how to write in creative writing competition

How To Win a Writing Contest

by Joe Bunting | 33 comments

Writing contests are a great way to practice your writing skills and win prizes. Do you want to learn how to win a writing contest? 

If you enter a writing contest, there are a ton of benefits. It's a chance to practice your writing. It motivates you to write more and finish  stories.

And, of course, most writing contests come with grand prize winners and prize money.

In this article, you can learn how to enter a writing contest and how to win one. Read on to learn more!

How NOT to Win a Writing Contest

Before you learn how to become a contest winner, it's worth knowing what will prevent you from winning a contest. Let's get the obvious out of the way.

Submitting a proofed entry that is free of writing errors and follows the contest guidelines is  the minimum requirement you need to meet if you want to win a writing contest.

Here are some common mistakes that prevent writers from winning, entry after entry:

• Don't proofread . Do I really need to tell you to proofread? Personally, I'm lenient when it comes to some typos. If the piece is excellent but has two or three mistakes. I recognize that there is time to fix them before we publish the story. A grammatical error every once in a while won't break your story, but enough that clutters the story will.
• Knowingly or unknowingly break grammar rules . If you want to win, observe proper grammar . Again, I don't really need to tell you this, do I?
• Write 1,000 words more than the word count limit . You will  not  win a writing contest if you submit a 2,500 word story to a writing contest asking for contest entries 1,500 words or less. Don't waste your entry fee.
• Submit a literary fiction masterpiece to a supernatural romance contest . Yes, that's a recipe for failure. Writing contests generally lean toward certain genres. If the genre is not explicitly stated, read previously published stories from the contest to get a sense of what the judges will be looking for.
• If there is a theme, ignore it . Writing contests often ask for pieces that fit a certain theme or even follow a prompt. A good way to lose a writing contest is to ignore the contest theme requirements and write whatever you feel like.

These are  obvious, right? I would like to believe that they are, but I've judged enough writing contests to know that many people  don't  seem to understand these tips.

Now, on to the bulk of this article: how to win a writing contest.

Note: These are just the base requirements. Following them will only ensure that your piece is considered, not chosen as the winner.

How to Write a Winning Short Story Idea

How do you write a story that could win a writing contest? And how do you find a really great short story idea? In this coaching video, Joe gets coached by author Sarah Gribble, the #1 bestselling author of SURVIVING DEATH.

She helps Joe workshop his short story to turn it into what will hopefully be a winning short story. If you've ever wanted to win a writing contest, this is absolutely going to help you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBQXbNje0ec

5 Tips to Win a Writing Contest

When it comes to winning story contests, follow these five tips:

1. Recognize you are human

This may be a strange way to begin a list of tips on how to win a writing contest, but let me explain.

Stephen King once said, “To write is human, to edit is divine.” But instead of the word “edit,” you could substitute the phrase “judge writing contests,” because editors and writing contest judges play a similarly godlike role.

To scrutinize the actions of the judges of a writing contest is impossible.

All writing is subjective. A judge attempts to say, “This story is good,” or “This story is bad,” but really, they are just choosing based on their own idiosyncratic taste. Winning comes down to a judge's experience—and luck.

What is the writer to do, then? Submit your piece, pray it wins, and then go write your next story (and find a new contest to submit to). Nothing else can be done for a creative writing competition.

This is why winning—although ideal (it comes with cash prizes or an honorable mention)—isn't the only reason you should enter a writing contest. There are other benefits like getting constructive feedback and giving yourself a time commitment that will motivate you to finish writing your story.

In a real life writing career, you have to keep writing and submitting based on the guidelines. A contest is great practice. 

2. Your main character must be fascinating

What fascinates humans the most is contrast.

Light vs. Darkness. Good vs. evil. A good character trait for a hero battling the evil in the world. A normal person battling the evil inside themselves. An evil person drawn, despite themselves, to a moment of goodness.

Life vs. death. A woman's struggle against cancer, against a villain that wants to kill her, against the deathly banality of modern life.

Love vs. loss.

Neat vs. messy.

Contrast fascinates readers. Does your main character have contrast? If you want to win a writing contest, they should.

3. Surprise endings

I love surprise endings. All judges do. However, I hate  out of the blue endings.

A good surprise ending can be predicted from the very beginning, but the author skillfully distracts you so that you never expect it (the traditional method of distracting the reader is to use red herrings ).

Bad writing is creating a surprise ending that cannot be predicted and feels like the writer is simply trying to give the reader something they would never expect.

Instead, surprise the reader. Don't make up the most shocking ending without providing the clues to this ending earlier in the story.

4. Repeat with a twist

In the last few lines of your story, repeat something from earlier in the story with a twist. This echoed ending will reverberate with your reader giving closure and emotional power.

For example, you might repeat the opening image . If the snow is falling in the first lines of the story, you might say, “As night closed, the snow continued to fall. He thought it would fall for all his life.”

You might repeat an action . If your character is eating at a diner with his wife in the first scene, perhaps in the last scene he is eating alone at the same diner all alone.

You might  repeat a character . If your heroine has a meet-cute with an attractive man early in the story, you can end the story with him unexpectedly showing up at her workplace.

Repeating with a twist gives your ending an artful sense of unity. It's also really fun!

5. Write what you know (even if what you know never happened)

In one writing contest, I read a story written by a Brazilian writer about American kids driving around, eating hamburgers, and going to prep school.

“Write what you know,” I wrote to her over email. “I'm sure there are fascinating stories where you live. But don't regurgitate stories you see on American television. You will never know that world as deeply as you know your own.”

On the other hand,  Ursula Le Guin said this about the advice to write what you know :

I think it’s a very good rule and have always obeyed it. I write about imaginary countries, alien societies on other planets, dragons, wizards, the Napa Valley in 22002. I know these things. I know them better than anybody else possibly could, so it’s my duty to testify about them.

How to (Really) Win a Writing Contest

There is, of course, no guaranteed way to win a writing contest. All you can do is write your best piece, follow the contest rules and submit. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts.

All that's to say, don't over think this.

If You Want a Little More Help…

In case you're feeling stuck, we offer a free guide to help you come up with better short story ideas, and thus have a better shot at winning writing contests.

You're welcome to download the guide, for free, here:

Click here to get 10 Questions for Better Story Ideas free »

I hope you enjoy the guide, and most of all, I hope you write some really great stories.

Want more tips? Here are a few good resources:

• Upcoming Writing Contests from The Write Practice
• Ten Secrets To Write Better Stories
• How to Write a Short Story With Deep Structure (And Win a Prize for It)
• How do contest judges pick the winners?
• 20 Tips For Winning Writing Contests

Have you ever entered a writing contest? How did it go?  Let us know in the comments section .

As you prepare for your next writing contest, get a free copy of our 1-page guide, 10 Questions for Better Story Ideas here »

Spend fifteen minutes creating two characters with high contrast (see Tip #2). Write one paragraph describing the first character and another paragraph describing the second.

Then, post your two paragraphs in the Pro Practice Workshop . And if you do post, please be sure to give feedback to your fellow writers.

Have fun and happy writing!

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

Work with Joe Bunting?

WSJ Bestselling author, founder of The Write Practice, and book coach with 14+ years experience. Joe Bunting specializes in working with Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, How To, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Nonfiction, Science Fiction, and Self Help books. Sound like a good fit for you?

33 Comments

I haven’t entered many contests before but am trying for the flavor of the month contest on unigo. I am stuck with finding a unique and captivating story idea because it has to be under 250 words.

To win? Yes that is a goal. However, more than that I would absolutely love feedback from the judges. That was one thing that as a swim referree I ALWAYS had to do. If I disqualified a swimmers race, I absolutely had to talk to the swimmer and explain why I called what I called.

I miss that here. I get great feedback from the group, but I would love to hear why my story fell in the place it fell. It’s ok, if it lost the toin coss … uh … coin toss. That means it was close and the next time it might be me. However, if I have a writing habit that will always get my story tossed in the round file, I want to know that, even more so.

I do appreciate always getting published, but I’d love to see the judges crib notes on my submittals.

thank you so much I just got an idea how to end my story while reading this. concerning writing contest to be honest I never did the how to loose rules but didn’t do the how to win either so I need to work on that. thank you again

I’ve never entered a writing contest. One reason is that I haven’t really researched writing contests. I assume that most contests are not in my genre like sci-fi or horror. I guess that’s what make them “Creative Writing” contests. The overlying reason, however, is fear of rejection, and I’ve never submitted anything. When I read literary magazines, I get so envious o what others write, I doubt myself as a writer. I get everyone has their own style and voice. I guess I’m not confident in myself to enter a contest.

I can relate to everything you’re saying here. I entered the Becoming Writer contest (associated with this blog) because the email came to my inbox and it includes 6 weeks access to the critique group forum. (I promise I’m getting no kickback for plugging their contest.)

I haven’t submitted my story yet. They’re not due until the 20th, and we get to workshop them first. I’ll be posting it for feedback today. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve never entered a competition before, until the short story one you have going now. I’ve written for myself all along though and only in the last year or so have thought of publishing. I love the fact that we can all have critique and be published, no matter who wins. I have no allusions as to winning though, as you say, writing is very subjective so you never know. Not all subject matter is everyone’s ‘cup of tea’

Thanks for all the tips…. Though I’ve written my short story and put it on the site and can’t see any major changes I will make. Next time…….

The United Authors Association has one going this summer. Any genre. Prizes totaling $500. Visit http://www.TheUAA.ORG if you are interested.

Thanks Robert.

I’m doing the Becoming Writer contest largely because I got the email in my inbox. And because it includes 6 weeks access to the critique group forum. I’m more interested in trying out the community, but the contest will be fun too.

Very cool Ric. Have fun!

What’s interesting to me is that I have just signed up for entering this contest. I had mentioned to Joe that I’m so so scared and I am. But, I believe that it’s normal to be scared sometimes and admit this. As long as you confront the fear. At my age, I’ll always remember what Roosevelt said. The only fear that you have is fear itself. KEN Thanks again, JOE

Honestly, I get scared about this kind of thing all the time. The fear tells me it’s important.

The fear is the reason to write even more.Love the quote,it inspires me too!!

I’ve been meaning to do another round of submissions, so this was the kick in the pants I needed! I entered a flash fiction contest run by Tethered By Letters. They had an option for 3 submissions, so I did that.

It always makes me feel vulnerable to enter contests, or to post my writing at all. But being a member of Becoming Writer and having my own blog have helped.

Good luck to all entering the latest BW contest!

