Many people think that creative writing is just something that we did in school – however there are millions of people around the world from all age groups that spend their free time creative writing. It is a very relaxing and rewarding activity and all you need is a creative imagination and some writing utensils.
In this guide we shall look at creative writing contests – what they’re about and how you can enter.
In this article I will be looking at Creative Writing contests: what they are about and who can enter.
Keep an eye on any creative writing website and you’ll soon discover that there are thousands of writing contests been run throughout the year. Some are big name ones, other hosted by local writers groups throughout the country to help pay the bills! All of the reputable ones have one thing in common – the offer prizes. In most cases the prize will be money, but it could be goods or services.
In general writing contests are pretty open but restrictions do sometimes apply e.g. if it is a children’s contest then age groups will dictate who can enter. The contest maybe confined to a certain geographical or political location. I’ve seen some contests that are age restrictive at the upper end e.g. you have to be 60 plus to enter.
While well-known and popular contests attract thousands of entrants if your reason for wanting to enter a contest is to win a prize then I’d suggest you stick till the lesser know competitions, that way you’ll increase your chance of winning. The prize might not be massive but it will give you an invaluable insight about what judges are looking out for.
No matter what kind of creative writing you are interested in: romantic, poetry, short stories, horror, there are contests out there to suit your style.
Costs, I feel anyway, you have to be careful about. There is no sense spending £10 with a chance of winning £50, when I see these contest my first thought is ‘fake contest.’ Don’t let that put you off the majority of contests are legitimate and for an entry fee of between £3 and £10 you can possibly win prizes in excess of £200 plus. Some pretty contests are free to enter, these are generally hosted by well know companies or organizations.
This blog has always been careful when recommending writing contests we do our best to keep the dodgy ones from you. How do you recognize a dodgy contest? Well I look out for two or three keymarks: 1. is it an individual or organization that is running the contest. 2. What sort of prize is on offer and what is the entry fee. 3. Is it an ‘open ended’ contest ie no specified closing date. 4. Are the winners included in a anthology are are you expected to buy ‘x’ number of books. 5. You relinquish your writes to your work, this is a big no-no!
How do you decide if a contest is reputable then? Well most contests that I enter the judges name is available to me and he or she will probably be an author or someone who has a bit of a reputation. Often the contest has been running for a few years and again if you check out one or two websites like this and find it mentioned you’re generally pretty safe.
One piece of advice I cannot emphasise to strongly is to always make sure that you have read through the entry details thoroughly to avoid being disqualified. Some of the details that people often miss are: word count, formatting and deadlines. If the contest says 2,000 then don’t submit 2,500 words, they won’t even look at it and you’ll loose your entry fee. Watch formatting fancy italic fonts are out; the will attract the judges attention, for two seconds before they bin it.
One strong piece of advice I’ll offer is to make the opening few paragraphs really count, get the judge interested in what they are reading. Remember they will be possibly reading hundred’s of these scripts and you’ve really got to hook them in the first few paragraphs.
Another by the way tip is that if it is a recognized author that is acting as judge you should know what type of writing interests them and write that sort of story. Also if the contest is an annual contest look back to see what type of story/poem/script won in previous years. In other words research.