge every word.

Every. Single. Word.

Find out how to enter this year’s National Short Story Week competition here!

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10 Incredible Writing Contest Tips Revealed

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Embarking on the journey of writing contests can be both exhilarating and intimidating. For many writers, these contests offer a platform to showcase their skills, gain recognition, and even kick-start their writing careers. Understanding the nuances of writing contests, from choosing the right ones to submit to, to crafting a winning entry, is crucial. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the in’s and out’s of writing contests, offering tips and insights to help you navigate this competitive but rewarding landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned writer or just starting, grasping the essence of writing contests can open doors to new opportunities and writing achievements.

Writing contests serve as a battleground for creativity and skill, pitting writers against each other in a quest for literary accolades. Participating in writing contests is more than just an exercise in writing; it’s a commitment to putting your work under scrutiny, to be judged and compared. For writers seeking to test their mettle, improve their craft, and potentially earn recognition, writing contests present an invaluable opportunity. These competitions can range from small, local contests to large, international ones, each offering a different set of rewards and challenges.

The allure of writing contests lies not only in the potential for prizes and acclaim but also in the opportunity for personal growth. As writers participate in these contests, they are exposed to diverse styles and narratives, broadening their own literary horizons. Writing contests challenge authors to push their boundaries, explore new themes, and refine their storytelling techniques. This exposure is a significant benefit of participating in writing contests, as it fosters a deeper understanding and appreciation of the art of writing.

However, navigating the world of writing contests can be daunting, especially for new writers. From finding the right contests to understanding their specific requirements, the process can be overwhelming. This guide aims to demystify writing contests, providing you with the knowledge and tools to confidently participate and succeed. We’ll cover how to find and select contests that align with your writing style, tips for submitting a winning entry, and how to handle feedback and rejection constructively.

Embarking on the path of writing contests is a journey of discovery and growth. It’s an opportunity to showcase your talent, connect with a community of writers, and gain valuable feedback on your work. Writing contests are more than competitions; they’re platforms for learning, sharing, and celebrating the art of writing. As we delve into the world of writing contests, remember that each contest is a step towards honing your craft and achieving your writing aspirations.

Choosing the Right Contest: Aligning with Your Goals

Selecting the appropriate writing contests is the first crucial step in your contest journey. Not all contests are created equal, and finding ones that align with your writing style, genre, and career goals is vital. Research is key; look for contests that cater to your niche, whether it’s fiction, poetry, or non-fiction. Pay attention to the contest’s reputation and history—well-established contests often offer greater exposure and credibility. Remember, the goal is not just to participate, but to find writing contests that can genuinely enhance your writing portfolio and career.

When embarking on the search for suitable writing contests, consider the audience and judges. Some contests are judged by renowned authors or industry professionals whose feedback could be invaluable. Participating in these writing contests can provide insights into your writing that can’t be found elsewhere. Additionally, winning or even placing in a contest judged by respected figures can be a significant boost to your writer’s resume.

Another factor to consider in writing contests is the prize. While monetary rewards are appealing, don’t overlook contests that offer publication, workshops, or networking opportunities as prizes. These can provide long-term benefits for your writing career. Writing contests that offer publication, for instance, can help you reach a wider audience and establish your name in the literary community.

Also, consider the entry fees associated with writing contests. While many reputable contests require a fee to cover administrative costs, weigh the cost against the potential benefits. Free writing contests are a great starting point for beginners, but paid contests might offer more substantial prizes and prestige. Always ensure that the cost of entry is reasonable and within your budget.

Lastly, don’t forget to check the eligibility criteria and previous winners of the writing contests you are considering. This can give you an idea of the contest’s competitiveness and whether your style and level of experience fit well. Carefully selecting the right writing contests can make all the difference in achieving success and satisfaction in your writing journey.

Understanding Writing Contest Rules: A Key to Success

Adhering to the rules of writing contests cannot be overstated. Each contest has its specific set of guidelines regarding format, word count, and submission process. Ignoring these rules can lead to disqualification, no matter how impressive your entry is. It’s not just about crafting a compelling piece; it’s about presenting it according to the contest’s framework. Pay close attention to the details—word limits, formatting preferences, and submission deadlines are all critical in writing contests.

Understanding the theme or topic is another crucial aspect of writing contests. Most contests have specific themes that entries must adhere to. Misinterpreting or ignoring the theme can result in a wasted effort, no matter how well-written your piece is. Take the time to understand the theme thoroughly and craft your submission to align closely with it.

The originality of your submission is also a key factor in writing contests. Plagiarism or rehashing old ideas can not only disqualify your entry but also harm your reputation as a writer. Strive to bring a fresh perspective or a unique voice to the given topic. Originality is often what sets winning entries apart in writing contests.

Respecting the submission process is equally important. This includes how you submit your work, whether it’s through an online portal, email, or physical mail. Follow the instructions to the letter. Incorrectly submitted entries might not even be considered, no matter their quality. Familiarize yourself with the technical aspects of submission for writing contests to ensure your work is received and reviewed.

Finally, consider the rights you retain or transfer when submitting to writing contests. Some contests might require exclusive rights to your work for a period, while others may only require non-exclusive rights. Understanding these details can help you manage your work’s publication rights effectively and avoid any future legal complications.

Crafting a Winning Entry: Tips and Techniques

The core of succeeding in writing contests lies in submitting a piece that stands out. Originality is paramount; your entry should bring something unique to the table. Focus on a strong opening to grab the judges’ attention, and maintain a consistent narrative that showcases your voice and style. Remember, writing contests are not just about good storytelling; they’re about showcasing your ability to engage and surprise the reader. Seek feedback before submission, as a fresh pair of eyes can offer valuable insights to improve your work.

Understanding your audience is crucial in writing contests. Who will be reading your submission? Tailor your writing style and content to resonate with the judges and the contest’s typical audience. If the contest is geared towards a specific demographic or interest group, make sure your entry appeals to those sensibilities.

Impeccable craftsmanship is essential in writing contests. This means meticulous attention to grammar, syntax, and style. Even the most creative story can lose its impact if riddled with errors. Use tools and resources to polish your submission. A well-edited and error-free manuscript not only reads better, but also shows the judges that you take the contest seriously.

The structure and pacing of your story or piece are also critical. Writing contests often have word count limits, so make every word count. Develop a narrative that is compelling yet concise. Ensure that your story has a clear beginning, middle, and end, and that the pacing keeps the reader engaged throughout.

Lastly, evoke emotion in your writing. Whether it’s joy, sadness, suspense, or humor, an entry that stirs the reader’s emotions is likely to stand out. Writing contests are an opportunity to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Use descriptive language, relatable characters, and engaging scenarios to make your submission memorable and impactful.

Dealing with Feedback and Rejection

Feedback and rejection are integral parts of participating in literary contests, and how you handle them can significantly impact your growth as a writer. Constructive criticism from judges or fellow participants can provide valuable insights into your writing. It’s important to approach feedback with an open mind and a willingness to learn. Even if some comments may seem harsh or discouraging, try to find the underlying advice that can help you improve.

Rejection is an inevitable aspect of competitive writing. It’s crucial to remember that not winning a contest doesn’t diminish your abilities as a writer. Each submission is subject to subjective judgments and varying tastes. What might not resonate with one set of judges could be highly appreciated by another. Use rejection as a motivator to refine your skills and try again.

One effective way to deal with rejection is to analyze your submission critically. Compare it with the winning entries, if possible, to understand what might have worked better. This exercise can reveal areas for improvement and new techniques or styles to experiment with in your writing.

Building resilience is key to enduring the ups and downs of writing competitions. Allow yourself to feel disappointed by rejection, but don’t dwell on it for too long. Instead, channel your energy into working on your next project or preparing for another contest. The persistence to keep going despite setbacks is what often separates successful writers from the rest.

Lastly, remember that every great writer has faced rejection at some point in their career. Many famous authors were initially turned down multiple times before achieving success. These stories can be a source of inspiration and a reminder that rejection is not the end of your writing journey but a step towards future achievements.

Leveraging Wins and Losses: Building Your Writing Portfolio

Whether you win or lose in a writing contest, your participation can be a valuable addition to your writing portfolio. A win, of course, can be a significant accolade, offering potential for publicity, networking, and even monetary gain. It can enhance your resume and open doors to publishing opportunities and further recognition in the writing community.

But even entries that don’t win can be valuable. Consider repurposing these works for other uses. They can be refined for submission to other contests or publications, shared on blogs or social media platforms, or expanded into larger projects like a novel or a collection of stories or essays. Every piece of writing has potential; it’s about finding the right audience and medium.

Participating in a variety of contests can also help diversify your portfolio. It shows potential agents, publishers, and readers that you’re adaptable and not afraid to explore different genres and styles. This diversity can make you more marketable and open up a broader range of opportunities in the future.

Networking opportunities are another significant benefit of participating in contests. Winners often gain access to exclusive events, workshops, or writing communities. These platforms can be excellent for building connections with other writers, publishers, and industry professionals. Even if you don’t win, attending public readings or award ceremonies associated with contests can be great networking opportunities.

Finally, use your experiences in contests to refine your craft. With each submission, you gain a better understanding of your strengths and areas for improvement. This ongoing process of learning and development is invaluable in shaping you into a more skilled and confident writer.

Ghostwriting: A Hidden Avenue for Growth and Opportunity

Ghostwriting in the context of writing contests can offer a unique set of challenges and rewards. As a ghostwriter, you have the opportunity to write in a variety of styles and genres, often pushing you out of your comfort zone. This can be an excellent way to expand your skills and versatility as a writer.

Engaging in ghostwriting allows you to view writing through a different lens. You’re writing from someone else’s perspective, often with a set of guidelines or expectations. This experience can enhance your ability to adapt your writing style and voice, which is a valuable skill in any writing endeavor.

One of the challenges of ghostwriting for contests is maintaining the original author’s voice and vision. This requires a deep understanding of their style and the ability to immerse yourself in their perspective. Successfully doing so can be incredibly rewarding, as it signifies your capability to truly capture and convey diverse narratives.

Ghostwriting also offers the potential for financial gain and professional development. While you may not receive direct recognition for your work in a contest, being a successful ghostwriter can lead to more opportunities and steady income streams. It’s a way to build your career behind the scenes, gaining experience and connections in the industry.

Finally, ghostwriting can be a fulfilling avenue for those who enjoy the process of writing and storytelling without the need for personal accolades. It allows you to focus solely on the craft and the satisfaction of bringing a story to life, which can be a rewarding experience in its own right.

Whether you win or lose, participating in writing contests is a valuable addition to your writing portfolio. A win can be a significant accolade, opening doors to publishing opportunities and enhancing your credibility. But even entries that don’t win can be repurposed—use them as material for your blog, a chapter in a book, or as a springboard for a new project. Every experience in writing contests contributes to your growth and visibility as a writer.

Winning a writing contest can serve as a powerful testament to your skills and creativity. It’s a badge of honor that can be highlighted in your writing portfolio, setting you apart from others in the field. Such achievements can catch the eye of publishers, literary agents, and potential clients, offering you new opportunities for growth and exposure.

However, it’s important not to overlook the value of participation without winning. Each contest entry, win or lose, demonstrates your commitment to refining your craft. These experiences, collected over time, showcase your dedication and perseverance, qualities that are highly admired in the literary world.

For those who have won, it’s crucial to capitalize on the momentum. Update your portfolio, resume, and social media profiles to reflect your achievements. Share your success story in writing communities and networks. This not only enhances your reputation but also inspires and encourages other aspiring writers.

Even if a contest does not result in a win, the feedback and experience gained can be invaluable. Constructive criticism can guide your future writing, helping you to avoid past mistakes and hone your skills. Each contest entry is a learning opportunity, a stepping stone towards becoming a more adept and compelling writer.

Participating in writing contests can be a thrilling and rewarding experience for any writer. Whether you’re a seasoned author or just starting, understanding how to navigate these contests can make a significant difference in your performance. Writing contests are not just about showcasing your talent; they’re about strategic planning, understanding the nuances of the competition, and presenting your work in the best possible light. To help you maximize your potential in these contests, here are 10 incredible tips that can give you an edge and enhance your chances of success.

Read Past Winning Entries : Studying previous winners can provide valuable insights into what the judges might be looking for in terms of style, tone, and content.
Follow Submission Guidelines Precisely : Pay close attention to the rules regarding formatting, word count, and submission methods. Disregarding these can lead to disqualification.
Choose the Right Contest : Select contests that match your writing style and genre. Entering the right contest increases your chances of success.
Start with a Strong Hook : Your opening should grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read more. A compelling start is crucial.
Edit and Proofread Thoroughly : Ensure your entry is polished and free from grammatical errors. Professionalism in your submission reflects well on you as a writer.
Be Original and Creative : Judges are looking for unique perspectives and fresh ideas. Stand out by being innovative in your storytelling.
Understand the Theme : If the contest has a specific theme, make sure your entry aligns well with it. Misalignment with the theme can lead to missed opportunities.
Seek Feedback Before Submitting : Getting constructive criticism from peers or mentors can provide new perspectives and improve your entry.
Manage Your Expectations : Approach each contest as a learning opportunity, regardless of the outcome. Winning is great, but gaining experience is equally valuable.
Keep Participating : Regular participation helps you understand contest dynamics better and improves your writing skills. Persistence is key.

Entering writing contests can be a significant stepping stone in your writing career. By implementing these 10 tips, you stand a better chance of not only performing well but also enjoying the process. Remember, each contest is an opportunity to learn, grow, and showcase your skills. Winning is a fantastic achievement, but the experience and knowledge you gain are invaluable. Keep writing, keep entering, and let each contest bring out the best in your creative abilities. With persistence and adherence to these tips, you’re well on your way to making a mark in the world of writing contests.