Hi..wonderful post,Joe…In fact,speaking for myself,i would not think about writing contests till now..for i have often felt that submitting my pieces of writing would halt the process of my writing projects…but every writer deserves a break–to overcome their writer’s block…For me,the deviation is these opportunities that come by my way.I have submitted my work for some anthologies and have enjoyed the process despite fruitless results.We just need to continue believing in our stories and keep writing!!!

Cheers, Jassie

OKay, Joe, I have emailed you a time or two and I have a story to go. I had the story ready a few hours after paying the fee for the contest.

However, I have been unable to upload to the forum or find a way to get feedback. I have not received an invite and the clock ticks. I request some assistance.

Practice, practice and even more practice. If you are not a wonderkid of some sort you can never expect to excel at anything without a lot of work. Use Help from outsources and from the friends. And start practicing!)

I’ve entered a few writing contests, and I value them the most because of what they teach you. The ones requiring a synopsis have taught me how to format a synopsis and recognize the core points of my plots, and contests with short word count limits taught me how to chop down my writing to what really matters. That’s more important to me than winning anything immediately. It definitely helps writers advance long-term, whether they win or not.

Ya I agree. It’s really annoying when a writing contests is so huge and there are so many people joining it, that I don’t even know if my story will get read. It would actually be nice to get feedback even if I didn’t win, ya know? But I heard from a friend about a writing contest that has limited entry. They only allow 100 people in the contest so that people have a better chance of winning and you get feedback, even if you don’t win. Do you think they’re legit?

:/ I can never find any fantasy novel writing contests most of them are everything else and almost always for novelettes, short stories or poems. XP Except for Wattpad, that’s over now to. (Lost.)

I lost the Wattpad, Wattys 2016 so after eating much chocolate I’m trying to figure out why. I didn’t make any of the mistakes listed here. So, now what? Does my writing just plain suck donkey flop? *Sigh*

I wouldn’t look at it like that. Losing definitely doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. Instead, get to work on your next story (and your next contest), and use what you learned from the last to practice for the next one. It’s less about winning and losing and more about getting better as a writer.

(Try #2, fixing typos.)

Okay I will ^;^ What also made it hard what that they also to the number of reads, comments and votes into account so I guess that had a part in it too. They said that it wouldn’t decide if a book won or not, but I’m thinking that that stuff plays a bigger part than they are letting on.Ooh well, I joined to get help with my writing and get feedback, so it’s all good.

Yes, I want to grow and get better at this.

I’ll just wait for next years Wattys; when it comes to contests most just want short stories. I don’t know how to do those yet. Or even worse are a scam. ;-; No thanks, I don’t need that kind of a headache.

(Try #3 fixing typos, I’m not that great at typing comments for some reason.)

Okay, I will ^;^ What also made it hard was that they also take into account the number of reads, comments and votes a book has. Mine only had 14k reads when the ones that won have millions. X.X They said that you could still win even if you don’t have many reads and such, but I’m thinking that that stuff plays a bigger part than they are letting on. Oh well, I joined to get help with my writing and get feedback, so it’s all good.

And thanks for replying. ^^

Agree with everything you said here. And you’re right about twists. They must be set up properly, and not just done out of the blue for shock value. I’d also like to say that your advice here is good for all submissions, not just contests. Great post!

Could this be anymore blatant clickbait? Claims to be about advice for winning contests, instead lists obvious do not points then says “git gud go write”

Every time I open “Upcoming Writing Contests,” I get this message: “This site is not private. Someone may be trying to hack into …” I don’t get this message for the other 4 links, only for the list of contests. Is this happening to others?

The best advice I’ve ever had is to write what I know. I once tried to write a story pretending I lived in a town in America. I got it all wrong; descriptions of people, their clothing, dialogue, descriptions of the street, bars, diners. Everything. Then I was stuck. I won’t try writing about being in line at Starbucks. I’ve never been to Starbucks and don’t know a thing about it, except that they serve coffee. Anything that is fantasy is easier for me because I have a gift for creating fantasy, of places and happenings which no one has ever seen. I must strive to be convincing and make the story unputdownable. Joe, I’m at a stage where I don’t dream of being a winner. I want to participate, have somebody read my story and give feedback, and read stories members submit for the contest. Sorry that I’m not active on TWP as much as I’d like to be, but I have a time limit now due to health issues. Cheers everybody. Happy writing.

Not sure if I should ask this, but since I´m not an English native can I send a copy of my work to any contest? If so, one of my works are not done yet.

I am working on a story for a while for a contest this helped a lot but can you give me a list of what they look for?

this is the very first time,I’ve ever gotten the gallantry to actually press the dreaded submit button for a writing contest without the wrath of inhibition drown me in regret of what could have been ! honestly, i have never been more relieved, then i have today! thank you for the amazing pointers , they have been put into action, i hope!

and now, i shall wait heh

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Daily Writing Tips

20 tips for winning writing contests.

Submitting stories to writing contests (Reedsy has an updated list with over 300 contests ) can be quite lucrative if you know the tricks of the trade. At the same time it is easy to make an avoidable mistake and miss out.

Many books published now use single quotation marks for speech. I followed this format for an entry in an American contest. After the contest I received an email from the main judge which said: You may have done well in this contest but for the fact that I could not get past the abominable use of apostrophes instead of quotation marks .

Don’t let this happen to you. Worse, you will probably never know why you were not among the winners.

Tip 1 . Always adhere to traditional standards of correctness (see above). A contest is not the time to throw the rule book away. This applies most strongly in writing contests which are run by universities or colleges.

Tip 2 . If it says Literature contest , that’s what it means. They are looking for subtlety, depth, a subtext, creativity, and clever (even poetic) use of language; an emphasis on interesting often dark characters, and setting rather than plot.

Tip 3 . If it says Writing competition , well written popular fiction is what will win. Now your emphasis must be on plot. You need a great opening line and an absorbing plot. Plot follows your main character’s conflict . Give this person an interesting difficult tussle of some kind. Your story ends when your character has resolved the conflict against all odds.

Tip 4 . If it states a particular theme in the rules, then that theme must be intrinsic to your story.

Tip 5 . Whatever kind of work you are writing, title is everything. The title is the judge’s first impression of your work. Spend time thinking of something relevant to the story that is eye catching and appealing.

Tip 6 . Use your delete key. Read and reread your work. That paragraph you really like that you spent hours over. Does it advance your story? No? Then delete it. Does your story only get going on the second page? Delete page one.

Tip 7 . Short stories work best from a single point of view. Don’t confuse the judge.

Tip 8 . Does your entry use the right tense? Present tense may be fashionable but it doesn’t work for every story. If your story is immediate and all is happening now, use present tense. If it spans a time period coming up to the present use past tense.

Tip 9 . Strive for active rather than passive voice.

Tip 10 . Do not use real people for your characters. Real people in fiction are boring. Your main character should be larger than life yet still believable.

Tip 11 . Do not use exclamation marks except possibly for a single word exclamation such as “Ouch!”

Tip 12 . Beware of clichés. It is easy to use one without noticing.

Tip 13 Use strong verbs rather than adverbs. Likewise avoid strings of adjectives and NEVER write “suddenly.”

Tip 14 . Try to write something DIFFERENT. Think of the poor judge reading hundreds of stories set in her home country; then she gets to a well written entry set in Antarctica.

Tip 15 . If you know who the judge will be, read his work; try to read the entries of previous winners. Do everything you can to fit your entry to the contest.

Tip 16. Use the entry form for all your details. NEVER put your name on the manuscript.

Tip 17 . Font: Use 12 point Times New Roman or Arial unless the rules ask for something else.

Tip 18 . Some contests give you a choice between paper or online entry. Choose paper whenever you can and pay the postage. Emailing submissions (unless as a Word attachment) can play havoc with your careful formatting.

Tip 19 . Please do not decorate your manuscript or add that nice picture of your pet dog or the photo of yourself. All that work to end up shredded. Don’t add a cute little note for the judge (Yes some people do).

Tip 20 . Proofread, proofread and do it again. If entering online print out to check your work. Read it out loud to yourself. If judges can’t decide between two entries and one is missing a comma or has a word spelled incorrectly and the other has been submitted perfectly set-out without typos; guess which one will win?

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8 thoughts on “20 Tips For Winning Writing Contests”

…unless as a Word attachment…

No. Sending any form of word processor files (.doc, .docx, .odt) is about the worst thing you can do if you want to preserve your formatting. A file can look completely different on different computers, even if the program used is completely identical (down to a build version). There is a format that’s explicitly intended for looking exactly the same everywhere, and that’s pdf (and it’s an open format, too).

A relevant topic to ask this question?

Can a story have more than one theme?

I’m passing this on:

This is a nice genuine inexpensive Oz competition the 8 line poem contest is open until February and they take PayPal

Diana Thurbon

I think that’s overstating it. Different versions of Word will rarely produce documents that look “completely different”. Mostly they will look the same I’d say. What you should do, of course, is follow the instructions provided by the competition rules.

“At the same time it is easy to make *an avoidable mistakes and miss out.”

Proofread, proofread and do it again…

DOH! I should have caught that one.

Quoting Simon Kewin “Different versions of Word will rarely produce documents that look “completely different”. Mostly they will look the same I’d say.”

An oft-overlooked setting which does cause havoc to any Word file is the default printer. For reasons totally beyond common sense, Word links the layout of the page to the printing settings of the default printer. Change your current printer to a new one and you can get quite some money by betting on the layout having changed. We have two suppliers of printers in our office and just moving up or down one floor does make the same document look different.

Add this the rules for widows, orphans and if the font is available on the judge’s computer and yes, documents can look very different indeed. Pdf is a great format, the document will be displayed exactly the same be it on Windows PC, Linux or Mac.

Great tips on winning writing contests. I used to entry poetry contests, and I entered a short story contest. Winning a contest can depend on what the judges like to read.

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How to Win an Essay Contest

Last Updated: February 28, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Daniel Santos . Daniel Santos is a College Admissions & Career Coach and Prepory's co-founder and CEO. Prepory is a leading college admissions consulting firm that has guided over 9,000 students from 35 countries through the US college admissions process. Prepory is a member of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling and a trusted admissions counseling partner to several competitive high schools across Florida. Prior to founding Prepory, Daniel worked at various leading law firms and the United States House of Representatives. Daniel has been featured as a college admissions and career coaching expert across several major publications, including the Wall Street Journal, FORTUNE, and The Harvard Crimson. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 170,687 times.

If you're hoping to write an essay that will win a contest, there are several ways to make your writing stand out. Before you start writing, make sure you read the essay guidelines so that you're following all of the rules. Come up with a topic that fits the contest's theme and craft a detailed, descriptive, and interesting essay. By making your essay original and error-free, you'll be much more likely to win the contest.

