A writer approached me yesterday about a writing competition I recently helped oversee.
He told me that he had entered this particular competition, though his entry wasn’t chosen as a finalist. He went on to say that he’d read the winning stories and felt that his was better than the winning story. He wanted to know how I felt about this.
Well, even though I am a free agent now, it’s not appropriate for me to be discussing specifics of a writing competition I helped judge. I explained to this writer that judging a piece of writing is a highly subjective experience, and that many of the entrants in any particular writing competition have a similar reaction.
I do think writing competitions can be useful for a writer just starting out. For one thing, competitions offer built-in deadlines and goals to achieve.
Secondly, even though it is a highly subjective judging process, it does give talented writers at least the chance at being discovered in the slush pile.
So, I was wondering: What are your favorite writing competitions and why? What do you look for when deciding whether or not to enter a writing competition?
Chime in here in the comments section, or you can discuss on the forum.
-Maria Schneider
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Well, obviously the ones I win (wink). I have to say for that reason I love THE WRITING SHOW’S annual first chapter of a novel contest. In addition to the prize money, I was interviewed about my novel and receive 2 months of coaching from a pubbed author (Joe Nasisse). And he is incredible. This publicity can only help me place my work with an agent, which is my ultimate goal.
I also like the WD annual ‘everything’ contest. The cost is minimal and if you place, that’s fantastic (one of my poems made it in this year’s top 100).
Besides the (selfish) reasons for liking the above contests, I also like contests in which you get SOMETHING no matter whether you place. PNWA (Pacific Northwest Writers Association) has an annual contest (multi-genre) and regardless of whether you place or not, you get written fedback from two judges. And who can lose from that?
Peace, Linda
(I feel blessed)
I like the Mattia International Poetry Competition. It’s almost always open (since they do it three or four times a year). They have no entry fees, and cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Granted, it’s Canadian dollars, but that might actually be a bonus these days. The site, and the folks that run it, just feel “right”.
http://www.mattia.ca/competition12/rules12/rules12.html
I was a finalist once (along with 100 of my very best friends) but it still gave me sort of a glow.
~jon
I keep my eye out for competitions that don’t have an entry fee. The ones offered as a free feature at a writers conference are great, too. If I’ve paid for the conference, I sure want to take advantage of the contests. The number of entries is probably smaller so that increases the odds of winning or placing. I actually won 1st place in the nonfiction article category of the North Texas Christian Writers conference held in September (I entered 4 categories). It was the first writers conference I’ve attended, and I was thrilled to say the least. Felt like God just gave me a gift when I won! :)