Conclusion: Writing Contests as a Catalyst for Growth

Writing contests offer more than just the chance to win prizes; they are catalysts for growth, exposure, and professional development. By carefully selecting contests, adhering to guidelines, crafting compelling entries, and embracing feedback and rejection, you can use these competitions as valuable tools in your writing journey. They push you to hone your craft, challenge your creativity, and can significantly impact your writing career. Embrace the challenge of writing contests, and let each submission be a step forward in your journey as a writer.

Participating in writing contests is a journey of discovery and growth. It’s an opportunity to showcase your talent, connect with a community of writers, and gain valuable feedback on your work. Writing contests are more than competitions; they’re platforms for learning, sharing, and celebrating the art of writing. As we delve into the world of writing contests, remember that each contest is a step towards honing your craft and achieving your writing aspirations.

The benefits of writing contests extend beyond the immediate gratification of winning. They foster a sense of community among writers, providing a platform to share experiences, learn from peers, and build lasting connections. This sense of belonging can be incredibly motivating, encouraging writers to continue pursuing their passion.

Moreover, writing contests can serve as a benchmark for your development as a writer. They offer a unique opportunity to gauge your skills against others, providing a clearer understanding of where you stand and what you need to work on. This self-awareness is crucial for any writer seeking to improve and succeed in the competitive world of writing.

Writing contests are a valuable tool for any writer looking to enhance their skills, gain recognition, and connect with a larger community. Whether you win or not, the experience gained is invaluable, contributing to your growth and development as a writer. Embrace the opportunities that writing contests offer, and let them guide you on your journey to becoming a better, more successful writer.

Takeaway: Participating in writing contests is an enriching experience that offers more than just the potential for accolades and prizes. It’s a pathway to growth, learning, and community building. Each contest provides a unique opportunity to showcase your talent, receive valuable feedback, and gauge your progress as a writer. Whether you win or not, the experience gained is invaluable in shaping your journey as a writer. Embrace the challenge of writing contests, and let them be a stepping stone to achieving your literary dreams.

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11 thoughts on “ 10 Incredible Writing Contest Tips Revealed ”

I have been browsing online more than three hours today yet I never found any interesting article like yours It is pretty worth enough for me In my view if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you did the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before

Oh yes, I love the use of feedback. Feedback has always directed me where my readers want me to take them and where I could improve or learn to. It always helps.

These are great tips, new to me some of them as well. I’m definitely saving these tips. Thank you for sharing!

I would not know where to begin when it comes to a writing contest. These all sound like great strategies to focus on for this kind of writing.

These are amazing tips! Actually this can be applied when you’re only writing stories or whatever, still, very helpful!

The only “writing contest” I’ve done is my college admission essays. I know it’s different, but a lot of these tips are great when it comes to that and any other writing.

writing content is one hard thing to do. this post has enlightened me a lot. thanks for sharing

I totally agree with you on the value of writing contests! They offer so much more than just prizes. Writing contests can help you grow, connect with other writers, and receive feedback that can improve your craft. Plus, they’re just plain fun! So, as a writer looking for new challenges and opportunities, I highly recommend trying writing contests. You never know where they might take you!

Learning from feedback is so important. No matter the endeavor, all of us fall into the trap of loving what we produce no matter what. It takes outside eyes to tell us if that gold we see is really just yellow paint!

I love that your first tip was choosing the right contest. If you love fantasy, you probably don’t want to enter a non-fiction essay contest!

Great information for participating in writing contests. I think highlighting accepting feedback and rejection in the post was very helpful. It can be difficult to accept this but important to grow as a writer.

5 Writing Contest Strategies to Improve Your Winning Chances

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Fear, anticipation, and self-doubt are just a few emotions I felt during my first writing contest.

5 Writing Contest Strategies to Improve Your Winning Chances

Maybe you’re in the same place now. Wondering if you have a chance among the many entrants. Uncertain if it’s worth the time and effort.

Short answer—it is.

And that holds true whether you win or lose. We’ll get into that more below.

But I also want to reveal five tips for improving your winning chances in a writing contest. See, I won the Short Fiction Break 2020 Summer Writing Contest with my story Dark Time . So the editorial staff at The Write Practice asked me to share strategies I think helped my entry.

My author career is in its infancy, so I’m speaking from limited experience. But I believe the resources and tips below will give you a better chance at snagging the next grand prize.

Want to take your chance at a grand prize and put these tips to the test? Check out our next writing contest!

Discover Writing Contests

Why Enter a Writing Contest?

Besides the obvious benefit of “If I win it’ll be awesome and I get prize money,” here are a few other perks I experienced.

These apply whether or not you place.

You'll become a better writer. A short story is the perfect format to practice writing. You experience the entire process in a short time. Rough draft, revision, critiques, polishing and publishing. With longer works, that journey might take months instead of days or weeks.

You'll pad your portfolio. Even if you don’t win, being published in a competition boosts your credibility. When you point readers, agents, or authors to your published work, they regard you as a more legitimate writer. It’s marketing for the brand of YOU.

You'll connect with other writers. A contest gives you an excuse to comment on the work of other writers. Since you’re all in the same competition, they’ll likely respond. That’s a new connection, and potential collaborator, for your writing career.

You'll experience BEING a writer. Entering a writing contest, producing a story, then submitting makes you feel like a writer. It’s challenging and rewarding. Short story contests are a simple way to live the writer’s life.

Five Strategies That Worked For Me

Here are some top strategies I believe helped me win the 2020 Summer Writing Contest.

1. Review Short Story Best Practices

I began by reviewing several articles on short story best practices. This is important, since it gets you planning how to tell a great story from the beginning.

Having best practices in mind as I brainstormed ideas and wrote the first draft heavily influenced the outcome.

Here are two incredible resources from The Write Practice. I referred to these articles often during my writing and revision process:

How to Write a Short Story From Start to Finish

10 Critical Mistakes Writers Make in Writing Contests

2. Use the MICE Quotient

I debated including this, because it teeters on the edge of being helpful or confusing. But I found it useful, so maybe you will too.

It’s too detailed to describe here, so I’ll just direct you to the source.

Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette—hosts on the podcast Writing Excuses — hosted a lecture on writing short stories . In it, they explain the MICE Quotient . This is a strategy to create satisfying stories by focusing on the type of conflict involved.

There’s also a formula (yes, writers—MATH), which helps estimate your final word count. Knowing that number in advance saves time and headache. Especially if the story you want to tell looks to be 5000 words, and the limit is 1500.

You can find the lecture on YouTube here .

3. Focus on Theme

The contest I entered offered few constraints. A limit of only 1500 words and a theme of isolation .

In a sea of great entries, I knew the judges would seek an exemplary take on the theme to make their final decisions.

I asked myself, how can I best get the reader to FEEL isolation? Short stories, in my opinion, are a mix between prose and poetry. Emotional impact is one of their defining features.

In my story, I attempted this by layering many levels of isolation. My character progressed from self-imposed solitude, to getting stranded alone, to potentially being the last human alive.

Ask yourself, how can you write a narrative that delivers on the theme with an emotional gut punch ?

4. Spend Most of Your Time Revising

I took two mornings to plan my story, then wrote it over two more.

I spent the next week revising.

During that revision process, the story changed a lot and shrank from over 2300 words to just under 1500.

While much of the final version lived in that first draft, the heart and soul were missing. For example, revision helped clarify my protagonist’s motivations and character arc.

Here are a few specific lessons I learned along the way.

Accept the process will be messy. I often had no idea what to include, what to delete, or what to change. I moved sections around only to move them back. Revision is chaotic, and that’s okay. Giving yourself a break from your draft helps. Just an hour away can clarify story blocks. Also, try re-working sections. You may not keep the changes, but at least you’ll have something to compare the original passages against.

Listen to your gut feelings. As a new writer, I often distrust my writing sensibilities. In Dark Time, my first draft had the protagonist, lonely and confused, talking for paragraphs to his flashlight. It was cute and lighthearted. But I wanted the tone dark and tense. So although it kinda worked, I scrapped it. If you have an instinct about your story, listen to it. You’re probably right.

Do multiple polish passes. I revised Dark Time to a point it seemed “done.” Then I kept going. To my surprise, a lot changed after this point. I switched words to be more descriptive. Others I adjusted to better reflect theme and symbolism. I obliterated instances of passive voice. I also eliminated most forms of verbs like “is,” “was,” “were,” etc. So keep polishing, even after the story works.

5. Supercharge Your Draft Using Critiques

Sometimes, it’s difficult to know if a part of your story doesn’t work. After all, you understand what you’re trying to get across.

Until someone NOT you reads it, how do you know if you succeeded?

In my case, turns out I didn’t always hit the mark. Sections of my story received multiple comments expressing confusion. Obviously, something wasn’t working. So if several people get stuck on a part in your story, you’ll want to re-work it.

Critiques also help you discover which passages affect readers, and which don’t. This allows you to tweak structure and supercharge your story’s impact.

For example, I found my ending didn’t touch readers emotionally. Critiques helped me uncover why.

In the last scene, the protagonist fears never seeing his family again. Yet I hadn’t mentioned them until that point. Referring to his relatives earlier in the story fixed the issue.

Critiques may seem scary, but they’re not. The outside perspective I received from workshopping helped me win the competition. No doubt.

Where Will Your Story Take Us?

As I grow in my writing career, I’ve discovered no two authors have the exact story to tell. Your unique perspective, your voice, is what will draw readers to you.

Short story contests are an excellent way to develop that voice and share it with others. That can lead to new opportunities and new readers.

So use the tips above and get started on your next contest entry. Whether or not you take the grand prize, you’ll likely enjoy the experience and walk away a better writer.

Ready to enter a writing contest yourself? We'd love for you to join our next contest! It's your turn to write a story, get feedback, get published , and maybe even take home the grand prize:

Enter the Next Contest

Have you ever won a prize for your writing? What strategies did you use to write a winning piece? Let us know in the comments .

For today's practice, we'll focus on Demi's third strategy: focus on theme. Here's the theme of the Fall Writing Contest:

Boundless. When your characters are limitless, what will they do?

First, take five minutes to brainstorm. What could boundless mean for a story, and how can you express it? Here are some questions to get you started:

What does “boundless” mean?
What could “boundless” mean for a person? A place? A situation? An animal? An object?
What are some good things about “boundless”?
What are some bad things about “boundless”?
What does “boundless” feel like?

Then, take ten minutes to start writing a story based on the theme. You might outline your story, or write a scene.

When you're done, share your story in the comments below . This is a great way to practice the fifth strategy, too, and improve your story with feedback. Be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers, too!

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This article is by a guest blogger. Would you like to write for The Write Practice? Check out our guest post guidelines .

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15 Tips to Help You Win Writing Contests

March 9, 2021

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Whether you’re looking to make a name for yourself or just want some extra pocket change, writing contests are an excellent way to achieve both of these goals. From small contests that are free to enter to big ones that require a fee, these competitions are a great opportunity for writers to showcase their skills and win a prize or two. Before you enter though, make sure you know how to win them. Otherwise, your efforts and the opportunities will just go to waste. Below are helpful advice on how you can emerge as a winner in a writing contest.

We host a number of free, fun writing contests on Commaful if you ever want a fun challenge!

1) Practice

It’s a great idea to practice before you join a bigger, more serious contest. Do exercises and focus various elements of writing that will help you become a better writer. These elements include style, grammar, spelling, punctuation, word usage, narrative voice, description, dialog, dialogue tags, and length.

You can join online communities for writers. Look for writing prompts and get feedback on your writing. Observe how other writers write as well.

2) Understand contest format

Writing contests vary widely on how they are formatted, especially with respect to the kind of prizes they offer. Even contests from the same organization will differ greatly in how they are structured and what they publish.

The format can influence which of your works you want to submit and which has the highest chance of winning.

3) Think about the purpose of the contest

Regardless of the conditions and rules of the competition, it’s essential that you know what you’re getting yourself into. This requires taking time to read the guidelines for the contest thoroughly and thinking about what it means for your writing career.

Whether it’s the substantial monetary prize, the additional features like a book launch or guest blog post, or the more underhanded advantages like a guaranteed publishing contract, the bottom line is that the rewards need to be in line with your career goals. If your goal is to kickstart a freelance writing business that makes a stable income, a grand prize might be exciting, but you need to ask yourself if the money would really be enough to support your lifestyle and your business launch later on. If you’re trying to win a literary prize that will get your work read, you might be better off entering a small literary contest that might not have much money, but will give you more exposure.

4) Know the rules of the contest

The stated contest rules should always be one of your first references on how to win a contest. It’s important to actually read these rules, so you know exactly what they are asking for when it comes to the genre, length, and any other details about the submission.

Find information about entries submitted to multiple categories or to other contests as well. Many writing contests will disregard entries that have been sent to other competitions but some allow submissions to multiple categories within the same contest.

5) Check out the organization holding the contest

When it comes to choosing a writing contest, be aware of what you’re signing up for. Some contests are geared more towards experienced writers, and others focus more on new faces. Make sure the organization running the contest has its heart in the right place and hosts it for the right reason.

One way to assess the legitimacy of the contest organizers is to look for their past events. Search for their social media pages to see photos and posts related to previous contests. For newly launched contests, you may check whether they’re legitimate or scams by finding reputable organizations, companies and individuals that are sharing news about such competitions.

6) Understand the judges’ preferences

Before you can begin writing, you need to understand the judges. Some judges are looking for what’s called the “writer’s writer” where you’re solely judged on how your writing stands up. Other judges want more than just the piece that you’ve submitted for the contest. There could be other criteria that they may judge each entry on, including whether or not you meet the requirements of the submission form. Some judges are even looking for a personal story in addition to your writing.

It’s also beneficial for you as the writer to understand a judge’s preferred style or genre. If a judge has certain tastes in writing, you need to match that up with your writing. It’s a mistake to think that you can write anything and if you win there will be no adjustments necessary. Remember, the organizers and judges still have the final say.

7) Start collecting ideas

Take a seat and write down all the initial ideas you have for your contest entry. If you’re unsatisfied with what you’ve come up with, move around the house or spend time in your yard. Take a walk in the park, go on a hike or visit a museum. Or, you can watch or read randomly. Just make sure you don’t copy the same lines, names or any other copyrighted content in TV shows, movies or books. Do whatever that prompts your creative juices to just keep flowing.