Crafting and Editing the Essay

• If you don’t follow one or more of the rules when writing and submitting your essay, your essay may be disqualified, so make sure to read over the rules several times if necessary.
• It’s a good idea to print out the guidelines so that you can refer to them as you’re writing.

• It’s super important to stick with the theme when you’re writing and not get off-topic.
• For example, if the contest asks you to write about a person who has influenced you, make a list of the people that have had a big impact on your life and choose the person who you can write lots of descriptive examples about.

• It’s okay if you have several different drafts of one essay.
• Make an outline of your essay before you start to help you organize your thoughts.

• Ask a friend or family member to read over your essay to see if it’s interesting and makes sense.
• It may help you to put the essay aside for a day or two after you’ve written it so that you can revise it again with a fresh perspective.

• It may help to ask another person to read over the essay to see if they spot any mistakes.

• Check to see when the submission deadline is in the contest’s guidelines and rules.
• It may help you to put the essay deadline on your calendar so that you don’t forget when it is.
• If you're sending the essay by mail, make sure you send it far enough in advance that it will reach the judges in time.

Making Your Essay Stand Out

• An example of an attention-grabbing introduction might be, “I held my breath for 82 seconds before I was yanked out of the water,” or “Sarah walked slowly up to the door, her body drenched in nervous sweat, before firmly knocking.”

• The title should give the reader a glimpse of what your essay is about while leaving them intrigued.
• For example, if you’re writing an essay about a lemon picker, you might title the essay, "Living with Sour Fingers."

• Instead of saying, “The wheelbarrow fell down the hill,” you could say, “The rusty wheels of the wheelbarrow skidded over smooth rocks and sharp blades of grass until it skidded to a stop at the edge of the water.”

• Read over your essay and look for sentences or ideas that would likely not be found in another person's essay.
• If you're having trouble figuring out if you have an original element, have someone else read over your essay and tell you which parts stand out.

• Review the essay guidelines to see if there’s a special way they’d like the essay formatted.

Expert Q&A

• If you don't win, take a look at the winning entries if possible and see what they did that you didn't. Try to learn from this and incorporate it into your next essay. Thanks Helpful 18 Not Helpful 2
• Don't be afraid to ask for help if you have a hard time! As long as your work is original, getting feedback from others is a great way to make your writing stronger. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 2
• If you have difficulty understanding the topic or the guidelines, try to get in touch with the judges. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 2

• Failure to follow the format requirements may disqualify your essay. Thanks Helpful 44 Not Helpful 8
• Be aware of the deadline to ensure you get your essay submitted in time. Thanks Helpful 18 Not Helpful 3

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Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about essay contests, check out our in-depth interview with Daniel Santos .

• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/brainstorming/
• ↑ https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/writingsuccess/chapter/8-3-drafting/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/revising-drafts/
• ↑ https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess/proofreading
• ↑ https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/planning/intros-and-conclusions/
• ↑ https://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/titles.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/descriptive_essays.html
• ↑ https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/write-original-essay/
• ↑ https://facultyweb.ivcc.edu/ramboeng2/handout_essayformat.htm

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How to Win Essay Contests: A Step-by-Step Guide

10 Steps to Writing Contest-Winning Essays

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Did you know that you can win prizes with your writing skills? Essay contests are a fun way to turn your creativity and your command of the written word into great prizes. But how do you give your essay the edge that gets it picked from among all of the other entries?

Here's a step-by-step guide to writing essays that impress judges. Follow these steps for your best chances of winning writing contests.

Read the Essay Contest Rules

The first thing that you should do to win essay contests is to read the rules thoroughly. Overlooking one small detail could be the difference between winning the contest and wasting your time.

Pay special attention to:

• The contest's start and end dates.
• How often you're allowed to enter.
• The word or character count .
• The contest's theme.
• The criteria that the judges will use to pick the winners.
• Who the sponsoring company is, and what their branding is like.
• And any other details the sponsor requires.

It might help you to print out the sweepstakes rules and highlight the most important elements, or to take notes and keep them close at hand as you write.

If you summarize the relevant rules in a checklist, you can easily check the requirements off when you've finished your essay to ensure you haven't overlooked anything.

Brainstorm Your Essay Ideas

Many people want to jump right into writing their essay, but it's a better idea to take some time to brainstorm different ideas before you start. Oftentimes, your first impulse isn't your best.

The Calgary Tutoring Centre lists several reasons why brainstorming improves your writing . According to their article, brainstorming lets you:

"Eliminate weaker ideas or make weaker ideas stronger. Select only the best and most relevant topics of discussion for your essay while eliminating off-topic ideas. Or, generate a new topic that you might have left out that fits with others."

For a great brainstorming session, find a distraction-free area and settle in with a pen and paper, or your favorite method to take notes. A warm beverage and a healthy snack might aid your process. Then, think about your topic and jot down quick words and phrases that are relevant to your theme.

This is not the time to polish your ideas or try to write them coherently. Just capture enough of the idea that you know what you meant when you review your notes.

Consider different ways that you can make the contest theme personal, come at it from a different angle, or stand out from the other contest entries. Can you make a serious theme funny? Can you make your ideas surprising and unexpected?

Write down all your ideas, but don't judge them yet. The more ideas you can come up with, the better.

Select the Essay Concept that Best Fits the Contest's Theme and Sponsor

Once you've finished brainstorming, look over all of your ideas to pick the one you want to develop for your essay contest entry.

While you're deciding, think about what might appeal to the essay contest's sponsor. Do you have a way of working the sponsor's products into your essay? Does your concept fit the sponsor's company image?

An essay that might be perfect for a Budweiser contest might fall completely flat when Disney is the sponsor.

This is also a good time to consider whether any of your rejected ideas would make good secondary themes for your essay.

Use a Good Hook to Grab the Reader's Attention

When it's time to start writing your essay, remember that the first sentence is the most important. You want to ensure that your first paragraph is memorable and grabs the reader's attention.

When you start with a powerful, intriguing, moving, or hilarious first sentence, you hook your readers' interest and stick out in their memory when it is time to pick winners.

Writer's Digest has some excellent tips on how to hook readers at the start of an essay in their article, 10 Ways to Hook Your Reader (and Reel Them in for Good) .

For ideas on how to make your essay unforgettable, see Red Mittens, Strong Hooks, and Other Ways to Make Your Essay Spectacular .

Write the First Draft of Your Essay

Now, it's time to get all of your thoughts down on paper (or on your computer). Remember that this is a first draft, so don't worry about perfect grammar or if you are running over your word count. 

Instead, focus on whether your essay is hitting the right emotional notes, how your story comes across, whether you are using the right voice, and if you are communicating everything you intend to.

First drafts are important because they help you overcome your reluctance to write. You are not trying to be good yet, you are trying to simply tell your story. Polishing that story will come later.

They also organize your writing. You can see where your ideas fit and where you need to restructure to give them more emotional impact.

Finally, a first draft helps you keep your ideas flowing without letting details slow you down. You can even skip over parts that you find challenging, leaving notes for your next revision. For example, you could jot down "add statistics" or "get a funny quote from Mom" and come back to those time-consuming points later.

Revise Your Essay for Flow and Organization

Once you've written the first draft of your essay, look over it to ensure that it flows. Is your point well-made and clear? Do your thoughts flow smoothly from one point to another? Do the transitions make sense? Does it sound good when you read it aloud?

This is also the time to cut out extraneous words and ensure you've come in under the word count limit.

Generally, cutting words will improve your writing. In his book, On Writing , Stephen King writes that he once received a rejection that read: "Formula for success: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%." In other words, the first draft can always use some trimming to make the best parts shine.

If you'd like some tips on how to improve your first draft, check out these tips on how to self-edit .

Keep an Eye Out for "Red Mittens"

In her fantastic book, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio , Terry Ryan talked about how her mother Evelyn used "red mittens" to help her be more successful with contest entries.

As she put it:

"The purpose of the Red Mitten was almost self-explanatory -- it made an entry stand out from the rest. In a basket of mittens, a red one will be noticed."

Rhyme, alliteration, inner rhyme, puns, and coined words were some of the red mittens that Evelyn Ryan used to make her entries pop. Your essay's red mitten might be a clever play on words, a dash of humor, or a heart-tuggingly poignant story that sticks in the judges' minds.

If your first draft is feeling a little bland, consider whether you can add a red mitten to spice up your story.

Put Your Contest Entry Aside

Now that you have a fairly polished draft of your essay contest entry, put it aside and don't look at it for a little while. If you have time before the contest ends, put your essay away for at least a week and let your mind mull over the idea subconsciously for a little while.

Many times, people think of exactly what their essay needs to make it perfect... right after they have hit the submit button.

Letting your entry simmer in your mind for a while gives you the time to come up with these great ideas before it's too late.

Revise Your Essay Contest Entry Again

Now, it's time to put the final polish on your essay. Have you said everything you wanted to? Have you made your point? Does the essay sound good when you read it out loud? Can you tighten up the prose by making additional cuts in the word count?

In this phase, it helps to enlist the help of friends or family members. Read your essay to them and check their reactions. Did they smile at the right parts? Were they confused by anything? Did they connect with the idea behind the story?

This is also a good time to ensure you haven't made any grammar or spelling mistakes. A grammar checker like Grammarly is very helpful for catching those little mistakes your eyes gloss over. But since even computer programs make mistakes sometimes, so it's helpful to have another person — a good friend or family member — read it through before you submit it.

Read the Essay Contest Rules One Last Time

If you've been following these directions, you've already read through the contest rules carefully. But now that you've written your draft and had some time to think things over, read them through one more time to make sure you haven't overlooked anything.

Go through your checklist of the essay requirements point-by-point with your finished essay in front of you to make sure you've hit them all.

And now, you're done! Submit the essay to your contest, and keep your fingers crossed for the results !

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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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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

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.

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.

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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40 Free Writing Contests: Competitions With Cash Prizes

by Kelly Gurnett | Aug 29, 2023

Have you ever Googled “writing contests”? Many require reading fees or prizes—like seeing your work in print—that you can only receive if you pay for it.

Some legitimate contests charge small entry fees, but often a fee can be a red flag for a scam, so those might be the ones you want to stay away from. 

Besides, there are plenty of free writing contests that encourage and inspire boundless creativity with real cash prizes and career-advancing opportunities! Since it can be hard for a writer to know where to find them, we did the legwork for you.

We found 40 reputable, well-reviewed, free writing contests for poets, fiction writers, essayists and more.

With thousands of dollars in cash prizes and numerous opportunities to secure a publishing contract, you’re sure to find the right free writing contest for your work.

