Submitting to Writing Contests

Contests of any sort can be fun. They test you in a variety of ways, and they give you practice in the challenges of competition. When they are based on a skill you've spent years honing, a contest can feel like a nice measure of your ability. And many newer writers like the feel of writing to a deadline and meeting it that comes with a contest. It gives them a feeling of accomplishment. But do you want to try a contest this year? There are things to consider.

Why Enter? 

Along with the feeling of accomplishment at meeting a contest deadline, contests can also help you practice scrupulously following specific guidelines. Some contests have itemized guidelines and varying even slightly from the “rules” can have your entry kicked out before it ever has the chance to be read by a judge. 

Speaking of judges, some contests have quite impressive judges and so making the short list of winners can be incredibly morale boosting. Plus, publishers like “award winners,” so if your manuscript has won awards or you have won awards for other manuscripts, that is often a real plus for smaller publishers when they consider any project you submit as they can market you as an award-winning author when the time comes to sell the book they've acquired from you. Publishers really like “award winners.” 

It's not just small publishers who are impressed by contest winners. The doubters among your friends and family can be impressed as well. Some writers find a contest win helps friends and family treat writing (and writing time) with more respect. It can also help you to treat your writing with more respect when you get the affirmation of winning a contest or even placing in the short list for a contest. 

Finally, some contests offer free extras for the cost of the contest entry. Some contests will automatically sign you up for a newsletter or give you membership in a community. Some will offer electronic workshops that announce the winners and what made that entry a winner. Some contests offer critiques on the short list manuscripts. So, these extras can help offset the cost of the contest. 

Keep In Mind 

Even with all the pluses of contest entry, there are some things to keep in mind. For one, depending on the size of the contestant pool, your odds of winning are actually less than your odds of acceptance through normal submissions avenues. I, for instance, have written many, many books for publication, and though I've been on the short list of every contest I've entered, I've never won. So, for me, it was definitely easier to sell a book than to win a contest. If you're not ready emotionally for the possibility of losing, it's better not to enter. Some writers can actually find losing to be demotivating for future submissions of their manuscript. 

Another thing to watch for is contest rules that tie up the manuscript for months on end. Not all contests do this, but some require that the contest entry not be on submission during the period of time the contest is considering the manuscript. That can actually slow down your publication journey and be extra frustrating if you don't win. Keep in mind this isn't true of every contest. Some contests tie up a manuscript, but if you are entering a contest that doesn't, be sure you keep submitting the piece to publishers or agents or even other contests. It's never a good idea to keep all your eggs in one basket, so keep the manuscript moving through the submissions pipeline.  

Finally, some contests can be expensive. Some novel contests can cost over a hundred dollars to enter. Don't invest large amounts of money into contests unless the contest comes with a free “extra” that would be worth the price of submissions, even if you don't win.  

Increase Your Odds 

If you do submit to a contest, it simply makes sense to be certain you do everything you can to have the best odds of winning. Contests have many entries, and the judges start by eliminating all the obviously flawed manuscripts as quickly as possible. It's the only way to make the process of judging manageable. At the very least, you don't want your story or essay or poem to be discarded in that first elimination pass. 

So, let's look at the most common reasons manuscripts are eliminated early in the judging.  

First, many stories start with huge information dumps or spend a lot of time catching the writer up on the character's backstory. Many stories start in dull moments like waking up in the morning. Honestly, the “waking up” opening only works if you're waking up to discover you're in space or locked in a trunk or have a monster staring into your face, something that makes this moment of waking up different from all other moments of waking up. Instead, start as exciting as you can manage so you can grab the reader fast either with your compelling conflict, your great voice, your interesting action, and/or your exciting scene that is rooted in amazing world-building and sensory detail. The first pages of a work are important when submitting to publishers, but it is even more important in contests. If you don't grab them right away, they'll move on to an entry that does. 

Equally important as making it through the first elimination pass is being certain you haven't broken the rules. Rule-breaking can get you eliminated even before the judge has read one word of your actual work. For instance, if the contest is for short stories and you send a poem, it is probably not even going to be read, just eliminated. If the contest is for stories up to 1,200 words and you send 1,500, or even 1,250 sometimes, that will get you an automatic elimination. Essentially, contests can't afford to hand out the winning prize to someone who ignored the rules. That only encourages more and worse rule-breaking in the future.

Although all submissions benefit from clean manuscripts without typos or mistakes in grammar or format, this is especially true of contests. Keep in mind, that first pass really wants to cut through as many manuscripts as possible. You do not want to give them a reason to eliminate yours because you decided to use a weird, nonstandard font, or because you don't understand punctuation or grammar rules, or because you didn't correct your typos. As a typo-queen, I understand typos, but in a contest entry, they can eliminate your manuscript from the running. 

End Your Entry with Style 

The last important thing to keep in mind with a contest entry is how it ends. Be sure it doesn't simply trail off. Be sure the ending makes sense with what came before it. Be sure the ending satisfies. With fiction, be sure the ending reflects the efforts and actions of the characters and reflects how the characters have changed through the challenges in the story. The ending is your last chance to linger in the mind of the judge, so don't throw away that chance. It can get you the win. 

Though winning isn't everything, it is the reason most people enter contests. They want to win. So, if you choose a contest, or several, this year, give yourself the best chance of winning by sending your best writing in a form that complies with the rules. And remember, you're already a winner just by having overcome the fear of trying it. And I'm proud of you. 

Related Articles for Contests

• 10 Points to Ponder Before You Submit
• Why Submitting to Contests is a Win-Win
• So You Want to Be a Children's Poet