8) Sample from your good writing

You wouldn’t want to send something you wrote as a teenager to a prospective client, would you? If you wrote and published on Tumblr , Commaful or any other platform, go over your accounts and assess the content that garnered the most engagements. You may believe you’re the greatest writer on earth, but even if you have ego issues, you have to admit your early works aren’t a good representation of your current abilities. However, your old stuff is still good inspiration for sample pieces that will earn you more writing contests.

Re-read a past project and reach out to the best parts while also making some notes about your writing process at the time. This can give you a feel for what you were trying to accomplish, what actually happened, and how you felt about the results. There’s a tension between learning where you succeeded and where you can improve, and seeing that tension in your earlier writing can inspire you to take your current writing to the next level.

9) Study your writing competition

By studying your competition, you can determine if you have a good chance of winning. It can give you inspiration for things to include in your submission as well.

For example, if you notice all the winners provide artwork with their stories, it’ll give you a sense that it might be important to include artwork. You can study past winners or current submission (if they’re available).

10) Write a gripping story for your contest entry

If you’re joining a contest for fiction-writing, make the judges and your readers wonder how your story will turn out. Increase the tension in moments when your protagonist is paralyzed by her choices or undermined by her vulnerability. Do your best to make readers care about your characters, with appealing, emotional development. Watching people engage in conflict as they deal with moods and feelings—their own and each other’s—is the primary path toward the scary unknown that could develop at any moment, transforming your tiny story into an epic journey. Put all your writing skills to play and make something amazing! Focus on the story at this stage, not the details, like grammar.

11) Read it out loud

After you’ve done a complete read-through of your contest entry, read it out loud to yourself. This way, you can spot your vocabulary opportunities and catch awkward exposition scenes.

If your entry is more on the non-fiction side, read through the whole thing out loud to a friend who’s not familiar with your topic. Listen closely for areas that need more explanation.

Remember that the goal is to make your words come alive for your readers and for the contest judges. Don’t just keep them learning minimal facts; make them want to act and feel and understand, and give them a whole new vocabulary to do it with.

12) Proofread and edit

You’ve got characters, an outline of the plot, and descriptive detail into the setting and time period. Your first draft flows pretty well, but it’s time to make your contest entry truly shine. Steps for revising and editing include applying the following strategies: Delete needless words. You can get rid of those crutches, like using “very” or starting a sentence with a character’s name, when you revise. Put all needed commas, periods and other punctuation marks. Make sure they’re correctly used though.

Look at your openings and make sure the ones that give too much information are pared down. The opening line or paragraph should give just enough information that the reader is intrigued without being provided with details that can turn them off. Drive the narrative with description.

Pay close attention to the details in your piece to avoid including typos and misspellings. When proofreading, use a late night version of your chosen font and printing. Also, avoid excessive white space, even with justified margins. You may believe that tidy formatting is unimportant, but it will create vague notions about you as a writer among judges.

13) Pen a killer title

You also need a killer title. You have to make sure it carries as much of the action and emotion of your entry as possible. What you can do is use a tagline generator to get a good title going, unless you already have something better in mind. Next, if you’re submitting a book manuscript, you should write your book description, which should be no longer than three paragraphs long and should focus on the why of your book, not the what.

14) Enter in good time

More often than not, entering a writing contest is easy. They’re hosted online anyway. That means you can simply submit online and the organizers can also announce winners on their respective websites or social media pages. But if you wait until the last minute to enter, you’re bound to find your name omitted from the winners’ circle. Allow yourself a month to get a draft completed, get critical feedback from a few trusted beta-readers, and then submit to the contest before the deadline. If soon isn’t feasible, at least be sure you give yourself enough time to come up with at least a decent first draft—writers with a solid story under their belt are far more likely to emerge victorious.

15) Complete every step

A reputable contest will have well-worded rules, as well as a clear description of the submission process. Pay attention to every detail, and make sure you complete each step exactly as the contest asks you to. Don’t leave a job half-done.

If you want to win a writing contest, you need to do everything the judge tells you, and you need to do it right away. If in doubt, ask the contest organizer questions about their contest. Better yet, ask for an example of last year’s winner, so you can see exactly what kind of story they like. Once you’ve submitted, don’t double check or ask for extensions. That will just make the organizer think that you’re careless or uncertain. Either follow the contest rules and deadlines they’ve set, or don’t enter at all.

Knowing where to look for opportunities and how to take advantage of them makes it easier to become a better writer and build a career around it. So what are you waiting for? Search for writing contests and showcase your best outputs.

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Commaful takes everything you love about stories and makes it a bite-sized, on-the-go experience. Fanfiction? Poetry? Short stories? You’ll find it all!

Aaron Mullins

BESTSELLING BOOKS – AUTHOR RESOURCES

How to Win Writing Competitions

Posted on February 3, 2019 by aaronmullins

Winning Writing Contest Strategies

There are a number of things authors can do to give themselves the best possible chance of winning a writing competition , many of which are also great advice for creative writing in general.

Writing competitions are great practice for budding authors, particularly for young authors entering children’s writing competitions , and a lot of fun even for published writers. And while nothing can guarantee you a win in the subjective world of judging the written word, there are a few things we can do to help all writers.

If you’re looking for a writing contest to enter then bookmark this Huge List of Writing Competitions .

So you’ve identified a contest that you’d like to target and are ready to write your story, or have a finished story that you feel fits well within one of the categories. Before you send it off to the panel of judges, have a read through my top tips for winning a writing contest and unlock the secrets to success with proven strategies tailored for authors aiming to dominate writing competitions.

Explore techniques applicable to short story contests and poetry competitions, and delve into the intricate world of judging criteria for writing contests. Gain valuable insights and advice on how to align your submissions with what judges are looking for, increasing your chances of clinching victory.

How to Win Writing Contests: The Basics

Step one of how to win writing competitions is to get the very basics of writing correct. Take practical steps to optimise your entry and give yourself the best chance of winning a creative writing contest. From basic proofreading to leveraging tools like Grammarly, ensure your submission is flawless and captivating.

This means proofreading your creative writing and making any necessary edits to polish your story or poetry it as much as possible. Get other people to read over your stories and poems and listen to their feedback. Correct any typos to appear more professional and ensure the reader (and judge) stays immersed in your story, rather than being distracted by spelling mistakes and other basic errors.

If you don’t feel confident enough that you have removed all the basic writing errors, there’s a choice of spelling and grammar checking software that can do this for you, such as Grammarly. Though if you are writing in Microsoft Word, you could just look for the red underlined words and change them if you need to.

“It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.” Jack Kerouac

If you are unsure about certain aspects of your writing, such as whether to use quotation marks or apostrophes for dialogue, always go with the traditional method in your chosen genre. If your work is good enough to be published and the editor wishes to change it, then that’s fine. If you get it to this standard, then you have a good chance of winning a writing competition .

For creative writing competitions , there are particular expectations about the basics being done. Most writing contests will disqualify your short story or poem if it is littered with basic errors. I find that reading my work aloud shows me errors that would otherwise have remained hidden.

Writing Competition Word Counts

Navigate the challenge of meeting specified word counts in writing competitions by trimming unnecessary elements without compromising your story’s essence, ensuring judges engage with your work from start to finish. If you go over (or under) the word count for the creative writing competition then there is a good chance your story or poem will not even be read, meaning all your hard work will have gone to waste.

The writing contest judges won’t get to see the quality of your work. Need to trim your story down? Try cutting out backstory. Does the reader really need to now every tiny detail? Or are there parts that aren’t progressing the story that can be chopped.

If you feel changing the word count would be detrimental to your story, then find another creative writing contest that is a better match for your story. You can find more ways to trim adverbs, cliches and other ideas in my Top 10 Writing Tips .

Writing Contest Themes

Creative writing competitions often have a central theme. Understand the importance of aligning your story with contest themes. Whether it’s an image, quote, or genre requirement, master the art of incorporating the theme into your narrative for a competitive edge. If you aren’t sure whether your story fits the theme, then have a look at previous winner’s stories. If it asks for a horror story, ensure you have written a horror story, and so on. Make the contest theme central to your story and you will have a better chance to win a writing contest .

Know the difference between a literature contest and a writing competition.

A literature contest usually wants a style of writing that embodies creativity, depth and clever use of language. A writing competition usually wants more popular fiction, plot-driven rather than setting-focused, and a conflict your main character needs to resolve.

Writing Contest Guidelines

Follow crucial guidelines to maximise your chances of success. From submission methods to font choices, adhere to the rules set by writing competitions to ensure your entry stands out for the right reasons. When devising strategies for how to win writing competitions , always read and adhere to the writing competition rules.

If the writing contest states that all submissions must be online, then only submit online.
Check that there aren’t any restrictions on who can enter, as you don’t want to get your story disqualified.
Never put your name or other identifying information on the manuscript. Writing competitions are judged anonymously, based on merit.
Unless specified otherwise, use 12 point Arial or Times New Roman font.
Don’t add a note for the judges, or any personal pictures, or anything else that isn’t asked for. All they need is your story.

Create Memorable Characters

Having got the basics for winning a writing contest in place, it now comes down to the quality of your writing which decides how well your story places within the contest. Elevate your storytelling by creating characters that resonate with readers and judges alike.

Then heighten the tension by placing them within a fascinating world, but one filled with jeopardy and intrigue. If you need support bringing a character to life, then have a look at How to Describe People .

How to win writing competitions tips strategies short story contests successpoetry submissions creative writing awards entry advice expert techniques

Write a Complete Story

Try to create a story arc or events that can be told within the contest word count. If it’s a short story competition, try to focus on one small event that perhaps doesn’t go as expected. If it’s poetry competition, find a way to convey the story or emotion within fewer lines than you may otherwise normally compose.

Don’t submit a partial story or snippet of a larger story, as it won’t contain all the elements that the judges are looking for when choosing who will win the writing contest. This includes limiting the number of characters, locations, events, time periods to a manageable amount. Focus on delivering a complete and engaging experience.

Get the Judge’s Attention

One of the best ways to immediately grab the judge’s attention and boost your chances of winning a writing competition is to hit them with an amazing opening line. This will be the first impression they have of your overall story, so make it a powerful one that makes them want to continue reading and make your work stand out.

The judging panel will have read loads of stories in a very short amount of time, so will be looking for something that truly stands out. In addition, come up with an intriguing title that relates to the story and overall theme.

Keep the Judge’s Attention

Okay, so you’ve hit them with your best opening line, and now you have to follow it up with some action. To stand out and win a writing contest, don’t bother with back story or world building in the beginning, drop your characters straight into trouble. Or indicate what will shake up their routine. What is your character’s goal?

Write Dilemmas, Create Crisis

A great way to keep a judge’s attention is to base your story on a dilemma that your character is facing. Something that forces them to make a choice, in order to achieve a goal.

Questions for writing inspiration :

What incident causes your character’s world to turn upside down?
What surprises your character?
How do your characters react to the incident?
What choices must your character make?

“There is only one plot – things are not what they seem.” Jim Thompson

Build tension as they work their way towards that goal, increase the risks and danger, making the outcome extremely important. Then introduce the consequence of their decisions and actions. Or unexpected consequences. You will now be well positioned to win a writing competition !

Move Your Story Forwards

Your characters should always find themselves in new situations, facing new obstacles. Or variations of old obstacles which drive the story. Decisions have to be made, the consequences dealt with, then new decisions made and new trials overcome.

What subplots can move the main plot forward?
How can your conflicts become more perilous?

To win a writing competition, things should always be changing in your character’s world, generally growing more intense until it reaches an equally powerful ending. Your character’s personality should grow and change with the action too.

Write a Satisfactory Ending

After all that hard work poured into the opening and middle action, you need to give your story the ending it deserves. One that wraps up all the loose ends, leaving the reader (and judges) feeling satisfied that the story has been resolved, but also leaves them with a final thought.

This could be adding a bit of mystery or a revelation that changes how the rest of the story is viewed, a memorable twist. Something that makes your story stick in their minds. This final aspect could be how you win a writing competition .

“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it.” Octavia E. Butler

Bonus Writing Tip

Relax and simply write .

Remember that nothing can guarantee that you’ll win a writing contest.

But getting these fundamental elements right can help your story to overcome the initial hurdles. Most of all you should enjoy the writing experience that leads to your final story, write to the competition rules, hit the submit button, then relax.

It’s now out of your hands.

Who will judge my story?

Your story will likely go to a team of writing contest readers who will select their favourites to go through to the next phase of judging.

The number of judging rounds will likely depend on the number of entries and size of contest you have chosen to enter. Eventually there will be a longlist formed, which will then be whittled down to a shortlist. This is normally where the prizes and commendations begin.

Read How to Write Fiction: A Creative Writing Guide to find more guidance and support on becoming the best writer you can be.

Learn insights into how to use the secret art of euphonics to unleash the power of psychology in your work. This book is designed to guide you step-by-step through your complete story journey and achieve success with your writing!

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Aaron Mullins ( @DrAaronMullins ) is an award winning, internationally published psychologist and bestselling author. Aaron has over 15 years experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in business strategy for authors and publishers. He started Birdtree Books Publishing where he worked as Editor-in-Chief, partnered with World Reader Charity and taught Academic Writing at Coventry University. Aaron’s book How to Write Fiction: A Creative Writing Guide for Authors has become a staple reference book for writers and those interested in a publishing career. Find out more .

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How to win a writing contest

Last Updated on March 21, 2020 by Nathaniel Tower

So you’ve decided to enter a writing contest . Good luck! You’re going to need it. The competition will be stiff. The odds are against you regardless of your previous writing credentials.