If you don’t mind paying a little money to enter, our friends over at Smart Blogger have rounded up some great writing contests that have small entry fees. And if you’re still hungry for more opportunities, we also have posts on writers grants and writing fellowships .

Table of Contents

Fiction and nonfiction writing contests this year.

Ready to share your novel or personal essay with the world? Whether you’re a newbie or more established writer, you’re likely eligible for a few of these contests.

Here are some fiction and nonfiction writing contests worth considering .

1. L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest

Whatever your feelings about L. Ron Hubbard’s work and philosophy, the prizes for this regular contest are nothing to sneeze at. Every three months, winners earn $1,000, $750 and $500, plus an additional annual grand prize of $5,000.

Submissions must be short stories or novelettes (up to 17,000 words) in the genre of science fiction or fantasy, and new and amateur writers are welcome to apply.

Deadlines: Quarterly on March 31, June 30 and September 30

Website: Writers of the Future

This boutique publishing firm offers cash prizes and promotional packages to winning authors. Submit a novel of 10,000 words or more in any fiction genre (no fanfic or poetry).

Inkitt’s writing contest runs monthly and gives authors the chance to win cash prizes up to $300, exclusive book badges and promotional packages while showcasing their books to Inkitt’s audience of more than 3 million users. Winners are determined by Inkitt’s unique algorithm based on overall reader engagement.

Deadline: See individual contest pages

Website: Inkitt

Disclosure: Inkitt is an advertising partner of The Write Life. We hold our advertisers to high standards and vetted this contest just like others on this list. 

3. 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.

You may submit an unpublished manuscript of short stories , two or more novellas or a combination of novellas and short stories. Your total word count should be between 150 and 300 typed pages. You must also have already published a novel or book-length work of fiction “with a reputable publisher,” or no fewer than three short stories or novellas in nationally-recognized journals.

Deadline: Annual submissions must be postmarked between May 1 through June 30

Website: University of Pittsburgh Press

4 . Young Lions Fiction Award

This $10,000 award recognizes “young authors,” which the rules define as any author aged 35 or younger. Submit any novel or collection of short stories published or scheduled to be published in the calendar year. Works must be written for adults; children’s or YA pieces are ineligible.

Deadline: Submissions for this year are open through September 8 at 5pm Eastern Time

Website: New York Public Library

5 . Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prizes

One of the best-loved small presses in the creative writing world, Graywolf Press hosts a variety of contests for both established and up-and-coming writers. Graywolf also offers smaller fiction and nonfiction prizes, with genres rotating by year; 2020 was a nonfiction year, so fiction was up in 2021, then back to nonfiction in 2022, and so on. These awards include a sizable advance— $12,000 in previous years—as well as publication with Graywolf.

Deadline: Contest is held annually with rotating genres. The contest next opens for submissions in February 2024

Website: Graywolf Press

6 . The Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans

Hosted by the prestigious Iowa Review, the Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award is offered to U.S. military veterans and active-duty members writing in any genre about any subject. Manuscripts of up to 20 pages will be accepted, and the first-prize winner will receive $1,000 and publication in the Review. A second place prize of $750 is also available, as well as three runner-up prizes of $500 each.

Deadline: Biennially. The next contest will be held in May 2024

Website: The Iowa Review

7 . Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence

For 15 years, this contest has provided visibility for emerging African American fiction writers and enables them to focus on their writing by awarding a $15,000 cash prize. Eligible authors should submit a work of fiction, such as a novel or short story collection, published in the calendar year. (Galleys for publication within the year are also accepted.)

Deadline: Annually. The entry window closes on December 31

Website: The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence

8. PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

Honoring the best work of fiction published by an American author in a single calendar year, this award has been given to the likes of John Updike, Philip Roth and Ann Patchett. Novels, novellas and collections of short stories are all eligible.

The winner receives a hefty cash prize—up to $15,000 in the past—and an invitation to read at the award ceremony in Washington, D.C. Plus, there are no submission fees or application forms to deal with; just send a PDF of each book (as many as you’d like) to [email protected] .

Deadline: S ubmissions will be accepted from July 1 to September 30

Website: Pen/Faulkner

9 . PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers

This contest requires you to have already published a short story in a literary magazine or journal or cultural website. But if you’ve made your debut (but gone no further), you may be eligible for the generous cash prize of $2,000, which is annually awarded to 12 emerging writers, whose works are then published together in an anthology.

Short stories of up to 12,000 words are eligible and must be published in the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is given. Additionally, keep this in mind: Submissions are only eligible if submitted by an editor. Authors may not submit their own work.

Deadline: Submissions close November 1

Website: PEN America

10. Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

Fiction and nonfiction writers who have recently published a book that “contribute[s] to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of cultural diversity” are eligible for this award, which offers $10,000 cash as well as media and publicity opportunities. Plus, winners receive their prize at a ceremony in Cleveland.

Submissions must be published in the prior year (so books published last year are eligible for the award this year).

Deadline: Annual submission window is September 1 through December 31

Website: Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

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11. Marfield Prize (aka National Award for Arts Writing)

Presented by the Arts Club of Washington, this award seeks to honor nonfiction books that deal with the “visual, literary, media, or performing arts.” The prize is $10,000 and may be awarded to works of criticism, art history, memoirs and biographies, and essays.

Deadline: Annually in the last quarter of the year. The submission window in 2023 is October 15

Website: The Marfield Prize

1 2 . W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction

If you’re a war buff, this competition is for you. It awards $5,000—and a 24-karat-gold-framed citation of achievement—to the best piece of fiction set during a period when the U.S. was at war (war may either be the main plot of the piece or simply provide the setting). Submissions may be adult or YA novels.

Deadline: Annually on December 31

Website: American Library Association

13. Friends of American Writers Chicago Awards

FAW presents two annual awards: an Adult Literature Award for literary fiction or nonfiction, and a  Young People’s Literature Award for a children’s/YA book.

Authors must reside in the state of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin—or they must set their book in one of those locations. Prize amounts vary from year to year, but you don’t have to bother with an application and all winners are celebrated at the organization’s May luncheon.

Deadline: Annually in December

Website: Friends of American Writers Chicago

14. Hektoen Grand Prix Essay Contest

Hektoen International, an online journal dedicated to medical humanities, offers two prizes annually for essays of no more than 1,500 words: $5,000 is awarded to the winner and $2,500 to the first runner-up. Eligible topics are broad so long as they have a relation to medicine, and many include art, history, literature, education and more.

Deadline: Annually; September 15 is usually the deadline

Website: Hektoen International

15. Biopage Storytelling Writing Contest

There’s no denying it: social media is a huge part of our modern-day lives. It’s easy to get used to limiting our communications to 280-character and emoji-strewn snippets, which is why this marketing firm is hosting an essay writing contest to “remind people of the benefits of writing.”

Essays of up to 5,000 characters (roughly 1,000 words) will be accepted, and right now they’re looking for stories of COVID-19 quarantine life. The grand prize winner will receive $300, and five runners-up will be awarded $100 each.

The contest is free to enter, but you’ll need to register for a Biopage account to be eligible.

Deadline: The current contest ends January 31, 2024

Website: Biopage

16. St. Martin’s Minotaur / Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition

Writers 18 and older who have never had a novel published (in any genre) are eligible for this prize, awarded to an original book-length manuscript where “murder or another serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story.” The winner receives a publication contract with Minotaur Books and an advance of $10,000 against future royalties.

Deadline: December 17 each yea r 

Website: Edgar Awards

17. ServiceScape Short Story Award

ServiceScape, a platform matching freelance writers, editors and graphic designers with clients (i.e. a great place to look for paid writing work !) offers a yearly Short Story Award of $1,000 to a winning fiction or nonfiction work of 5,000 words or fewer. The winner will also have their story featured on the ServiceScape blog, which sees thousands of readers each month.

Deadline: November 29 each year

Website: ServiceScape

18 . Stowe Prize

This biennial prize of $10,000 honors an American author whose adult fiction or nonfiction work has had an impact on a critical social justice issue (as did Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin ). The book must be written by a U.S. author and have been published in the United States during the previous three calendar years.

Deadline: Contact the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center for this year’s deadline .

Website: Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

19 . The Diana Woods Memorial Award in Creative Nonfiction

Creative nonfiction essays of no more than 5,000 words on any subject are eligible for consideration for this award, whose winner receives $250 and publication in Lunch Ticket , the literary and art journal produced by the MFA community of Antioch University Los Angeles.

Works must not have been published elsewhere. Award winners are required to submit a 100-word biography, recent photo and a short note thanking the Woods family for their generosity and support.

Deadlines: Biannual reading periods are in February for the Summer/Fall issue and in August for the Winter/Spring issue

Website: Lunch Ticket

20 . The 2023 Brandon Langhjelm Memorial Essay Contest

Each year, this Canadian organization offers three prizes, ranging from $500 to $1,500, to the essay with the most thoughtful, well-reasoned arguments around a specific human-rights theme. (For example, 2022’s prompt was, “ Canadian governments are making Digital ID technologies a precondition of access to essential services and goods. What can Canadians do to protect their Charter rights and freedoms against the dangers of these technologies? ”

The contest is open to Canadian college and university students, and essays should be 2,500 words or less in length.

Deadline: November 5

Website: Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms

21. Write the World

For young writers ages 13-18, these cool contests also serve as mini workshops. Recognizing that “a first draft is never perfect,” submissions actually receive peer review by authors, writing teachers and other experts and writers are given the chance to revise their pieces based on this feedback before submitting them for final prize consideration.

Contests vary each month, but there’s a $100 prize for the winner and $50 for the runner-up (plus $50 for the best peer-reviewer). All three are featured on Write the World’s blog alongside comments from a guest judge. And since each month’s prompt is from a different genre, developing writers get a chance to test out different styles.

Deadline: Monthly

Website: Write the World

Stuck with writer’s block and looking for a way to jumpstart your escape? Prose offers weekly challenges meant to spark your creativity; many are just for fun, but look for the weekly numbered challenges posted by Prose (rather than community members or sponsors) for a chance to win money.

Prizes are typically between $100 to $200 and word counts are low—some as low as under 150, some as high as 500. So even if all you get from the prompt is a chance to flex your brain, it’s not a bad deal.

Deadline: Weekly and monthly

Website: Prose.

23. The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing

First-generation immigrants have a chance to win $10,000 and publication by Restless Books for telling their stories (real or imagined). The contest alternates annually between fiction (novel or short story collection) and nonfiction (memoir, essay collection, narrative nonfiction). In 2021, it went to a work of nonfiction of at least 25,000 words; 2022 will be fiction.

Deadline: Submission window is usually between December and March

Website: Restless Books

24. AFSA National High School Essay Contest

The U.S. Institute of Peace and the American Foreign Service Association sponsor this annual high school essay contest, where the winner receives a $2,500 cash prize, an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., and a full-tuition paid voyage with Semester at Sea upon the student’s enrollment at an accredited university. Essays should be between 1,000 and 1,250 words and have to answer all aspects of the prompt as well as demonstrate an understanding of the Foreign Service.

Runners-up get a pretty sweet deal too, a $1,250 cash prize and a full scholarship to participate in the International Diplomacy Program of the National Student Leadership Conference.

Deadline : April each year

Website: American Foreign Service Association

25. Science-me a Story

Born in 2018, the Society of Spanish Researchers invites talented and original writers to write a 100-word blurb for a hypothetical novel. This might sound really easy, but your blurb has to quickly hook readers and make them want to read more. Open to anyone over 18 anywhere in the world, your real or fictional short story for this competition must be either in English or Spanish and “conceived from the objective of scientific dissemination to primary school” to qualify for the cash prizes: £150, £100 and £50. 

Website: Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom

26. VCU Cabell First Novelist Award

Virginia Commonwealth University sponsors this award that honors an outstanding debut novel published in the preceding calendar year. While you may have published previous books in a different form, the submission must be your first published book marketed as a novel.

The award is a $5,000 cash prize, and the winning author must agree to attend the award event, usually scheduled for November.

Deadline : Annually; the submission window runs from July 1 through December 30

Website: Virginia Commonwealth University

27. Daisy Utemorrah Award

The Daisy Utemorrah Award is for an unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples currently living in Australia. Generously supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund and the State Government of Western Australia, the winner of the award receives $15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books.

Deadline : Submission window usually opens at the beginning of each year

Website: Magabala Books

28 . Short Fiction Prize

If you’re an undergrad at a college in the U.S. or Canada, this writing competition is for you. (Traditionally, this contest has encouraged applicants with an Asian background, but anyone is invited to apply.) Submissions should be no more than 7,500 words.

One winner will get a $1,000 prize as well as a scholarship to the next Southampton Writers Conference .

Deadline : Submission window is usually between March 1- July 14

Website: Stony Brook University | Lichtenstein Center

29. Bacopa Literary Review Contest

The Bacopa Literary Review is an international journal published by the Writers Alliance of Gainesville. Each year, it opens submissions for pieces in four genres: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and prose poetry. Find detailed guidelines for each genre on its website. First place gets $300, and the second prize in each of the four genres gets $100.

Deadline: May 30 each year

Website: Writers Alliance of Gainesville

30. Insecure Writer’s Support Group Annual Anthology Contest

As long as you stick to the guidelines, The Insecure Writer’s Support Group’s annual contest welcomes your 5,000- to 6,000-word (previously unpublished) creative story. But before you send it off, make sure your story is polished and formatted! Plus, the prizes aren’t too shabby—winning stories will be edited and published, authors will receive royalties, and the top story will even get to give the anthology its title. 

Deadlines: September 1 each year

Website: Insecure Writer’s Support Group

31. Ultimate Meal Plans Nutrition Scholarship

College students studying nutrition, kinesiology or exercise-science fields: you’re going to be all over this one. Twice per year, the Ultimate Paleo Guide (aka the best paleo resource on the internet) awards $500 scholarships to two deserving students who meet all eligibility requirements—as well as write an 800-word essay about why you chose your field, an impact you’d like to make in your career, a challenge you’ve faced and more.

Deadlines: January 30 (awards in March) and July 31 (awards in September)

Website: Ultimate Meal Plans

32. New Voices Award

Presented by Lee & Low Books, an award-winning children’s book publisher, this award is given for a previously unpublished children’s picture book manuscript of no more than 1,500 words written by a writer of color or Indigenous/Native writers who’s a resident of the U.S.

The winner receives $2,000 cash and a standard publication contract, and an additional Honor Award winner will receive a cash prize of $1,000. You may submit up to two manuscripts.

Deadline: The contest is on hiatus for 2023, check the website for a follow-up announcement in 2024. 

Website: Lee & Low Books

33. St. Francis College Literary Prize

Since 2009, this biennial literary award has honored mid-career writers who have recently published their third, fourth or fifth work of fiction. The winner receives $50,000 and may be invited to the St. Francis College campus in Brooklyn, New York, to deliver a talk about their work or teach a mini fiction workshop to St. Francis students.

Deadline: Biennially. The contest was not offered the last three years due to the pandemic and limited campus access

Website: St. Francis College

Poetry contests this year

Curious about opportunities for poets? Your stanzas—rhyming or not—could be worth a fair amount of money in these poetry competitions.

Check out these poetry writing contests.

34. Black Voices in Children’s Literature Writing Contest

This contest is open to Black writers who are over the age of 18 and residents of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin.  It’s hosted by Strive Publishing and Free Spirit Publishing and seeks to fill the need for Black representation in children’s and young adult books. Original board and picture books for children aged 0-4 and picture books for ages 4-8 are eligible, provided they feature contemporary, realistic Black characters and culture and focus on character development, self esteem, community and other aspects of positive childhood development.

Three prizes, ranging from $250 to $1,000, will be awarded, and the first-place winner will be “seriously considered” for publication, though it’s not guaranteed.

Deadline: Usually late July, each year

Website: Free Spirit Publishing  

35. James Laughlin Award

If you’re already a published poet, this is the award for you; it’s given for a second book of poetry due to come out in the forthcoming year. The winner receives $5,000 and an all-expenses-paid week-long residency at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. In addition, copies of the winning book are distributed to 1,000 members of the Academy of American Poets.

Deadline: Annual submission window is January 1 through May 15

Website: Academy of American Poets

36. African Poetry Book Fund Prizes

The APBF awards three prizes annually for African Poetry. The Luschei Prize for African Poetry gives $1,000 for a book of original African poetry published in the prior year.

The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets gives $1,000 and a publication contract for a book-length collection of poetry by an as-yet-unpublished African author.

The Brunel International African Poetry Prize is a new prize that grants £3,000 to a poet who was born in Africa, or has African parents, who has not yet had a full-length book of poetry published. (U.S. citizens qualify.) To submit, you’ll need 10 poems.

Deadlines: See individual prize pages

Website: African Poetry Book Fund

37. Tufts Poetry Awards

Claremont Graduate University presents two awards each year to poets they deem to be “outstanding.” The Kate Tufts Poetry Award grants $10,000 for a published first book of poetry that shows promise.

The Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award grants a mammoth $100,000 for a published book of poetry by an established or mid-career poet.

Deadline: Submission window is July 1 to June 30 each year

Website: Claremont Graduate University

38. Graywolf Press Walt Whitman Award 

The Walt Whitman Award is a $5,000 prize awarded, along with publication, to an American poet with a winning first book manuscript. He or she also receives an all-expenses-paid six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbria, Italy.

Graywolf Press is also one of the publishers of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize , “a first book award dedicated to the discovery of exceptional manuscripts by Black poets.” Winners receive $1,000 and Graywolf publishes every third winner of the prize.

Deadline : July 1 to September 1 each year

Website: Poets

39. Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest

Now in its 23rd year, this humor contest wants your best published or unpublished work for a grand prize of $2,000; runners-up are awarded $500 and 10 honorable mentions will receive $100 each. Writers of all ages from eligible countries can submit an original, humorous poem with 250 lines or less, and it must be in English.

Deadline : April 1, each year (and no, this isn’t an April Fools joke)

Website: Winning Writers

40. The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize

This writing competition is looking for the best piece of unpublished, themed writing. For example, one year, the theme was “Untamed: On Wilderness and Civilization.” Submissions may be prose, poetry or non-academic essays. Maximum word count is 2,500, and this is open to all nationalities and to anyone 18 or older. The winner gets a £10,000 cash prize, second place gets £3,000 and third place gets £2,000.

Deadline : Applications open at the beginning of each year. Follow the Alpine Fellowship on Instagram for updates

Website: The Alpine Fellowship

Where to find more legitimate, free writing contests

Looking for more opportunities to submit your work? Here are a few great sites to keep an eye on for writing contests.

Winning Writers

A number of the contests found on our list came highly recommended by this site, which compiles some of the best free literary contests out there. Along with a wide range of recommended contests for writers of all stripes, Winning Writers also lists some contests and services to avoid , which is just as useful!

They also offer a handful of contests themselves , including the North Street Book Prize.

Poets & Writers

Another fantastic source for legitimate writing contests we consulted when compiling this list, Poets & Writers vets competitions, contests, awards and grants to make sure they’re following legitimate practices and policies. It’s worth checking out regularly as it features both annual and one-time contests.

This listing contains affiliate links. That means if you purchase through our links, you’re supporting The Write Life—and we thank you for that!

The original version of this story was written by Kelly Gurnett . We updated the post so it’s more useful for our readers. 

Photo via Viktoriia Hnatiuk / Shutterstock

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Last updated on Dec 23, 2022

Creative Writing: 8 Fun Ways to Get Started

Creative writing is a written art form that uses the imagination to tell stories and compose essays, poetry, screenplays, novels, lyrics, and more. It can be defined in opposition to the dry and factual types of writing found in academic, technical, or journalistic texts.

Characterized by its ability to evoke emotion and engage readers, creative writing can tackle themes and ideas that one might struggle to discuss in cold, factual terms.

If you’re interested in the world of creative writing, we have eight fantastic exercises and activities to get you started.

1. Use writing prompts every week

Coming up with ideas for short stories can be challenging, which is why we created a directory of 1700+ creative writing prompts covering a wide range of genres and topics. Writing prompts are flexible in nature, they are meant to inspire you without being too constrictive. Overall, they are a great way to keep your creative muscles limber.

If you’re struggling for motivation, how does a hard deadline and a little prize money sound? Prompts-based writing contests are a fantastic way to dive into creative writing: the combination of due dates, friendly rivalries, prize money, and the potential to have your work published is often just what’s needed to propel you over the finish line. 

We run a weekly writing contest over on Reedsy Prompts, where hundreds of writers from all around the world challenge themselves weekly to write a short story between 1,000 and 3,000 words for a chance to win the $250 prize. Furthermore, the community is very active in providing constructive feedback, support, and accountability to each other 一 something that will make your efforts even more worthwhile.

Take a peek at our directory of writing contests which features some of the most prestigious open writing competitions in the world. 