I’ve read over 5,000 writing contest entries. One thing that’s always surprised me is how little effort some people put in considering they were paying to enter the contest. It’s almost like they didn’t care about the money. Sloppy submissions with numerous typos, rushed submissions that didn’t follow the guidelines, blatant disregard for the rules, and general bad writing. Those are just a few of the problems I’ve seen. If you want to win a writing contest (and hopefully you do because why else would you enter), then you need to do everything you can to get an advantage. Here’s how you can pull it off:

Study the Contest Rules

Before you even start working on your entry, you need to read the contest guidelines and rules thoroughly. Don’t skim through them. Read every single word like it’s the most important word you’ve ever read. And as soon as you’re finished, read them all again. You need to make sure you’ve gotten every detail and that you fully understand what you’re getting into. This will prevent you from wasting your time or money by:

Making sure you actually want to enter this particular contest
Giving you the initial ammo you need to write a piece that stands a chance of winning

Read All Past Winners

Unless it’s a first-year contest, you need to carefully read all past winners. This will give you a good sense of what they are looking for. It allows you to see the style, tone, topics, and risks of past winners. But the goal isn’t to copy what a past winner did. If anything, you want to do something completely different from what any previous winner did. And you definitely want to avoid any topics past winners have written about. The judges aren’t going to let the same thing win twice.

Get to Know the Judges

Many writing contests have guest judges of some writing fame. Read their bios. Follow them on social media. See what stories/articles/writing they’re sharing. Read their work. Read interviews they’ve done. Try to get in their head and figure out what they want to see in this contest.

Write the Best Thing You’ve Ever Written

A writing contest isn’t a time to pick one of your unpublished stories that’s been rejected a few dozen times. It’s a chance to write the best story you’ve ever written. Challenge yourself. Commit yourself. Don’t be afraid to scrap a few ideas or write through a few dead ends. If you can’t produce your best work, then you shouldn’t pay money to enter a writing contest. You might as well buy a lottery ticket with the numbers 1-2-3-4-5.

Proofread, Revise, Edit, Repeat

A writing contest is definitely not the time to get lazy with your proofreading. A grammatical error or misspelled word could be the difference between victory and defeat. More importantly, you need to do significant rewriting. No story or poem has ever been perfect the first time around. Don’t submit your entry until you’ve gone through at least five rounds of revision. And then do at least one more.

Share It with a Few Trusted Readers

Before submitting to the contest, let a few people you trust give it a read. Briefly preface the piece with the general contest rules, particularly if the contest asks you to write to a specific prompt. Ask for their honest feedback. Hell, ask if they’d pick your piece as the winner. Take their feedback seriously, but don’t take it as gospel truth. After all, they aren’t judging it (and they aren’t spending the money to enter the contest either). If they tell you it’s perfect, ask what’s perfect about it. If they have constructive criticism, then consider making some changes based on their comments. Just don’t take anything they say personally. Remember, they’re trying to help you win the contest.

Follow the Rules to a T

So you’ve written one of the best pieces of your career. Now don’t blow it on a technicality. If your entry does not follow all of the rules, it will be rejected immediately with no chance to win. Make sure you pay attention to every rule, including:

Formatting – Some contests have specific rules for how you format your manuscript . When in doubt, use standard manuscript format.
Contact information – Many contests will ask for you to submit your manuscript with all contact information removed. Make sure you only put your contact information in the appropriate place. About 10% of contest entries I’ve read have ignored this. If we’re trying to judge blind and you put your name right at the top, you’re automatically out. It wouldn’t be fair to keep you in the running.
Submission method and payment – Make sure you submit using the right method and that your payment is received accordingly. Follow whatever guidelines and requirements they have. If they want you to pay your entry fee through PayPal before you email a submission, don’t email your submission and ask if you can pay by check.
Word count – If there’s a word count, make damn sure you’re within it. Stories that are too long never win writing contests.
Number of submissions – Some contests might allow you to submit more than once if you pay an additional entry fee. Others are strict about one entry per person. Don’t try to cheat the system. You won’t be more likely to win if you try to stack the deck by going over their limit.

Submit and Wait Patiently

Once you’ve finalized your entry and submitted it, all you can do is wait. At this point, you’ve done everything you can. Now it’s all up to the judges. Maybe they’ll like another entry better. There’s nothing you can do about that. All you can do is write the best piece of your life. And if it doesn’t win, at least you’ll have something you’ll be proud to publish elsewhere.

Now go pick a writing contest to enter and write the best thing you’ve ever written.

How do you approach a writing contest? Share your best tips in the comments.

8 thoughts on “ How to win a writing contest ”

Really good advice overall, I have been thinking about entering a writing contest but I haven’t had the confidence to do so. When I finally have enough confidence, I will be sure to keep those things in mind. Thanks for the tips!

This is such a useful article. Thank you for sharing your tips 💜

Pingback: How to win a writing contest – Alison Aldridge

I love your content and find it incredibly useful. I have nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award (it involves a little challenge). Please check it out: https://wp.me/p8ikeM-82

Your blog is cool, guy!

Do you have any advice about finishing those hard to complete stories? I feel with a lot of things I write, I cant seem to finish the story, even though I have the beginning and end.

I have yet to send anything in for publication or competition, but I want to get to the next step of producing writings to submit

Hey Cameron,

Thank you for reading and commenting. We’ve all had those stories that seem impossible to finish. Have you tried outlining? You say you have the beginning and the end. Try outlining the middle and then write according to the outline.

Another approach that sometimes works for me is to pick one that you really want to get done and just pound out that middle as fast as you can without taking any breaks or thinking too hard about it. Just get a draft done, then sleep on it for a few days and come back to it. Reread it, revise it. Share it with a friend and get their opinion. I’m always happy to take a look if you want to send a draft to me.

Hope that helps.

“You might as well buy a lottery ticket with the numbers 1-2-3-4-5.” Or a lottery ticket full stop; those numbers have as much chance of being drawn as any other numbers, lol.

Pingback: Everything You Need to Know Before Entering a Writing Contest | Nathaniel Tower

Mastering Writing Competitions: Insider Tips from a Two-Time Winner

06 Apr, 2024 | Blog Articles , English Language Articles , Get the Edge , Humanities Articles , Writing Articles

Man holding a notebook and pen, looking into the distance

V. Community and networking

Participating in writing competitions can allow students to connect with fellow writers, mentors and professionals in the literary community. Joining writing groups, workshops or clubs through competitions can provide you with opportunities to share ideas and receive support.

This not only provides the chance to learn from professionals, but can also help you to feel part of literary circles. Building relationships with experienced writers, editors and publishers fosters guidance and mentorship for you in your writing endeavours. These connections could also help you find and gain access to future opportunities.

Discover More

Thanks for signing up, 12 insider tips to ace a writing competition.

A pen and notebook lying flat on a dark background

1. Make a list of the requirements

This first one may sound obvious, but it’s easy to accidentally stray from the guidelines set by the competition. Some things to bear in mind include:

Minimum and/or maximum word count . This is very important as your entry could be disqualified if it fails to keep within this.
Form . Is it meant to be a poem, a short story, an essay, a script or something else?
Prompt material. A question, statement, title, quote or photograph, for example.
Suggested approaches . This might be a character perspective, line of argument, or particular image or theme.

By keeping a clear list of exactly what is asked of you, you can reference it as you work and ensure your writing meets the requirements. After all, you don’t want to finish your work only to realise that it needs to be partly or fully rewritten.

2. Plan out the timescale

While a competition may have a seemingly-distant deadline, you don’t want to fall into the trap of leaving it to the last minute and having to rush. Note down the deadline on your calendar or in your planner, then schedule in some time to work on your entry.

You might want to set a few personal goals based on how much needs to be done, and by when. For example, you could set a date for having completed a plan, and another date to have finished a first draft. Make sure you leave enough time to edit and proofread.

3. Seek inspiration

It’s best to give yourself some time to think about the different ways you could approach the topic/question/theme set by the writing competition. For example, you could consider any ideas you may have had in the past, such as storylines, poetic images, characters or arguments, and see if any of them can be adapted to fit the competition’s requirements.

Alternatively, you may need to seek out material you haven’t encountered before. This might involve reading books or news articles, visits to new or familiar places, or even something as simple as a walk. However, try not to put too much pressure on yourself, and go about your daily routine – it’s often while doing ordinary tasks that you’ll have a eureka moment.

4. Do your research

This is especially important for essay competitions, but applies to any kind of writing competition. For example, for both of my winning entries (a poem from the perspective of Queen Joanna I of Castile, and a short story inspired by a painting by Goya, a Spanish artist), I had to carefully research the historical context in which I was setting my narratives. This not only helped to inform what I was writing, but also provided great material to enrich my work and bring the stories and characters to life.

Sources might include books, websites, podcasts, articles, blogs, images and much more.

When essay-writing, backing up your ideas and arguments with evidence and research is essential to making your work convincing. When reading, it’s good to constantly ask yourself what you think about a particular line of thinking, whether you agree or disagree, or if you feel you could provide a more nuanced perspective. Including this in your essay will help make your work stand out to the judges.

Competitions often require referencing in your work, so make sure you use reliable sources and keep a note of where you’re finding each idea or piece of information. That way it’s easier for you to add any necessary footnotes, a list of sources or a bibliography to your entry.

Rows of books on shelves, with bust statues nearby

5. Collect and brainstorm ideas before structuring

Try not to worry too much about the structure of your entry at first, and start by collecting any ideas, themes, images and descriptions you come up with, and any information and arguments you’ve read about. Jotting all of this down in mind-maps, lists or posters for example (whichever works best for you), can help you visualise your work. This makes it easier to find the best way to structure your work later on.

6. Take some time to plan

While it might be tempting to dive straight into writing, and this can be helpful when you have the momentum to write a particular part of your entry, it’s still important to plan. This helps to ensure your work is coherent and each section leads smoothly into the next one.

For example, you may come up with a few stanzas of a poem or paragraphs of a story or essay before planning. However, it’s always good to take a step back and plan exactly where they’ll fit best within your piece, based on other content you want to include.

7. Play with form

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the form set by the competition. For example, you could research different types of poems, narrative types or ways to structure an essay. Sometimes competitions are more specific – for example, if it should be written in first or third person – but there’s always scope to find your personal approach.

Often, the best entries are those that creatively engage with the possibilities and constraints of the form they’re written in.

8. Experiment with imagery

For more descriptive pieces, it can be helpful to research literary devices and techniques.

You might want to choose certain motifs or literary images to recur throughout the piece, which can help to provide stylistic unity to your work. Exploring the possibilities of a particular set of images or concepts to be presented in different ways can help to develop your work and showcase your creativity and imagination.

For example, in my poem about Joanna ‘The Mad’ of Castile, I explored the weight of the charge of ‘madness’ and what it implied about illness, suffering, suppression and control.

Alternatively, using lots of different ways to describe the subject at hand can highlight your versatility and creative potential as a writer.

These tips can also be applied to essay writing, as particular case studies, anecdotes and imagery can help to anchor the focus of your work, highlighting your personal take on the subject.

9. Pay attention to tone

It’s important to bear in mind the tone you want to set for your piece. Will it be light-hearted and humorous, bitterly ironic, serious, dramatic or tragic (or something else entirely)? Think about which approach works best for the competition requirements, and try to be consistent with your tone.

If you want to change the tenor of the piece as it develops – starting off more light-hearted but ending with a serious note, for example – make sure you’re purposeful with the way the tone changes.

10. Don’t give up!

Everyone suffers from writer’s block sometimes, and it’s normal to get a bit stuck at some stage in the writing process. Try not to get disheartened, and instead take a break and come back to working a bit later. You might feel the need to seek out a new source of inspiration, or your brain may simply be tired and you may need a break to gather your thoughts.

11. Take breaks when you need them

You might get into the ‘zone’ and want to blitz your way through the essay at once, but often we need to take a few breaks to get the cognitive juices flowing and persevere through any bouts of writer’s block as mentioned above.

Exercising, listening to music, playing an instrument, reading for pleasure, and meeting up with friends are just some of the ways that you can take a healthy break. The most important thing is to pay attention to how you’re feeling and do what’s best for you.

12. Proofread, proofread and proofread again!

Once you’ve finished your first draft, take a break and come back to proofread and edit where necessary. Pay attention to spelling, punctuation and grammar, and potentially consider alternative ways of phrasing sentences or structuring your ideas.

Once you’ve gone through your work once or twice, it’s a good idea to ask for a second (and third) pair of eyes to check for typos and give some feedback. A competition may limit the input of the help of others such as teachers, but as long as you keep within the guidelines, asking for others’ responses is a good way to refine your work and get a feel for how others may respond to your writing. This way, you can ensure everything makes sense and is as effective as possible.

Writing competitions are an amazing opportunity for your personal and academic development, as a way of practising and improving your writing skills, encouraging your creativity and interest, and connecting you to the literary community.

I hope these tips will guide and encourage you with your writing competition applications. Just remember to have fun and let your creativity shine through!

Costas is currently studying a BA in History and Spanish at the University of Oxford, specialising mainly in medieval history and literature. His interests include reading widely, creative writing, and playing and listening to music.

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Creativity Techniques

26+ Creative Writing Tips for Young Writers

So you want to be a writer? And not just any writer, you want to be a creative writer. The road to being a legendary storyteller won’t be easy, but with our creative writing tips for kids, you’ll be on the right track! Creative writing isn’t just about writing stories. You could write poems, graphic novels, song lyrics and even movie scripts. But there is one thing you’ll need and that is good creative writing skills.

Here are over 26 tips to improve your creative writing skills :

Read a wide range of books

When it comes to creative writing, reading is essential. Reading allows you to explore the styles of other writers and gain inspiration to improve your own writing. But don’t just limit yourself to reading only popular books or your favourites. Read all sorts of books, everything from fairytales to scary stories. Take a look at comics, short stories, novels and poetry. Just fill your heads with the knowledge and wisdom of other writers and soon you’ll be just like them!

Write about real-life events

The hardest thing about creative writing is connecting emotionally with your audience. By focusing your writing on real-life events, you know that in some way or another your readers will be able to relate. And with creative writing you don’t need to use real names or details – There are certain things you can keep private while writing about the rare details. Using real-life events is also a good way to find inspiration for your stories.