2. Start journaling your days

Another easy way to get started with creative writing is to keep a journal. We’re not talking about an hour-by-hour account of your day, but journaling as a way to express yourself without filters and find your ‘voice in writing’. If you’re unsure what to journal about, think of any daily experiences that have had an impact on you, such as… 

Special moments . Did you lock yourself out of your house? Or did you catch a beautiful sunset on your way back from groceries? Capture those moments, and how you felt about them.

People . Did you have an unusual exchange with a stranger at the bar? Or did you reconnect with someone you haven’t seen in years? Share your thoughts about it.

World events . Is there something happening in the world right now that is triggering you? That’s understandable. You can reflect on it (and let some steam off) while journaling.

Memories . Did you go down memory lane after a glass of wine? Great, honor those memories by trying to recollect them in detail on paper so that they will always stay vivid in your mind.

Life decisions . Are you having an existential crisis about what to do with your life? Write down your thought process, and the pros and cons of the possible decisions in front of you. You’ll be surprised to discover that, not only is it a great creative writing exercise, but it can also actually help you sort your life out! 

If you struggle to write consistently, sign up for our How to Write a Novel course to finish a novel in just 3 months.  

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3. Create an anonymous social media account

Like anonymous blogging, an incognito Twitter account sidesteps the pressure that comes with attaching your name to your work. Anonymously putting tiny stories out into the ether gives you the freedom to create without worrying about the consequences — which is great, so long as you don’t use it as an opportunity to troll people or spread conspiracy theories. 

You could use the anonymous account in different ways. For example, you could…

• Tweet from unique points of view (e.g. a dog observing human behavior );
• Create a parody account of real or fictional people (e.g. an English poet from the Middle Ages );
• Challenge yourself to write tiny flash fiction stories that fit into Twitter threads.

Just remember, you’re not doing this to fool anyone into thinking that your account is real: be a good citizen and mark yourself a fiction account in your bio. 

But if you’re not really a social media kinda person, you may enjoy our next tip, which is a bit more on the analog side.

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4. Find an old photo and tell its story

Find a random old photo — maybe on the web, maybe from a photo album in a yard sale — and see what catches your attention. Look closely at it and try to imagine the story behind it. What was happening? Who are the people in it and how are they really feeling? Do they share a relationship, and of what kind? What are their goals and dreams?

In other words, bring the photo to life with your imagination. Don't be afraid to take artistic license with your story, as the goal is to be creative and have fun while writing. 

How do you know it’s creative writing?

5. Create a character from a random name

Just as our universe started from a few simple elements, you can create a character from a few basic information, like their name, culture, and gender. Reedsy’s handy character name generator can help you with that, offering random names based on archetypes, Medieval roots, fantasy traits and more. A few examples? A Celtic heroine named Fíona O'Keefe, a hero’s sidekick named Aderine, or a Korean track star named Park Kang-Dae.

Once you've chosen their name, begin to develop their personality. Set a timer for 5–10 minutes and write anything that comes to mind about them. It could be a page from their FBI dossier, a childhood diary entry, or simply a scene about them boiling an egg.

Just ‘go with the flow’ and don’t stop writing until your time is up. Repeat the process a few times to further hone the personality. If you like what you end up with, you can always go deeper later with our character profile template . 

If a stream-of-consciousness exercise is not your thing, you can try to imagine your character in a specific situation and write down how’d they respond to it. For example, what if they were betrayed by a friend? Or if they were elected in power? To help you imagine situations to put your character in, we made a free template that you can download below. 

FREE RESOURCE

Reedsy’s Character Questionnaire

40 questions to help you develop memorable characters.

6. Construct a character by people-watching

People watching is “the action of spending time idly observing people in a public place.” In a non-creepy way, ideally. Sit on a bench on a public square or on a road-side table at your favorite café, and start observing the people around you. Pay attention to any interesting quirks or behaviors, and write it down. Then put on your detective’s hat and try to figure out what that tells you about them.

For example, the man at the table next to you at the restaurant is reading the newspaper. His jacket and hat are neatly arranged next to him. The pages make a whipping sound as he briskly turns them, and he grimaces every time he reads a new article. Try to imagine what he’s reading, and why he’s reacting the way he is. Then, try to build a character with the information you have. It’s a fun creative exercise that will also, hopefully, help you better empathize with strangers. 

7. “Map” something you feel strongly about into a new context

Placing your feelings into new contexts can be a powerful creative writing exercise. The idea is to start from something you feel strongly about, and frame it into a completely different context. 

For example, suppose your heart is torn apart after you divorce your life-long partner: instead of journaling or crafting an entire novel  about it, you could tell a story about a legendary trapeze duo whose partnership has come to an end. If you’re struggling with politicking and petty power dynamics at the office: what if you “mapped” your feelings onto an ant who resents being part of a colony? Directing your frustration at a queen ant can be a fun and cathartic writing experience (that won’t get you in trouble if your co-workers end up reading your story).   

8. Capture the moment with a haiku

Haikus are poems from the Japanese tradition that aim to capture, in a few words, daily moments of insight (usually inspired by nature). In a nutshell, it’s about becoming mindful of your surroundings, and notice if you can see something in a new or deeper way 一 then use contrasting imagery to express whatever you noticed. 

Here’s an example:

Bright orange bicycle

Speeding through the autumn leaves

A burst of color waves

It may sound a bit complicated, but it shouldn’t be 一 at least not for the purpose of this exercise. Learn the basics of haiku-writing , then challenge yourself to write one per day for a week or month. At the end, you’ll be able to look back at your collection of poems and 一 in the worst case scenario 一 revisit small but significant moments that you would have otherwise forgot about.   

Creative writing can be any writing you put your heart and soul into. It could be made for the purpose of expressing your feelings, exploring an idea, or simply entertaining your readers. As you can see there’s many paths to get involved with it, and hundreds of exercises you can use as a starting point. In the next post, we’ll look more in detail at some creative writing examples from some fellow authors. 

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Win a Short Story Competition: 8 Tips to Improve Your Chances

After over a decade of judging thousands of short stories in our national writing competitions, our Writers College judges have compiled a list of eight tips to help you onto the shortlist.

What exactly is a short story?

A short story is not a commentary on current affairs, an article about collecting clocks or a humorous opinion piece for the back page of a magazine! A short story is just that: a made-up tale about characters where something happens (usually bad), and you hope everything will turn out fine in the end.

Let’s see a more formal definition. According to Wikipedia, a short story is a piece of fictional writing, usually with fewer than 5,000 words, that contains these basic elements: characters, setting, plot, conflict, resolution, climax, dialogue, a protagonist and an antagonist.

But definitions don’t tell you that a short story has to grab your reader’s interest from the word go. Nor have you got the luxury of pages of flowery descriptive writing as you would have in a novel.

You have, in this case, 2,000 words to bring in your characters, define the setting of your story, and introduce some sort of conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist that will keep the reader dying to know how it all ends.

Does this mean every story has to have a happy ending? Definitely not. But it should reach a satisfactory conclusion so your reader thinks, ‘That was a good read’.

So study these eight vital steps below, and send us a story that will grab us and make us say, ‘This one’s got something!’

1. Create plausible, detailed characters.

Name your characters. Work in their ages and details about their appearance in subtle ways. Don’t give us vague, shadowy, formless characters. Your reader needs to relate to them, and whether he likes them or hates them, feels sorry for them or cheers them on, is up to you, the writer.

Read more about developing your characters’ character here .

2. Use believable, succinct dialogue.

Dialogue is very useful. It’s rare to find a short story that has no conversation in it. Just telling the reader what your character is doing and thinking can become very monotonous. Conversation makes your story come alive. It adds depth to your characters and the reader can understand their feelings through what they say.

It’s important to keep your dialogue as natural-sounding as possible, but at the same time, it has to be concise and add to the meaning of the story. So cut the waffle and make every word count.

Remember to start dialogue on a new line for each speaker. Punctuate your dialogue correctly. More dialogue tips .

3. Create a credible plot.

Things must happen in your story. Characters must clash, overcome an obstacle or solve a problem of some sort. Read about how to create a twist in the tail .

4. Use the correct tenses.

Decide on which tense you will use for your main story, and stick to that throughout. Many authors use past tense for their stories, in which case flashbacks within the story must be written in past past tense. If your story is happening in the present moment, you can use present tense. Present tense helps to foster a sense of immediacy and increases tension in the writing. However, when writers write an entire story in present tense – including present tense for flashbacks – it can be confusing and off-putting for the reader. Study your tenses here.

5. Your story must make complete sense.

Don’t make big plot jumps or leave out important details. Don’t tell us about a character wearing a red dress, and then, one paragraph later, she is skiing in a polar parka across the Arctic. Make sure your story facts are credible, plausible and congruent. Read about creating logical flow .

6. Use similes and metaphors, and slip in unique images.

Literary devices add colour and originality to your writing, and creating pictures with your words is the easiest way to keep your reader hooked. Read about 11 Ways to Keep Your Reader Hooked.

7. Keep your point of view consistent.

Will you use first-person, or third-person narration? Whichever you choose – stick to that perspective throughout. You can’t, furthermore, refer to your reader as ‘you’, and then ‘we’ and then ‘one’. You must keep the narration consistent and use the same pronoun and its variants throughout your story. Read more about Point of View.

Here is an excellent series with in-depth explanations for point of view.

8. Edit your story carefully.

Spelling and grammar errors, typos and formatting issues – these all detract from the reading experience. Make your writing appear effortless by editing carefully. Find out 20 editing pointers here.

© The Writers College, All Rights Reserved

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How to Enter a Writing Contest: 8 Tips for Success

by Kaelyn Barron | 7 comments

Do you love writing, or have a way with words? Perhaps you’ve always had a feeling that you could do something more with those skills, but the thought of seeing your work published seemed too impossible or intimidating.

One way to build your confidence and benefit from other people reading your work is by entering a writing contest.

You can gain more exposure for your writing, receive constructive feedback, and maybe even win cool prizes, like money or a publishing deal!

But to increase your chances of success, there are a few things you should know before entering a writing contest.

How to Enter a Writing Contest

Follow these 8 steps to make the most of your writing contest experience and increase your odds of winning.

1. Choose a contest.

If you don’t already have a specific contest in mind, you’ll need to find a list of writing contests that are currently accepting submissions.

Then, there are several factors you’ll need to consider before choosing a contest to enter. These include:

• Submission requirements
• Fees (if any)
• Accepted genres

Many contests are genre-specific, or have very particular guidelines regarding theme, word count, and other requirements, so it’s important that you take time to research what each contest requires before you commit your time.

2. Read and follow guidelines.

Once you’ve chosen the contest(s) you’d like to enter, make sure you follow the guidelines to a tee.