Be imaginative

Be as crazy and wild as you like with your imagination. Create your world, your own monsters , or even your own language! The more imaginative your story, the more exciting it will be to read. Remember that there are no rules on what makes a good idea in creative writing. So don’t be afraid to make stuff up!

Find your writing style

Thes best writers have a particular style about them. When you think of Roald Dahl , you know his books are going to have a sense of humour. While with Dr Seuss , you’re prepared to read some funny new words . Alternatively, when you look at R.L.Stine, you know that he is all about the horror. Think about your own writing style. Do you want to be a horror writer? Maybe someone who always writes in the first person? Will always focus your books on your culture or a particular character?

Stick to a routine

Routine is extremely important to writers. If you just write some stuff here and there, it’s likely that you’ll soon give up on writing altogether! A strict routine means that every day at a certain time you will make time to write about something, anything. Even if you’re bored or can’t think of anything, you’ll still pick up that pencil and write. Soon enough you’ll get into the habit of writing good stuff daily and this is definitely important for anyone who wants to be a professional creative writer!

Know your audience

Writing isn’t just about thinking about your own interests, it’s also about thinking about the interests of your audience. If you want to excite fellow classmates, know what they like. Do they like football , monsters or a particular video game? With that knowledge, you can create the most popular book for your target audience. A book that they can’t stop reading and will recommend to others!

Daily Exercises

To keep your creative writing skills up to scratch it is important to keep practising every day. Even if you have no inspiration. At times when your mind is blank, you should try to use tools like writing prompts , video prompts or other ways of coming up with ideas . You could even take a look at these daily writing exercises as an example. We even created a whole list of over 100 creative writing exercises to try out when you need some inspiration or ideas.

Work together with others

Everyone needs a little help now and then. We recommend joining a writing club or finding other classmates who are also interested in writing to improve your own creative writing skills. Together you can share ideas, tips and even write a story together! A good storytelling game to play in a group is the “ finish the story” game .

Get feedback

Without feedback, you’ll never be able to improve your writing. Feedback, whether good or bad is important to all writers. Good feedback gives you the motivation to carry on. While bad feedback just gives you areas to improve and adapt your writing, so you can be the best! After every piece of writing always try to get feedback from it, whether it is from friends, family, teachers or an online writing community .

Enter writing competitions

The best way to improve your creative writing is by entering all sorts of writing competitions . Whether it’s a poetry competition or short story competition, competitions let you compete against other writers and even help you get useful feedback on your writing. Most competitions even have rules to structure your writing, these rules can help you prepare for the real world of writing and getting your work published. And not only that you might even win some cool prizes!

Keep a notebook

Every writer’s best friend is their notebook. Wherever you go make sure you have a notebook handy to jot down any ideas you get on the go. Inspiration can come from anywhere , so the next time you get an idea instead of forgetting about it, write it down. You never know, this idea could become a best-selling novel in the future.

Research your ideas

So, you got a couple of ideas for short stories. The next step is to research these ideas deeper.

Researching your ideas could involve reading books similar to your ideas or going online to learn more about a particular topic. For example, if you wanted to write a book on dragons, you would want to know everything about them in history to come up with a good, relatable storyline for your book.

Create Writing Goals

How do you know if your writing is improving over time? Simple – Just create writing goals for yourself. Examples of writing goals might include, to write 100 words every day or to write 600 words by the end of next week. Whatever your goals make sure you can measure them easily. That way you’ll know if you met them or not. You might want to take a look at these bullet journal layouts for writers to help you track the progress of your writing.

Follow your passions

Writing can be tedious and many people even give up after writing a few words. The only way you can keep that fire burning is by writing about your true passions. Whatever it is you enjoy doing or love, you could just write about those things. These are the types of things you’ll enjoy researching and already know so much about, making writing a whole lot more fun!

Don’t Settle for the first draft

You finally wrote your first story. But the writing process isn’t complete yet! Now it’s time to read your story and make the all-important edits. Editing your story is more than just fixing spelling or grammar mistakes. It’s also about criticising your own work and looking for areas of improvement. For example, is the conflict strong enough? Is your opening line exciting? How can you improve your ending?

Plan before writing

Never just jump into writing your story. Always plan first! Whether this means listing down the key scenes in your story or using a storyboard template to map out these scenes. You should have an outline of your story somewhere, which you can refer to when actually writing your story. This way you won’t make basic mistakes like not having a climax in your story which builds up to your main conflict or missing crucial characters out.

It’s strange the difference it makes to read your writing out aloud compared to reading it in your head. When reading aloud you tend to notice more mistakes in your sentences or discover paragraphs which make no sense at all. You might even want to read your story aloud to your family or a group of friends to get feedback on how your story sounds.

Pace your story

Pacing is important. You don’t want to just start and then quickly jump into the main conflict because this will take all the excitement away from your conflict. And at the same time, you don’t want to give the solution away too early and this will make your conflict too easy for your characters to solve. The key is to gradually build up to your conflict by describing your characters and the many events that lead up to the main conflict. Then you might want to make the conflict more difficult for your characters by including more than one issue in your story to solve.

Think about themes

Every story has a theme or moral. Some stories are about friendship, others are about the dangers of trusting strangers. And a story can even have more than one theme. The point of a theme is to give something valuable to your readers once they have finished reading your book. In other words, to give them a life lesson, they’ll never forget!

Use dialogue carefully

Dialogue is a tricky thing to get right. Your whole story should not be made up of dialogue unless you’re writing a script. Alternatively, it can be strange to include no dialogue at all in your story. The purpose of dialogue should be to move your story forward. It should also help your readers learn more about a particular character’s personality and their relationship with other characters in your book.

One thing to avoid with dialogue is… small talk! There’s no point in writing dialogue, such as “How’s the weather?”, if your story has nothing to do with the weather. This is because it doesn’t move your story along. For more information check out this guide on how to write dialogue in a story .

Write now, edit later

Writing is a magical process. Don’t lose that magic by focusing on editing your sentences while you’re still writing your story up. Not only could this make your story sound fragmented, but you might also forget some key ideas to include in your story or take away the imagination from your writing. When it comes to creative writing, just write and come back to editing your story later.

Ask yourself questions

Always question your writing. Once done, think about any holes in your story. Is there something the reader won’t understand or needs further describing? What if your character finds another solution to solving the conflict? How about adding a new character or removing a character from your story? There are so many questions to ask and keep asking them until you feel confident about your final piece.

Create a dedicated writing space

Some kids like writing on their beds, others at the kitchen table. While this is good for beginners, going pro with your writing might require having a dedicated writing space. Some of the basics you’ll need is a desk and comfy chair, along with writing materials like pens, pencils and notebooks. But to really create an inspiring place, you could also stick some beautiful pictures, some inspiring quotes from writers and anything else that will keep you motivated and prepared.

Beware of flowery words

Vocabulary is good. It’s always exciting when you learn a new word that you have never heard before. But don’t go around plotting in complicated words into your story, unless it’s necessary to show a character’s personality. Most long words are not natural sounding, meaning your audience will have a hard time relating to your story if it’s full of complicated words from the dictionary like Xenophobia or Xylograph .

Create believable characters

Nobody’s perfect. And why should your story characters be any different? To create believable characters, you’ll need to give them some common flaws as well as some really cool strengths. Your character’s flaws can be used as a setback to why they can’t achieve their goals, while their strengths are the things that will help win over adversity. Just think about your own strengths and weaknesses and use them as inspirations for your storybook characters. You can use the Imagine Forest character creator to plan out your story characters.

Show, don’t tell

You can say that someone is nice or you can show them how that person is nice. Take the following as an example, “Katie was a nice girl.” Now compare that sentence to this, “Katie spent her weekends at the retirement home, singing to the seniors and making them laugh.”. The difference between the two sentences is huge. The first one sounds boring and you don’t really know why Katie is nice. While in the second sentence, you get the sense that Katie is nice from her actions without even using the word nice in the sentence!

Make the conflict impossible

Imagine the following scenario, you are a championship boxer who has won many medals over the year and the conflict is…Well, you got a boxing match coming up. Now that doesn’t sound so exciting! In fact, most readers won’t even care about the boxer winning the match or not!

Now imagine this scenario: You’re a poor kid from New Jersey, you barely have enough money to pay the bills. You never did any professional boxing, but you want to enter a boxing competition, so you can win and use the money to pay your bills.

The second scenario has a bigger mountain to climb. In other words, a much harder challenge to face compared to the character in the first scenario. Giving your characters an almost impossible task or conflict is essential in good story-telling.

Write powerful scenes

Scenes help build a picture in your reader’s mind without even including any actual pictures in your story. Creating powerful scenes involves more than describing the appearance of a setting, it’s also about thinking about the smell, the sounds and what your characters are feeling while they are in a particular setting. By being descriptive with your scenes, your audience can imagine themselves being right there with characters through the hard times and good times!

There’s nothing worse than an ending which leaves the reader feeling underwhelmed. You read all the way through and then it just ends in the most typical, obvious way ever! Strong endings don’t always end on a happy ending. They can end with a sad ending or a cliff-hanger. In fact, most stories actually leave the reader with more questions in their head, as they wonder what happens next. This then gives you the opportunity to create even more books to continue the story and keep your readers hooked for life (or at least for a very long time)!

Over 25 creative writing tips later and you should now be ready to master the art of creative writing! The most important tip for all you creative writers out there is to be imaginative! Without a good imagination, you’ll struggle to wow your audience with your writing skills. Do you have any more creative writing tips to share? Let us know in the comments!

Marty the wizard is the master of Imagine Forest. When he's not reading a ton of books or writing some of his own tales, he loves to be surrounded by the magical creatures that live in Imagine Forest. While living in his tree house he has devoted his time to helping children around the world with their writing skills and creativity.

10 Reasons Why Reading is Important for Kids_imagine forest

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Best Writing Contests in 2024

Showing 349 contests that match your search.

The Reedsy Prompts Contest

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

Every Friday, Reedsy sends out five writing prompts. Enter your response within a week for a chance at $250. Winners may also be included in a future issue of Reedsy’s literary magazine, Prompted.

Additional prizes:

$25 credit toward Reedsy editorial services

💰 Entry fee: $5

📅 Deadline: December 31, 2024

Tor House Prize for Poetry

Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation

Genres: Poetry

The annual Tor House Prize for Poetry is a living memorial to American poet Robinson Jeffers. The contest is open to well-crafted poetry in all styles, ranging from experimental work to traditional forms, including short narrative poems. Poems should be no longer than 3 pages.

$200 for honorable mention

💰 Entry fee: $10

📅 Deadline: March 15, 2024 (Expired)

Honest Holiday Haiku

Gotham Writers Workshop

The holidays are a time of glad tidings and good cheer and, if we're honest, some not-so-glad tidings as well. In the spirit of Scrooge, Santa, and everything in between, we invite you to write your most honest holiday haiku. A reminder: a haiku consists of 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 in the third line.

Free class from Gotham Writers Workshop

Publication on website

📅 Deadline: February 29, 2024 (Expired)

Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio

Plan, write, edit, and format your book in our free app made for authors.

Learn more about Reedsy Studio .

Creative Writing NZ Short Story Prize 2024

Creative Writing NZ

Genres: Short Story

Open theme/subject/genre. Maximum 3,000 words. 2 runners-up prizes of $200 each and a free writing course of choice.

2x runners up: $200 | Free writing course | Publication

💰 Entry fee: $9

📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024

Britain vs The World: Flash Battle 2024

Genres: Flash Fiction

The Top 5 Flashes from Team Britain and Team World will duke it out for prizes, glory – and points. The higher you rank, the more points you get for your team. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will get a host of cash prizes. The team with the most points will win additional prizes.

2nd: £50 | 3rd: £25

💰 Entry fee: $6

The Pinch Literary Awards & Page Prize

The Pinch Literary Journal

Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, and Non-fiction

The 2023 Pinch Literary Awards accepts poetry and fiction. The 2023 Page Prize accepts non-fiction.

$2000 for poetry & fiction winners

$1000 for Page Prize winner

💰 Entry fee: $20

Anthology Flash Fiction Award

Anthology Magazine

Genres: Fiction, Short Story, and Flash Fiction

The Anthology Flash Fiction Competition is open to original and previously unpublished flash fiction on any theme in the English language by writers of any nationality. We are looking for writing that is clever and unique, inspires us, and crafts a compelling story. Max 250 words.

💰 Entry fee: $12

📅 Deadline: September 30, 2024

BBC National Short Story Award

2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the BBC YWA, an award created to inspire and encourage the next generation of short story writers, open to 14 – 18-year-olds. BBC Radio 1 Presenter Katie Thistleton returns as Chair of Judges for the YWA for the seventh time.

4x shortlisted stories: £600

📅 Deadline: March 18, 2024 (Expired)

Annual Poetry Contest

Third Wednesday

Each year Third Wednesday awards 3 $100 prizes in its annual poetry contest. For this year's contest, entries will be accepted from November 1, 2020 through February 15, 2021. We will accept contest entries of up to 3 previously unpublished poems of any style and subject matter. There is no limit on length.

print copy of the 3rd Wednesday contest issue

📅 Deadline: February 28, 2024 (Expired)

Winter Flash Fiction Battle

Writing Battle

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Short Story, Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Thriller

Three days to write a 1000 word short story. The peer-powered quarterly writing contest where every story receives oodles of feedback. Write one. Read ten. Win thousands.

Genre Winner (x4): $2,000

Genre Runner-up (x4): $500 | Feedback by industry professionals.

💰 Entry fee: $25

📅 Deadline: February 01, 2024 (Expired)

The Loraine Williams Poetry Prize

The Georgia Review

The Loraine Williams Poetry Prize is an award for a single poem, to be published in The Georgia Review. The winner will receive an honorarium of $1,500 and an expenses-paid trip to Athens, Georgia, to give a public reading with the judge. We are pleased to announce that Hanif Abdurraqib will serve as the final judge for the 2023 Loraine Williams Poetry Prize.

Expenses-paid trip to Athens, Georgia

💰 Entry fee: $30

📅 Deadline: May 15, 2024

Frost Farm Prize for Metrical Poetry

Frost Farm Poetry

The Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm in Derry, NH, and the Hyla Brook Poets invite submissions for the 2022, 12th Annual The Frost Farm Prize for metrical poetry. The winner receives $1,000 and an invitation, with honorarium, to read in June 2022 as part of The Hyla Brook Reading Series at the Robert Frost Farm.

📅 Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Expired)

Minds Shine Bright Writing Competition

Minds Shine Bright

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Poetry, Script Writing, and Short Story

Minds Shine Bright is an arts business based in Melbourne Australia committed to supporting the arts and writers. We run two fiction writing competitions; Minds Shine Bright Confidence, a longitudinal look at the theme confidence in fiction and poetry, and Seasons a competition with a changing external theme. Light and Shadow is currently open.

2nd: $400 AUD | 3rd: $300 AUD | 4th: $200 AUD | Commended entries: $100 AUD

💰 Entry fee: $3

Shiny Dime Writing Challenge

Write of Passage

Genres: Non-fiction

The Shiny Dime is a concept we teach to help people stand out online, and we’ve distilled it into a simple writing challenge. Challenge registrants will participate in a 10 week writing challenge where we request participants to publish once per week. We will choose among the participants who have the most impactful writing and who are the most consistent.

Free access to our 5 week writing bootcamp (a $4000 dollar value)

📅 Deadline: February 18, 2024 (Expired)

Indignor Play House Annual Short Story Competition

Indignor House Publishing

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Short Story, Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, and Young Adult

Indignor House Publishing is proud to announce that our annual writing competition (INDIGNOR PLAYHOUSE Short Story Annual Competition) is officially open with expected publication in the fall of 2024. Up to 25 submissions will be accepted for inclusion in the annual anthology.

2nd: $250 | 3rd: $150

📅 Deadline: March 01, 2024 (Expired)

Faith Poetry Contest

FanStory.com Inc.

The theme for this poetry contest is "faith". We are looking for poems that in some way pertain to this theme. It doesn't matter if it's spiritual, political, intellectual or emotional as long as faith is clearly represented.

📅 Deadline: April 19, 2022 (Expired)

The Lascaux Prize in Short Fiction

The Lascaux Review

Stories may be previously published or unpublished, and simultaneous submissions are accepted. Winner receives $1,000 and a bronze medallion. Finalists receive $100. Winner and finalists are published in both the online and annual print editions of The Lascaux Review.

Publication in The Lascaux Review

💰 Entry fee: $15

📅 Deadline: December 31, 2021 (Expired)

Fischer Prize

Telluride Institute

This annual award is open to poets of all ages living in the US. Deadline for submissions is August 31st, 2021.

Attendance at Telluride Literary Arts Festival

📅 Deadline: August 31, 2024

The Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction

Association of Writers & Writing Programs

AWP sponsors the Award Series, an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works. The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence, and is available to published and unpublished authors alike.

Publication by Red Hen Press

Solas Awards

Best Travel Writing

Genres: Essay, Non-fiction, and Travel

Extraordinary stories about travel and the human spirit have been the cornerstones of our books since 1993. With the Solas Awards we honor writers whose work inspires others to explore. We’re looking for the best stories about travel and the world. Funny, illuminating, adventurous, uplifting, scary, inspiring, poignant stories that reflect the unique alchemy that occurs when you enter unfamiliar territory and begin to see the world differently as a result. We hope these awards will be a catalyst for those who love to leave home and tell others about it.

Publication

📅 Deadline: September 21, 2024

Vocal Challenges

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, and Short Story

Enter themed storytelling contests to put your creativity to the test and be in with a chance of winning cash prizes and more. To submit, you'll need to sign up for a monthly fee of $9.99, or $4.99/month for 3 months.

$1,000 — $5,000

📅 Deadline: March 07, 2024 (Expired)

Bridport Flash Fiction Prize

Bridport Arts Centre

Genres: Fiction and Flash Fiction

It may be the sprint of creative writing but that doesn’t mean you can rush the creative process. Take us somewhere fast then let your story marinade in the reader's mind. Make every one of your 250 words count. There is no minimum number of words, just like there is no limit to your imagination. They say lightning doesn't strike twice but we want to feel the electricity in your story right from the beginning through to the very end.

£500 for 2nd, £250 for 3rd

📅 Deadline: May 31, 2024

$1000 for 1000 Words Contest

The Layla Beban Young Authors

Genres: Children's and Short Story

The $1000 for 1000 Words fiction writing contest is open to all students enrolled in grades 6-12. Each entrant may submit a fiction piece consisting of exactly 1,000 words (not including title or author’s name). The fiction piece can be on any topic, as long as it is not vulgar or offensive, does not use inappropriate profanity, and is the original work of the entrant not previously published.

The Killer Nashville Claymore Award

Killer Nashville

Genres: Fiction and Novel

Every year, the Killer Nashville Claymore Award assists new and rebranding English-language fiction authors get published, including possible agent representation, book advances, editor deals, and movie and television sales. While we cannot guarantee that winners and finalists of this award will receive publication, dozens of winners & runners-up of the Claymore award have gone on to find great success in their careers and many of them attribute that success to this award.

Publishing contract

Discounted admission to Killer Nashville, introductions to agents/editors

💰 Entry fee: $40

📅 Deadline: April 01, 2024 (Expired)

National Essay Contest

U.S. Institute of Peace

Genres: Essay

This year, AFSA celebrates the 100th anniversary of the United States Foreign Service. Over the last century, our diplomats and development professionals have been involved in groundbreaking events in history – decisions on war and peace, supporting human rights and freedom, creating joint prosperity, reacting to natural disasters and pandemics and much more. As AFSA looks back on this century-long history, we invite you to join us in also looking ahead to the future. This year students are asked to explore how diplomats can continue to evolve their craft to meet the needs of an ever-changing world that brings fresh challenges and opportunities to the global community and America’s place in it.

Runner-up: $1,250

National Poetry Series

The National Poetry Series seeks book-length manuscripts of poetry written by American residents or American citizens living abroad.

💰 Entry fee: $35

Heroica Poetry Prize

Heroica is delighted to announce the launch of our new Poetry Prize. Heroica is a global storytelling platform dedicated to sharing stories about all aspects of gender oppression. Stories that are real, inspiring, challenging and relatable. Your story matters.

2nd: £50 | 3rd: £25 | Publication in anthology

💰 Entry fee: $2

The Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2024

The Caterpillar Magazine

The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is an annual prize for an unpublished poem written by an adult for children aged 7–11. Every year since 2015, The Caterpillar Poetry Prize has been awarded to a single poem by a single judge – among them John Hegley, Chrissie Gittins, Roger McGough, Michael Morpurgo & Michael Rosen. The winning poems will be published in the Irish Times online.

€1,000 plus a week at Circle of Misse in France

2nd: €500 | 3rd: €250

💰 Entry fee: $16

Writer's Games

The Writer's Workout

Genres: Fiction, Short Story, Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Script Writing, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Writer's Games is a free competition with six surprise challenges over six weeks, designed to help each individual writer improve his or her craft fast. FREE registration is required in advance (opens May 1, 2024). Every entry from a registered participant receives honest, unbiased feedback from multiple judges. There's no elimination; push yourself to try each challenge and see what you alone can do in 72 hours each week. The top five winners each week are published in a competition anthology (that's 25 chances, plus the Judges' Choice!).

Publication in anthology, 72 Hours (26+ spaces)

📅 Deadline: July 22, 2024

Anthology Poetry Competition 2024

Established to recognise and encourage excellence in the craft of poetry writing and to provide a platform for publication, the Anthology Poetry Competition is open to original and previously unpublished poems in the English language. Entries are invited from poets of all nationalities, living anywhere in the world. There is no restriction on theme or style. Poems submitted should not exceed 40 lines. There is no limit to entries per person. Each submission will require a separate entry form and is subject to a separate entry fee.

💰 Entry fee: $18

📅 Deadline: October 31, 2024

NOWW 26th International Writing Contest

Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW)

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

Open to all writers in four categories: poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and critical writing.

2nd: $100 | 3rd: $50

💰 Entry fee: $7

Reader Views Literary Awards

Reader Views

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Reader Views Literary Awards program helps level the playing field for self-published authors, recognizing the most creative and exciting new books in the industry. Our awards program is recognized industry-wide as one of the top literary awards programs for independent authors.

Several marketing prizes (e.g. book review)

💰 Entry fee: $89

📅 Deadline: December 15, 2024

Historical Fiction Challenge

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult

For this short story challenge, all participants will be randomly assigned a period in history. As soon as you receive your assignment, you'll have until the closing time to research, write, and submit a short story of no more than 4,000 words, set during this historical period.

💰 Entry fee: $17

📅 Deadline: October 28, 2022 (Expired)

Rhina Espaillat Poetry Award

Plough Publishing

This award honors the achievements of the great Dominican-American poet, translator, and public school teacher Rhina Polonia Espaillat. The Rhina Espaillat Poetry Award will be awarded for an original poem of not more than fifty lines that reflects her lyricism, empathy, and ability to find grace in everyday events of life.

Publication in Plough Quarterly. Two finalists will receive $250

📅 Deadline: March 30, 2024 (Expired)

James Laughlin Award

Academy of American Poets

Offered since 1954, the James Laughlin Award is given to recognize and support a second book of poetry forthcoming in the next calendar year. Along with $5,000, the winner receives an all-expenses-paid weeklong residency in Miami Beach, Florida, and distribution of the winning book to approximately one thousand Academy of American Poets members. Submissions are accepted January 1 through May 15 each year.

Distribution of book to Academy of American Poets members

Discover the finest writing contests of 2024 for fiction and non-fiction authors — including short story competitions, essay writing competitions, poetry contests, and many more. Updated weekly, these contests are vetted by Reedsy to weed out the scammers and time-wasters. If you’re looking to stick to free writing contests, simply use our filters as you browse.

Why you should submit to writing contests

Submitting to poetry competitions and free writing contests in 2024 is absolutely worth your while as an aspiring author: just as your qualifications matter when you apply for a new job, a writing portfolio that boasts published works and award-winning pieces is a great way to give your writing career a boost. And not to mention the bonus of cash prizes!

That being said, we understand that taking part in writing contests can be tough for emerging writers. First, there’s the same affliction all writers face: lack of time or inspiration. Entering writing contests is a time commitment, and many people decide to forego this endeavor in order to work on their larger projects instead — like a full-length book. Second, for many writers, the chance of rejection is enough to steer them clear of writing contests.

But we’re here to tell you that two of the great benefits of entering writing contests happen to be the same as those two reasons to avoid them.

When it comes to the time commitment: yes, you will need to expend time and effort in order to submit a quality piece of writing to competitions. That being said, having a hard deadline to meet is a great motivator for developing a solid writing routine.

Think of entering contests as a training session to become a writer who will need to meet deadlines in order to have a successful career. If there’s a contest you have your eye on, and the deadline is in one month, sit down and realistically plan how many words you’ll need to write per day in order to meet that due date — and don’t forget to also factor in the time you’ll need to edit your story!

For tips on setting up a realistic writing plan, check out this free, ten-day course: How to Build a Rock-Solid Writing Routine.

In regards to the fear of rejection, the truth is that any writer aspiring to become a published author needs to develop relatively thick skin. If one of your goals is to have a book traditionally published, you will absolutely need to learn how to deal with rejection, as traditional book deals are notoriously hard to score. If you’re an indie author, you will need to adopt the hardy determination required to slowly build up a readership.

The good news is that there’s a fairly simple trick for learning to deal with rejection: use it as a chance to explore how you might be able to improve your writing.

In an ideal world, each rejection from a publisher or contest would come with a detailed letter, offering construction feedback and pointing out specific tips for improvement. And while this is sometimes the case, it’s the exception and not the rule.

Still, you can use the writing contests you don’t win as a chance to provide yourself with this feedback. Take a look at the winning and shortlisted stories and highlight their strong suits: do they have fully realized characters, a knack for showing instead of telling, a well-developed but subtly conveyed theme, a particularly satisfying denouement?

The idea isn’t to replicate what makes those stories tick in your own writing. But most examples of excellent writing share a number of basic craft principles. Try and see if there are ways for you to translate those stories’ strong points into your own unique writing.

Finally, there are the more obvious benefits of entering writing contests: prize and publication. Not to mention the potential to build up your readership, connect with editors, and gain exposure.

Resources to help you win writing competitions in 2024

Every writing contest has its own set of submission rules. Whether those rules are dense or sparing, ensure that you follow them to a T. Disregarding the guidelines will not sway the judges’ opinion in your favor — and might disqualify you from the contest altogether.

Aside from ensuring you follow the rules, here are a few resources that will help you perfect your submissions.

Free online courses

On Writing:

How to Craft a Killer Short Story

The Non-Sexy Business of Writing Non-Fiction

How to Write a Novel

Understanding Point of View

Developing Characters That Your Readers Will Love

Writing Dialogue That Develops Plot and Character

Stop Procrastinating! Build a Solid Writing Routine

On Editing:

Story Editing for Authors

How to Self-Edit Like a Pro

Novel Revision: Practical Tips for Rewrites

How to Write a Short Story in 7 Steps

How to Write a Novel in 15 Steps

Literary Devices and Terms — 35+ Definitions With Examples

10 Essential Fiction Writing Tips to Improve Your Craft

How to Write Dialogue: 8 Simple Rules and Exercises

8 Character Development Exercises to Help You Nail Your Character

Bonus resources

200+ Short Story Ideas

600+ Writing Prompts to Inspire You

100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors

Story Title Generator

Pen Name Generator

Character Name Generator

After you submit to a writing competition in 2024

It’s exciting to send a piece of writing off to a contest. However, once the initial excitement wears off, you may be left waiting for a while. Some writing contests will contact all entrants after the judging period — whether or not they’ve won. Other writing competitions will only contact the winners.