Make sure you’re clear on:

• Word count minimums and maximums
• How to submit your work (email? upload? mail-in?)
• Accepted formats

You might not think that some details are important, but if something was written out in the guidelines, there’s a reason.

Failure to comply with even one guideline—such as uploading a PDF when a Word document was required—could disqualify you entirely from the contest.

Reading the fine print is also important for understanding the process and what happens if you win. Make sure you understand if the contest claims any rights to your writing (you should beware any that ask for all the rights to your work).

3. Find beta readers.

If you really want helpful feedback on your work, you should look beyond your close friends and family. Their opinions could be really helpful and constructive—but you’ll want to seek input from people who can remain objective, and who ideally know a thing or two about writing (if not how to create it, then how to spot it).

Search for beta readers to review your work before you submit it. You can find these reviewers in places like writing workshops , or even ask some of your friends and acquaintances, if they’re skilled writers. Learn more about how to find these reviewers in our complete guide to beta readers .

4. Proofread.

Always proofread your work before submitting it, even after your beta readers have reviewed it. (While implementing their suggested changes, you may have inserted a few typos!)

Check out our proofreading checklist for a complete list of everything you should look for. Some grammar mistakes really stick out like a sore thumb, and they’re often a fatal flaw for many submission entries, especially if they distract the reviewer from your story.

Plus, leaving in such glaring errors shows a lack of care and effort on your part, so it will be hard for a reviewer to take your writing seriously.

You can use a proofreading tool like Grammarly to help you double-check for errors, including typos and passive voice (but note that it’s no replacement for human eyes!).

5. Check your layout.

If you’re submitting a complete book or manuscript to a writing contest, they might also be judging your book’s interior design and layout. (This should be specified in the guidelines.)

If this is the case, you may want to hire a book designer (or, you can learn to do it yourself using out 7-step book layout tutorial for InDesign ).

Whether you or someone else lays out your book, you’ll want to check that there are no widows or orphans, and that you have proper margins as required for the contest. These terms are defined in our post on layout rules .

6. Submit your entry (on time!).

Mark your calendar! Set reminders! Whatever you have to do to make sure your work is entered—and received—on time.

It would be a real shame if you spent weeks, or even months, writing a beautiful piece, only to be disqualified for missing the deadline. Don’t let that happen to you.

As soon as you decide to enter a contest, take note of the deadline, and write it down somewhere that will help you remember (perhaps in a planner, or on a giant post-it note above your writing station).

If you’re mailing in a physical copy of your entry, there may be a cut-off date for having your work post-marked, or the deadline might represent the day your work needs to be received by the host organization. Make sure you’re clear on what the rules actually are.

7. Tell your followers.

If you’re entering a contest that is determined by voters (like our own Readers Choice Awards ), make sure you notify your friends, contacts, social media followers—anyone you can reach with your platform.

Tell them where they can find your work, how to vote, etc. (Make it easy for them by sending a link to the contest, your work, and the voting form, if possible.)

8. Share your victory.

Were you the selected winner of the contest? Congratulations!!

That’s definitely something worth sharing, so go ahead—brag a little! Post about your victory on your website and social media accounts.

Winning a writing contest is a great way to gain exposure for your work, and it can also help you establish credibility as a writer, so it’s definitely an achievement worth mentioning on your CV or author bio. For more tips, check out our post on what to do after winning a writing contest .

Are Writing Contests Worth Entering?

As many writing contests come with an entrance fee, you may be wondering whether these competitions are worth the time, money, and effort.

Of course, some contests are more prestigious than others, and you’ll have to judge for yourself whether the entrance fee seems justified. Anywhere from $5–$30 is typical, though you may come across much larger numbers.

Fees are usually commensurate with the prize amount and how “big” the names of judges or sponsors are.

That being said, entering a writing contest can offer the following benefits:

• Exposure : Whether you win or lose, writing contests are a great way to gain exposure for your work. Judges will review your writing, and if they see promise in your work, they might keep you in mind for future opportunities. If the competition is decided by voting, you’ll be able to get your work to out to more readers, some of whom might become your first fans.
• Credibility: Winning (or even placing) in a contest can help add credibility to your title as a writer. The more recognized the contest, the better.
• Feedback: If judges provide a critique of your entry, getting their professional feedback can easily make the entrance fee worth it. Take note of everything they have to say, and keep it in mind for your future work.
• Chance to win prizes: Most contests feature some sort of prize, whether it’s cash or a publishing deal. Check out the details for each contest you wish to enter, and decide if you think it’s worth your time, effort, and application fee.

Check out this post for insightful tips to help you avoid scams.

Enter Our Short Story Contest

TCK Publishing is excited to announce our first annual short story awards contest !

Submissions are open now through August 31, 2021. Submit your short story of up to 3,000 words with an entry fee of $12 for your chance to win $1,000!

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:

• 2020 Writing Contests: Where and How to Enter Your Work
• 2020 Readers Choice Awards Contest Rules
• List of Book Awards Contests (Updated 2020)
• How to Get Publicity for Your Book: Tips, Tools, and Successful Strategies

As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.

The dates 2021 and 2020…? Nothing for 2023?

This was very helpful! It gave me advice that I used with the $1000 for 1000 words contest! I will use the advice for future contests!

~Rebecca McMay

That’s great Rebecca, I’m so glad you found the tips helpful! Best of luck with your contests :) Let us know how it goes!

Thanks a lot great help for me, been kinda pencil shy lately.

I’m so glad you found the post helpful, Gloria! I hope you continue writing :)

This is very helpful. I am excited to begin entering contests and receiving feedback from other talented authors. Thank you

I’m so glad you found this list helpful, Genevieve! Best of luck in the contests you enter, and have fun!

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Writing Competitions: Why Enter and How to Win

• January 20, 2020

Publishing books is most indie author's bread and butter, but how many of us still enter writing competitions? Dea Parkin,  ALLi partner member, Editor-in-chief at Fiction Feedback and Secretary of the Crime Writers’ Association, gives us an insight into her experience administrating and reading for major writing competitions and advises how best to go about preparing your entry.

Writing Competitions: Why Enter, How to Win

Dea Parkin, Editor-in-chief at Fiction Feedback and Secretary of the Crime Writers’ Association, gives us an insight into her experience administrating and reading for major writing competitions and advises how best to go about preparing your entry.

I’ve worked with the Crime Writers’ Association running their international competitions, the CWA Debut Dagger and the Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition , for five years and have judged entries for several national short story competitions for well over a decade. Two things stand out: the varying levels of effort people put into their entries, and the amazing boost to confidence gained by those who are shortlisted.

Writing Competitions Inspire Authors

One author who came second in one of the small competitions I judge some years ago was inspired to write a whole series of crime novels. At first he published independently, and then got a traditional contract and found that less time-consuming – he’s an industrious businessman as well as a writer. He’s now on to his third series and still says that without the original validation of the competition prize, he’d never have pursued his passion. Meanwhile, Mike Craven, a crime writer, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger in 2013 and found that the publishers and agents whose doors had previously been closed to him were now beckoning him in. Six years later, Mike’s book The Puppet Show won the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and he’s given up his day job. His story is here .

Why You Should Enter Writing Competitions

Submitting your work to be read by a third party can be life-enhancing, whether or not it brings tangible rewards. Honing your work, aware that it’s going to be read by a professional and judged against other entries, brings a sharpness to your self-editing that stands you in good stead in your growth as a writer. So even if the prize doesn’t interest you, or you think the competition will be too steep, I would recommend that you have a go. I know several experienced authors who make a point of entering a few competitions a year simply to keep that sharpness of approach. It’s also the case that any shortlisting looks great on the writing CV.

So how do you give yourself the best chance of winning? I mentioned earlier the different levels of care I’ve seen over the years, from writers disregarding the rules to not even running Word’s spellchecker over their entry. So, let’s start with the obvious: follow the rules.

This is the easy part of getting your entry considered, so make sure you thoroughly read and adhere to the rules for every competition. Too many good writers disqualify their entries by exceeding the word limit. Judges won’t make allowances; if your entry is a few words too long or has your name on it where it shouldn’t, it won’t even be read. Hint : don’t, however, submit an entry that’s significantly under the maximum word count. The more words, the more potential there is for a satisfying story that engages the judges, so give yourself that advantage and allow yourself to compete against others who will.

Where there’s a theme, make sure your entry encapsulates it, even if not in an obvious way. It might be subtle, but it mustn’t be tenuous.

Take the time to perfect your prose. Get the work professionally copy-edited if you can (if a competition doesn’t say you must not, then it’s allowed, and every reader or judge I know would actively encourage it). If lack of money prohibits, show it instead to someone you know is hot at English. Hint : learn the rules of punctuation, especially around dialogue. Quality of prose is almost always a judging criterion and when there are lots of superb stories, judges will use whatever means they can to whittle them down. Aiming for perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation is a good way of giving yourself a head start because they’re not as subjective as other criteria, so make sure you finish your entry with enough time to pay your prose lots of attention.

Other Craft Tips

What are the other criteria likely to be? Characterisation is one. Help yourself by keeping characters to a minimum. Then make your characters come to life so the reader cares what happens to them – even if it’s wanting to see their comeuppance. Hint : the most successful competition entries I’ve seen are either written from a single viewpoint or from two very different ones. Make sure something does happen and the character at the end is in a different place from where they started, and while we might not have guessed it at the beginning, looking back it’s quite logical and plausible.

Hint : don’t go for a dramatic twist at the expense of plausibility. It might get you on to a longlist, but it’s likely to count against you at the sharp end of judging. Your denouement might not be likely, but it must be plausible. The best entries are those that combine the startling outcome with complete plausibility.

If you’re asked for a synopsis as several novel competitions require, research how to write a good one. It must contain all the major plot points and who does what and why. Make it clear what the novel’s about and what’s different about it.

Be Different

Ah yes, difference – or rather, originality! The holy grail. Yet my experience is that stories which go on to win are only somewhat different, or different from current fashion, but not so different that a judge can’t be confident they’ll have wide appeal. Write well, and don’t try to write your version of what’s already glutting the market. Judges always like something a little different.

A final word: if you know who the judges are, try to find out more about their writing preferences. With Google at your fingertips, it’s easy. Consider what you might write, or how, that could appeal to them. Hint : if they’re an editor at a commercial publishing house, don’t write anything too outré or cross-genre. If they’re an award-winning literary writer – well, you can work it out.

OVER TO YOU

When was the last time you entered a writing competition? Will you start entering them this year?