Here are a few things to keep in mind after you submit:

Many writing competitions don’t have time to respond to each entrant with feedback on their story. However, it never hurts to ask! Feel free to politely reach out requesting feedback — but wait until after the selection period is over.

If you’ve submitted the same work to more than one writing competition or literary magazine, remember to withdraw your submission if it ends up winning elsewhere.

After you send a submission, don’t follow it up with a rewritten or revised version. Instead, ensure that your first version is thoroughly proofread and edited. If not, wait until the next edition of the contest or submit the revised version to other writing contests.

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A Writer’s Guide on Successfully Applying for Legit Writing Contests (Tips + Tricks + More)

Applying for writing contests or competitions is a great way to put yourself and your literary work on the map..

Writing contests offers a space for you to showcase your works, as well as explore your strengths and weaknesses. It is also an opportunity for you as a writer to be recognized in the literary world.

However, writing competitions involve more than just sending in your writing and waiting for an approval. There are procedures and precautions that you must take to ensure you’ve done the right things that can guarantee a possible success. This article guides you through that process.

Look for Writing Competitions

There is no preparation without a writing contest. The first thing you should do is position yourself to have access to a range of writing competitions. There are several websites – which you can subscribe to in order to get information on writing competitions. These include: creative writing news , Brittle paper , Inkitt , Reedsy and More!

Carefully go through each writing contests’ requirement

Each writing competition has unique requirements according to their vision, mission and core values. As such it is important for you as an entrant to read these requirements before you apply. Read through the eligibility, know if you are eligible by age, location, nationality, also, know whether or not entry is free or paid.

Carry out research on the Judges of the Writing Competition

Writing perception is unique to people, therefore it is advisable to be familiar with the judges of the contest – visit their workshops if they have any, just to understand what makes them experienced enough to judge and see if you can learn a thing or two from them, so as to help you write a contest worthy story for submission.

Brainstorm and Have a Deep Understanding of the Theme

Before diving into writing for the competition, you should think carefully about the ideas , themes , and concepts for your story of entry. Outline what you want to write, know if it aligns with the theme of the competition and if it expresses it well enough.

If the theme of a contest is Freedom, do this

You question what freedom means
Know how the organizers of the contest want you to translate freedom
How you want to translate freedom
What does the story you want to write mean? Consider these before you dive into writing.

Write Exceedingly Well

The opening of your entry is a window to the rest of your work. Create a compelling hook, whether it’s a strange question, an intriguing statement, an action scene or a vivid description that draws readers in from the beginning. Hook readers at first read.

Develop Strong Characters and Plot

If your competition piece is a narrative, focus on creating well-rounded characters and a great plot to support characterization. Engage your readers with relatable characters and a storyline that keeps them invested from beginning to end.

Stay True to Your Voice

While it is essential to adapt to the competition’s requirements, do not lose your unique voice and style. Your voice can announce you. It can even set you apart from other entrants. So write that story your heart yearns for.

Edit and Revise

Never submit a first draft. Learn how to do a self-edit for writing competitions , or give it out to beta readers to help you. This can help you check for grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors. More so, ensure your writing is clear and understandable. Do not be ambiguous. Make sure to do this before sending it in.

After editing, proofread. Even the smallest typos can affect the quality of your work and can make it one less problem from a bunch of other entries. Proofread your work multiple times to remove errors, or, use editing applications to make sure you are in the clear.

Take Note of Word Limits

Most writing competitions have word limits. Some require just 2,500 words and nothing more, while some require nothing less than 1000 words.

Adhere to this rule while writing, make sure your work does not exceed the required word count because this can lead to your work being disqualified! Do not gamble your chances.

Meet Up with the given Deadline of the Writing Contest

If the deadline says 1st of May, make sure you submit BEFORE then. It is the safest way to keep your chances. Submissions after deadline are often rejected or the portals might have been shut down.

I hope these tips can help you successfully apply for a writing competition and write for one. Following this guide does not guarantee your position in the contest, but it gives you an edge. So cease the day, go ahead and apply for that writing contest. Do it for you!

70 Outstanding Writing Competitions and Book Awards (Ultimate Guide)

Attention all authors, aspiring authors, and hobbyist writers! Whether you’re an experienced novelist, an emerging writer, or a passionate hobbyist, writing competitions and book awards are an excellent way to get recognition for your work, not to mention potential cash prizes, publication deals, and invaluable exposure.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ve rounded up 70 of the most compelling writing competitions and book awards from around the globe. From short stories to poetry, first novels to works of non-fiction, there’s something here for every writer. These awards and competitions welcome works across a broad spectrum of genres, styles, and themes.

So, dust off that manuscript or fire up your computer and start crafting a winning entry for one of these fantastic writing opportunities. Deadlines vary, and the specifics of each contest are subject to change, so make sure to check out the provided links for all the details. Happy writing and good luck!

Man Booker Prize : This is arguably one of the most prestigious English-language literary awards in the world. It is awarded each year for the best original novel written in English and published in the UK. Deadline: Varies Website
The Newbery Medal : Awarded annually by the American Library Association to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. Deadline: Varies Website
Hugo Awards : One of the most prestigious science fiction awards. Named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. Deadline: Varies Website
Nebula Awards : Presented annually by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), for the best science fiction or fantasy works. Deadline: Varies Website
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction : One of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. Deadline: Varies Website
The Edgar Awards : Presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, named after Edgar Allan Poe. Deadline: Varies Website
Costa Book Awards : Recognizes some of the most enjoyable books of the year, written by authors based in the UK and Ireland. Deadline: Varies Website
The Women’s Prize for Fiction : One of the United Kingdom’s most prestigious literary prizes, awarded annually to a female author of any nationality for the best original full-length novel written in English. Deadline: Varies Website
Caine Prize for African Writing : An annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, published in the English language. Deadline: January 31, 2024 Website
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize : An annual award for unpublished short fiction open to citizens of the 53 Commonwealth countries. Deadline: November 1, 2023 Website
National Book Awards : Presented annually by the National Book Foundation, with awards in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature. Deadline: Varies Website
International Dylan Thomas Prize : Presented annually to the best published or produced literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under. Deadline: Varies Website
The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award : The world’s richest prize for a single short story, open to any novelist or short story writer from around the world who has been published in the UK or Ireland. Deadline: Varies Website
Bridport Prize : One of the most prestigious awards in the field of poetry, short stories, and flash fiction. Open internationally. Deadline: Varies Website
The Bath Novel Award : An international prize for emerging novelists writing for adults or young adults. The winner receives £3,000. Deadline: Varies Website
Bristol Short Story Prize : An annual international writing competition open to all published and unpublished UK and non-UK based writers. Deadline: Varies Website
Yeovil Literary Prize : Open to anyone over the age of 16, with categories for novels, short stories, and poetry. Deadline: Varies Website
Grindstone Literary International Novel Prize : This competition is open to any writer, anywhere, with a completed manuscript. There’s a cash prize and the chance for your work to be presented to literary agents. Deadline: Varies Website
The BBC National Short Story Award : One of the most significant awards for a single short story. Open to UK residents or nationals. Deadline: Varies Website
The Eric Gregory Award : For a collection by poets under the age of 30. Administered by the Society of Authors. Deadline: Varies Website
James Tait Black Prizes : Awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain’s oldest literary awards. Administered by the University of Edinburgh. Deadline: Varies Website
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook Short Story Competition : Offers the winner a cash prize, a place on an Arvon residential writing course, and publication on the W&A website. Open to all unpublished authors. Deadline: Varies Website
Bath Flash Fiction Award : An award for flash fiction of up to 300 words. Open to writers worldwide. Deadline: Varies Website
The Paris Review Discovery Prize : Known as the Plimpton Prize, this $10,000 award recognizes an emerging writer of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or literary criticism published in the Paris Review. Deadline: Varies Website
The Stella Prize : A significant literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing, championing diversity and cultural change. Deadline: Varies Website
Fish Publishing Short Story Prize : An international competition welcoming stories on any subject. The top ten stories are published in the Fish Anthology. Deadline: Varies Website
The Booker Prize for Fiction : One of the most prestigious international literary awards for novels written in English. Deadline: Varies Website
The Manchester Writing Competition : Offers the UK’s biggest literary awards for unpublished work, administered by Manchester Metropolitan University. Deadline: Varies Website
The Debut Dagger : Sponsored by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) in the UK, this is for the opening of a crime novel that has not been previously published in any form. Deadline: Varies Website
Foley Poetry Contest : Every year America Magazine receives hundreds of entries for the Foley Poetry Contest from around the world. Deadline: Varies Website
The Montreal International Poetry Prize : A global poetry competition open to any English poem of 40 lines or less. The prize awards $20,000 CAD to the winner. Deadline: Varies Website
Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing : This annual short story competition is all about food and drink, and awards a £10,000 prize. Deadline: Varies Website
The Caledonia Novel Award : An Edinburgh-based, international award for unpublished and self-published novelists. Deadline: Varies Website
ServiceScape Short Story Award : This contest is for new short stories of up to 5,000 words. The winner receives $1,000 and publication. Deadline: Varies Website
The New Voices Award : Presented by Lee & Low Books for a children’s picture book manuscript by a writer of color or a Native/Indigenous writer. Deadline: Varies Website
The Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award : An annual grant of $2,000 for an emerging writer of color who has not yet published a full-length work. Deadline: Varies Website
Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing : A writing competition open to writers of all levels, backgrounds, and from any country. Deadline: Varies Website
The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing : Alternates yearly between accepting unpublished fiction and nonfiction submissions. Deadline: Varies Website
Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize : Aimed at celebrating cutting-edge fiction, this contest awards a cash prize, a writing residency, and more. Deadline: Varies Website
Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship : This Australian fellowship awards $15,000 for the writing of a new biography. Deadline: Varies Website
The American Library in Paris Visiting Fellowship : Offers a $5,000 stipend for a month-long stay in Paris, France, for research and writing. Deadline: Varies Website
Hodson Trust-John Carter Brown Fellowship : A fellowship that supports work by academics, independent scholars, and writers working on significant projects relating to the literature, history, culture, or art of the Americas before 1830. Deadline: Varies Website
The McKitterick Prize : An award for first novels, in the name of Tom-Gallon, who bequeathed his estate to the Society of Authors. Deadline: Varies Website
CINTAS Foundation Fellowship in Creative Writing : Awards up to $20,000 in cash grants to individuals of Ibero-American descent working on a creative writing project. Deadline: Varies Website
The Malahat Review’s Open Season Awards : Open for poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction from writers worldwide. Deadline: Varies Website
The Orwell Prize for Political Writing : Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing. A political book prize, a journalism prize, and a prize for exposing Britain’s social evils. Deadline: Varies Website
Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction : This annual award recognizes the most outstanding work of fiction by an Albertan author. Deadline: Varies Website
Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting : This international screenwriting competition awards up to five fellowships of $35,000 each year. Deadline: Varies Website
CBC Literary Prizes : CBC Books has annual awards for original, unpublished works in categories: Short Story, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction. Deadline: Varies Website
William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition : Open to all writing in all genres, to all writers, this competition has multiple categories and prizes. Deadline: Varies Website
The Adventure Writers Competition : This is an international competition now in its tenth year, and there is a cash prize. Deadline: Varies Website
Drue Heinz Literature Prize : You can win $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press with this prize, awarded for a collection of short fiction. Deadline: Varies Website
Tony Hillerman Prize : An annual award by St. Martin’s Press for best first mystery set in the Southwest. The winner gets a contract with St. Martin’s Press. Deadline: Varies Website
Friends of American Writers Chicago Awards : FAW presents two annual awards: an Adult Literature Award for literary fiction or nonfiction, and a Juvenile Literature Award for a children’s/YA book. Deadline: Varies Website
The Sunday Times Short Story Award : A British competition open to any writer over 18 who has been previously published in the UK or Ireland. Deadline: Varies Website
Bristol Short Story Prize : An international writing competition based in Bristol, UK, which is open to all published and unpublished, UK and non-UK based writers. Deadline: Varies Website
PageTurner Award : Has a writing contest and book cover contest for indie authors. Varies Website
Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition : Offers a first prize of £200 in an annual competition for a story on any subject. Maximum 1200 words. Deadline: Varies Website
Young Lions Fiction Award : This $10,000 award recognizes “young authors,” which the rules define as any author aged 35 or younger. Deadline: Varies Website
Colorado Prize for Poetry : This contest from Colorado State University’s Center for Literary Publishing offers a $2,000 honorarium and publication of a book-length collection of poetry. Deadline: Varies Website
The Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize : This contest from Selected Shorts radio program at Symphony Space in New York City offers the winner $1000 and their story read live. Deadline: Varies Website
Bridport Prize : From the UK, the Bridport Prize offers a substantial amount of money for short fiction and poems. The competition is open to anyone. Deadline: Varies Website
Cinnamon Press Writing Awards : Any debut novelist or short story writer working in English can apply. Winners receive a one year mentorship program with the press. Deadline: Varies Website
Inkitt Novel Competition : Inkitt runs contests regularly, so be sure to check back often! You could win cash, or an investment towards a book deal. Deadline: Varies Website
Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize : Biennial essay competition, with a first prize of $20,000 and five runner-up prizes of $1,000. Deadline: Varies Website
Aesthetica Creative Writing Award : Aesthetica Magazine runs this contest for short fiction and poetry. Winners receive a cash prize, publication, and more. Deadline: Varies Website
Commonwealth Short Story Prize : This prize is part of Commonwealth Writers and is for unpublished short fiction. Winners and runners-up get cash prizes. Deadline: Varies Website
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction : Honors the best published works of fiction by American citizens in a calendar year. Three finalists also each receive a smaller cash prize. Deadline: Varies Website
Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence : This contest aims to honor outstanding and deserving writers, working and shaping literature. Deadline: Varies Website
Jan Michalski Prize for Literature : An international literary award for any work of fiction or nonfiction published anywhere in the world in any language. Deadline: Varies Website

PS if you’re entering a short story competition , it may be worth hiring an editor .

Rise of AI: The Impact on Short Story Competitions

The emergence and rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have brought about dramatic changes across all sectors, and the world of literature is no exception. In recent years, AI has started to show impressive capabilities in creative writing, leading to an unexpected consequence – some short story competitions are closing their doors due to a flood of submissions generated by AI.

AI tools, like OpenAI’s GPT-3, have become so sophisticated that they can generate short stories that are nearly indistinguishable from those written by humans. While this might sound like an exciting advancement, it has led to an ethical quandary for writing competitions.

The purpose of these contests has traditionally been to celebrate and encourage human creativity, offering aspiring and established writers a platform to share their work, receive recognition, and often, to win cash prizes. However, with AI now capable of generating compelling narratives, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for competition organizers to discern whether a submission is the work of a human or a machine.

This influx of AI-produced stories has led to a new form of competition flooding. It’s not uncommon for these competitions to receive thousands of entries, but with AI, that number could easily surge into the millions. Faced with an insurmountable volume of submissions, some competition organizers have found no other solution than to shut down.

This development raises important questions about the role of AI in creative fields. Is AI-generated literature a form of creativity to be celebrated, or does it undermine the value of human imagination? And if AI continues to infiltrate this space, how can competitions adapt to ensure they’re still rewarding and promoting human creativity?

The answers to these questions are still up for debate, and the situation is continually evolving. It’s clear, however, that the intersection of AI and literature will be a fascinating space to watch in the coming years.

Derek Murphy

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5 Tips to Stand Out in a Writing Competition

Last modified 2023-12-05
Published on 2021-02-23

Judges from writing competitions have been reading and evaluating submissions for years. Reading hundreds of pieces on a single subject can be grueling, especially if the submissions have similar topics, a similar tone of voice, and a similar writing style. Unsurprisingly, similar submissions will, unfortunately, be forgotten, and won’t be chosen as winners. But being a winner isn’t hard: you don’t need a piece full of articulate words or complicated construction to win.

Here are 5 tips for evaluating your piece of writing and boosting your chance to stand out in a writing competition in writing competition.

Tip 1: A balance between vivid descriptions and “cut to the chase.”

In the book 1Q84, Murakami used almost the last third of the book to describe the characters’ daily lives, from reading books, to looking out the window, or nervously walking around in their apartments waiting for the NHK subscription collectors to leave. The book has been controversial for readers, some enjoy living in the characters’ world and following along with their lives, but some get bored out and constantly long for what will happen next. The beauty of writing is in words, because it reflects the author’s conscious intention of word choice. However, as a young writer without much professional experience, you need to understand the thin line between overly and underly describing something. Depending on the word limit, as you edit, challenge yourself to cut as much backstory, florid description, and adverbs as possible. You should save your words for events that will move your plot forward or fuel the plot with a surprising revelation.

Tip 2: To stand out in a writing competition, students should write a strong opening that hooks the right audience

Before writing a strong opening, you should consider what audience is reading your story, and how you want to impress them with your submission. Young writers often fall into the trap of writing something in a school setting. Since all writing competition participants are currently in school, talking about school seems like the most straightforward way to start your piece of writing. The more you look beyond the walls of schools and friendship, the more novel and unexpected ideas will come in.

In multiple essay contests, Another way that students typically start with is the weather.

“It was a bright, sunny day… It was a dark and stormy night… It was rather chilly with a brisk easterly and a 50% chance of precipitation…”

Lovely warm weather is similar to “once upon a time”, a story for kids, not for a writing competition. According to Joe Craig, author of the Jimmy Coates spy series and judge of the National Short Story Week young writer competition, students should start with one of two things, and preferably both: People and conflict, because those two are the essence of any story.

The first sentence of your story is like the first impression when you meet someone new, you will either enjoy the conversation or just be thinking about ways to leave as soon as possible. A powerful, intriguing, and unexpected first line, or first paragraph will hook the audience into curiosity and make them more interested in your story.

Tip 3: Create a clear goal or purpose for your character and your story

Keep in mind the 3 C’s of excellent creative writing: clear, concise, and coherent in writing contests for high school students. These C’s are the most important factors when you consider your story and character. Clear in character goal, concise in plot, and coherent in storytelling are what our teachers always recommend to students who are taking our creative writing class.

Make sure that your character has a goal, or a mission that they are pursuing. Taking the novel “Around the World in Eighty Days,” for example. Phileas Fogg is a rich gentleman living a solidarity life, and he got into an argument about whether it’s possible to travel the world in 80 days. He determined to prove his belief and discovers different parts of the world, with ups and downs (we won’t tell you the end of the story, whether he made it or not). The story embarks on a globe-spanning adventure, and the character has a strong sense of purpose.

The novel is only 188 pages long, but it entails meaningful conversations and stories about adventure, friendships, hardships, and love. The reason behind this success is because of three C’s: clear in character goal, concise in the plot, and coherent in storytelling.

Therefore, make sure your character has a goal they’re pursuing that won’t leave readers to struggle to find meaning or wonder why they read the story at all. Finding ways to show the story rather than just telling readers what to know is an essential factor that differentiates great writers from poor writers.

Tip 4: A turning point, the moment of crisis, where is it?

Storytelling, especially the turning point moment, is where you can fuel the plot and make the reader wonder what will happen next. Every decision a character makes has good results and consequences, it either paid off or made the character encounter failure. A writer should know how to lead readers into the story and reveal the changes that make readers wonder about different decisions, the consequences that might happen, and feel curious about the character’s choice at that time.

Even a folktale as simple as Cinderella has a turning point where she wants to escape from the hell of her stepmother and stepsisters, and she decided to marry the prince. Whatever the case, something must be different as a result of their choice.

Tip 5: Nail the ending

The story only ends if you, a writer, put an end to it. Entering a writing competition requires you to write a story, regardless of your writing piece being a short story or longer work of fiction, you need an ending. We understand that it’s very challenging to write the perfect ending, because a conclusion needs to “tie up the loose ends neatly, but not too tightly.” It’s frustrating for judges to come across excellent short stories and longer fiction works, but are left hanging with a half-finished story. They don’t know what will happen with the character in the end, and how the stories will finally unfold. Writers have space to express their creative selves freely, and readers should have a feeling of completion and contentment after reading the story.

The great film director Alexander Mackendrick said, “If you’ve got a beginning, but you don’t yet have an end, then you’re wrong. You don’t have the right beginning.” He also said, “There are no wrong endings, only wrong beginnings.”

In planning your story, you should have a strong beginning and an as-strong ending, and the whole process of getting from point A to point Z. Endings are hard, but in the end, they’re all worth it.

Those five tips will help you with writing competitions for high school students, and will prepare you for potential writing awards. There’re multiple writing contests every year, Princeton Ten Minute Play Contest, Scholastic Art and Writing Awards in the United States, just to name a few.

We’re launching Writing Competition Preparation program , where s tudents will improve their writing and submit pieces for the following competitions:

The New York Times Editorial Contest
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction and Essay Contest
Ocean Awareness Contest

Aralia’s writing tutors are inspired teachers and professors who are committed to student success. They are recognized in their field or are currently teaching at top high schools and colleges/universities in the US.

Students will learn the nuances of language, including figurative language, effective structuring, and specific forms to apply to their own piece(s). Students will work directly with both literary and media texts to plan and write their piece(s). This class will also help the students write with an aim for an audience as their submission for nation-wide and international writing competitions that are timely with the course schedule.

Competitions

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Tips on Writing For Competitions

A good way to build up confidence when it comes to your own writing is by entering contests. Along with the potential prizes, it can be good exposure for your reputation as an author and is a way to get you to stretch your typing muscles. So here’s some advice on how best to approach these events and what you can do to improve your chances of progressing through them.

1. Read the Terms & Conditions Writing competitions tend to have to remove a number of their entries because of mistakes like incorrect font sizes or entries sent after the deadline. Read the Terms and conditions carefully before doing anything else. They will usually go over the theme of the event, any extra expenses when entering, and how they want your entry to be sent to them, e. g. digitally, post, etc.

2. Writing style It’s best not to enter competitions that have themes or word counts which you don’t typically write, such as how a short story writer will find writing micro fiction difficult. Stick to your strengths, this is a contest to show your best work, so avoid writing something you’re not used to.

3. Reusing your old work Don’t be afraid to use old pieces of fiction you’ve shelved away. Sometimes they can be a perfect fit for the contest you’re entering. Previously published stories can also be used. Just check to see if they allow fiction that has already been published, and can be found in their terms and conditions.

4. Expenses Whilst there are plenty of free competitions to enter, some require payment. This’ll also only be enough to pay for a single entry unless stated otherwise, meaning you won’t be able to send off more than one story.

5. Don’t apply to too many Keep in mind that you’ll already be working on at least entry, adding too much would be a lot to handle at once, depending on your schedule. It’s best to stick to only doing one or two contests at a time.

6. Keeping track Each time you apply or get an update on a competition entry, have a record of it so that you know what’s happening with your works. That way, you can have a good idea about which organisations enjoy your writing and which ones to avoid.

7. Keeping in the loop There are plenty of online websites that can track a range of competitions happening at the current moment. If you’d like to try doing this again, make sure to bookmark them and check up every now and then!

If you want to learn more about how to write stories, check out the story craft section of the website for more information and guidance.

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Top tips for winning a children’s writing competition

If you are a budding young writer and keen to take part in a writing competition or two, then we have a few handy bits of advice for you.

We have gathered together some top tips for what to write about, what not to write about, and how to put yourself ahead of the competition.

Grab your pen and paper or computer and let’s go!

Don’t set your story in school

School is a massive part of your life and you probably heard about the writing competition you’re entering through school too, but it’s important to choose another setting for your story.

Imagine sitting down to judge a writing competition and 80 per cent of the stories you read are set in a school. Break the mould, choose another setting, and stand out from the crowd with the judges.

You’ll also find it more enjoyable to stretch your imagination a little.

Create an adult protagonist

Much like the school setting situation, it’s often the case that the majority of entrants in a young writer’s competition will create a leading character who is the same age as themselves.

While there’s nothing wrong with that, it is much better to make your writing stand out where possible.

Try writing from an adult’s perspective instead — a fun challenge for yourself and your writing — or, if not an adult’s, an animal’s perhaps.

Don’t include real people

While it is fine to use someone as a muse, it is not recommended to have someone from real-life pop up in your fictitious story.

It is understandably tempting to include your current favourite popstar or football player, or even a character from another work of fiction — Alice in Wonderland, for example — but it makes for unoriginal reading and won’t be winning you any awards.

It’s also worth noting that celebrities come and go and so your story would become dated quickly with the inclusion of one.

If you love music, for example, feel free to incorporate the world of popstars into your story, but be prepared to invent your characters from scratch.

teenage boy writing story on bed with pen and paper

Start at the end

This may seem like an unusual suggestion but starting your story by writing your ending can produce really great results.

Often, young writers (and not-so-young writers) write stories in the order of events and then struggle with the ending. If you start with the ending, you can then spend your time working out how you get there, which most people find easier.

Be brave with your editing

When you have finished your first draft, it is important to edit it. Be prepared to cut sections out and rewrite others.

You may love a paragraph that you’ve written, but if it doesn’t offer something extra to the story, it needs to go.

A weak section? Gone. Could that part work better on the previous page? Move it. Could you word that differently? Try it!

Don’t get too fancy

As you progress through school, you’ll start learning a whole new vocabulary, and you’ll no doubt want to practice using it.

I remember doing this myself as a young teenager and filling every sentence with adjectives simply because I was proud to have learnt them.

The occasional adjective gives dimension and adds interest but a page full of them can make the reader’s brain ache! So, be descriptive but only when you need to be.

Good luck with your competition entries and don’t give up after just one competition — if you’re passionate about writing, keep at it!

Lucy is our lead editor and has been passionate about stationery since childhood. She has a particular fondness for rollerball and calligraphy pens and is a keen advocate of snail mail.

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How to win a creative writing competition - top tips

1. Don’t start with the weather

2. Cut your first paragraph

3. Don’t write a “spooky story”

4. Avoid celebrities or characters that already exist

5. Calm down. Keep it simple. Your words are giving me a headache.

6. Write an ending

7. Get out of school

8. Write from an adult’s point of view

9. Challenge every word

But it all boils down to this:

Find out how to enter this year’s National Short Story Week competition here!

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The Poets & Writers Guide to Writing Contests

Product Details

10 Incredible Writing Contest Tips Revealed

Choosing the Right Contest: Aligning with Your Goals

Understanding Writing Contest Rules: A Key to Success

Crafting a Winning Entry: Tips and Techniques

Dealing with Feedback and Rejection

Leveraging Wins and Losses: Building Your Writing Portfolio

Ghostwriting: A Hidden Avenue for Growth and Opportunity

Conclusion: Writing Contests as a Catalyst for Growth

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5 Writing Contest Strategies to Improve Your Winning Chances

Why Enter a Writing Contest?

Five Strategies That Worked For Me

1. Review Short Story Best Practices

2. Use the MICE Quotient

3. Focus on Theme

4. Spend Most of Your Time Revising

5. Supercharge Your Draft Using Critiques

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15 Tips to Help You Win Writing Contests

1) Practice

2) Understand contest format

3) Think about the purpose of the contest

4) Know the rules of the contest

5) Check out the organization holding the contest

6) Understand the judges’ preferences

7) Start collecting ideas

8) Sample from your good writing

9) Study your writing competition

10) Write a gripping story for your contest entry

11) Read it out loud

12) Proofread and edit

13) Pen a killer title

14) Enter in good time

15) Complete every step

Join the Commaful Storytelling Community

How to Win Writing Competitions

Winning Writing Contest Strategies

How to Win Writing Contests: The Basics

Writing Competition Word Counts

Writing Contest Themes

Writing Contest Guidelines

Create Memorable Characters

Write a Complete Story

Get the Judge’s Attention

Keep the Judge’s Attention

Write Dilemmas, Create Crisis