If you enjoyed this post, you might like these from the ALLi archive:

6 Great Reasons to Enter Writing Competitions

Writing Competition Welcomes UK Self-publishing Authors

Author: Dea Parkin

Dea is the owner and manager of Fiction Feedback, an editorial consultancy she founded in 2008 that provides critiques and both structural and copy-editing. The stable of editors is extensive, so that writers can be paired with an editor whose experience, preference and talent most suits their work. Many of their customers have gone on to publish independently or be published. Dea’s own speciality is copy-editing historical fiction.

A long-time associate member, Dea has been Secretary of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) since early 2016. While most of her time is taken up with looking after author members and the day-to-day operation of both the CWA and sister organisation Crime Readers’ Association (CRA), she looks forward every year to facilitating the two international writing competitions. In the Debut Dagger, she is heavily involved at the longlisting and shortlisting stages and joins the judges for the final lunch where the winner is decided.

Dea writes herself and has had several one-act plays performed and stories shortlisted in competitions. She enjoys working in the publishing industry alongside authors, whether it’s as an editor or within her role at the CWA.

I advise all authors to avoid sinking time and money into any contest, grant, fellowship, or residency application that involves a fee and provides no feedback, as there’s far too much potential for abuse. (Form letter rejections are *not* feedback.) The winners for these “opportunities” are almost always authors published by traditional or academic presses. Submissions by everyone else are rejected and discarded without being read, and the entrance fees are harvested to pay the winners.

Do you know any good fantasy competitions?

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Nathaniel Tower

Juggling writing and life

How to Host a Writing Contest

Last Updated on March 4, 2024 by Nathaniel Tower

Running a writing contest may seem like a risky undertaking for an individual, a literary magazine, or any other type of publication. In order to get any interest at all, you have to put up some prize money. What happens if there aren’t enough entrants to cover your prize purse? How is a publication supposed to come up with that cash? Well, if money’s the only thing you’re worried about, then you aren’t prepared to host a writing contest.

As managing editor at Bartleby Snopes Literary Magazine , I created and ran the Dialogue-Only writing contest for nine years. During that time, we received thousands of entries and awarded over $10,000 in prize money. The Dialogue-Only contest was one of the best-paying writing contests on the web. How does a contest sponsored by a small literary magazine get to be so big?

Here’s everything you need to know to host a successful writing contest.

Minimizing the Risk

Before getting into the details about how to make your writing contest huge, let’s talk briefly about how to reduce the risk. There are several risks involved when hosting a contest. The two biggest are:

• Losing money
• Dealing with complaints (about judging, submission fees, etc.)

In order to minimize the money lost, I recommend using a formula similar to what we did at Bartleby Snopes . Start with a guaranteed amount that won’t break the bank (we originally started with $250 and eventually guaranteed at least $1,000). Charge a modest submission fee (we always charged $10). Add a little bit of money to the prize pot for each entry over a certain threshold. For example, once you get to 25 entries, add an extra $5-$6 for each new submission. Two warnings here:

• You will need more entries than you think to cover the prize money (if you have a $10 entry fee, you should only count on $9 per entry after processing fees).
• You’ll get the majority of entries near the deadline, so don’t panic if it seems like you’re behind.

Don’t promise an amount that you don’t feel comfortable losing. Always imagine the worst-case scenario. Can you afford to pay the entire prize money out of your pocket? If not, then lower your starting amount (or don’t have the contest at all).

The other major risk you run into when hosting a contest is backlash from the non-winning writers. If you aren’t careful, there may be cries of bias or unfair judging procedures. Writers may ask for their fees to be returned. You may hear complaints that the winning entries weren’t any good. You need to be sure your contest rules are clearly stated, including a bit of legalese. Don’t forget to include these statements:

• All decisions made by the judges regarding the winners are final
• No contest entry fees will be returned
• By submitting, you are agreeing to all contest rules
• Contest rules are subject to change

Additionally, it’s always a good idea to be specific regarding all the various components of the contest. Tell your submitters who the judges are, where the contest fees go, when the winning stories will be published, etc. By taking this proactive and transparent approach, we were able to to stay clear of complaints. None of the writers asked for their fee to be returned (unless there was a glitch), and only one writer ever complained about the results (it was a cry of sexism because one year all 5 winners in our BLIND contest had male-sounding names).

Getting Enough Entries

Our Dialogue-Only contest wasn’t always a big deal. During our first year, we gave out just $450 in prize money. While many writers would be thrilled to win a piece of that, we’re not exactly talking about big bucks. Five years later, our prize pot was over five times that. How were we able to grow so much during that time?

If you want to maximize the number of entries your writing contest gets, you need to do a few things:

• Make the prize worth it
• Establish credibility
• Be transparent
• Advertise and promote
• Do something unique

Let’s discuss each of these elements in detail.

Make the Prize Worth It

A contest doesn’t have to award thousands of dollars to be worth it. Of course, that all depends on what you are asking the writers to do. The higher the fee you are charging, the bigger the prize should be. I recommend a prize-to-fee ratio of at least 20 to 1 (that’s a $100 prize for a $5 entry fee). If the prize is only $25, you aren’t going to get people who are willing to pay $5 or $10 to enter. If your prize-to-fee ratio is on the lower end, be sure to throw in some extra incentive (such as a free issue or subscription). Never  offer guaranteed publication to all entrants.

There are a couple other things to consider when making a prize that’s worth the entry fee:

• What are the odds of winning?
• How much work does the writer need to do to participate?

If you are getting thousands of entries, you need a huge prize. The lower the odds an individual writer has, the more you better hand out.

If you are asking for a very specific story, or if your contest requests a large volume of work, then you need to respect the effort a writer will have to put in to participate. Writers aren’t going to create a story just for your contest if they have only a small chance of winning a small prize.

Establish Credibility

This might sound like it’s impossible to achieve during the first year of your contest, but it definitely can be done. Here are a few suggestions:

• Get an endorsement from a respected figure in the writing community (this could be in the form of a guest judge)
• Get your contest listed by credible publications
• Establish yourself as a respected and professional publisher/editor prior to hosting a contest
• Make sure your contest details are thorough

I wouldn’t recommend launching a contest during the first few months your publication exists. Establish yourself first, then establish your contest. And make sure you have a real website before launching your contest. No one is going to submit if there isn’t clear evidence your contest is real.

Be Transparent

In a world where privacy is becoming more and more of a commodity, people want to know more and more about what they are getting into. Don’t hide anything about your contest. Be forthcoming about everything, including:

• Who the judges are (provide names and links for guest judges)
• Where the money will go (especially if your contest will bring in more money than it awards)
• When and how the winners will be paid
• When and how entrants will be notified
• When the winning stories will be published

Additionally, if you’ve run the contest in the past, you need to make examples of past winners easily available. If the only way to see past winners is by paying money, then you aren’t being transparent. It’s also a good idea to write a blog post or article about the contest. For example, you could discuss the types of stories that generally don’t do well in your contest. Or you could give tips about preparing a contest entry. Naturally, this will also help to establish your credibility.

Advertise and Promote

Advertising your contest can add up quickly. An ad in  Poets & Writers can run you $500 or more. Add in a few other ads and maybe some promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter, and you are easily looking at $800-$1000 just to advertise your contest (which is about what we spent to promote our contest during our biggest years).

If paying big bucks to promote your contest isn’t in the cards for you, then find as many free outlets as possible. Make sure you have a contest listing everywhere you can. There are dozens of lists that compile writing contests for free. Make sure you are on all of them (or at least all the ones you qualify for). Have a separate listing on Duotrope that’s just for your contest. Post about your contest in legitimate writing forums. Reach out to MFA programs and ask if they will spread the word. Be sure to put together a professional announcement regarding the contest. In many cases, your free promotion will bring in more entries than your sponsored ads .

Of course, you should also use social media, but promoting your contest doesn’t just mean you Tweet about it every day. If you really want to promote a contest, you need to find a variety of outlets. The most valuable promotion is anywhere people are already looking for opportunities to make money as writers (online contest listings,  Poets & Writers  Contest Issue, social media groups dedicated to paying publications, etc.).

Do Something Unique

There are thousands of writing contests held every year. If you want people to enter yours, you need to do something different from everyone else. If your guidelines are “Write any story you want and we’ll pick the best one and give you a handful of money,” then no one is going to submit. When I created the Dialogue-Only Contest, I was trying to do something I hadn’t seen done anywhere else before. My “great” ideas included:

• A rolling rejection process
• Unlimited entries for one price
• A growing prize purse
• A very specific format (stories had to be composed entirely of dialogue)

I can’t tell you how many writers contacted me to say they really enjoyed participating in this contest. Every year, I was surprised by how many entrants responded to rejection letters by thanking me for hosting the contest.

Final Notes

Hosting a writing contest is no easy task. There are plenty of obstacles you will deal with along the way, none more difficult than the colossal challenge of sorting through all the entries to pick a winner. If you run your contest the right way, you will find it a rewarding experience. Being able to award almost $2400 to writers is definitely worth the hard work.

How to Host a Writing Contest FAQs

Can anyone host a writing contest.

Yes, in theory, any website or publication can host a writing contest. Before hosting a contest, you should clearly define your contest rules and develop a plan for collecting submissions.

Where can I advertise my writing contest?

You can and should advertise your writing contest in as many places as possible. Some of the best places are Poets & Writers, Duotrope, MFA programs, other online contest listings, and social media. Make sure you have an advertising budget. Promoting your writing contest can get expensive if you aren't careful.

Do I have to award prizes for my writing contest?

If you want people to enter your writing contest, you need to offer prizes. The most appealing prizes are monetary. Publication is also a highly desired outcome. The bigger the prizes, the more entries you'll get.

Can I charge an entry fee for my writing contest?

While some writing contests are free to enter, most require an entry fee. There is nothing wrong with charging a contest entry fee as long as you make the prize worthwhile and you are transparent about where the entry fees go. If you are keeping any of the money as profit, you should disclose this.

What if no one enters my writing contest?

If no one enters your writing contest, or you just don't get many entries, you can try extending the deadline and increasing your promotion efforts. It's always a good idea to include a disclaimer in your contest rules that requires a minimum number of entries for the contest to be held. This way, if you only get a handful of entries, you don't have to award a big prize that will cause you to lose a lot of money.

For writers interested in entering a writing contest

Are you a writer interested in entering a writing contest? Check out these helpful posts:

• How to win a writing contest
• Should I enter a writing contest?
• Everything you need to know before entering a writing contest

Do you have any additional tips for hosting a writing contest? Share your thoughts or questions in the comments. If you are interested in hosting a writing contest, feel free to reach out directly to me for advice. And, as always, please share this post on all your favorite channels.

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2 thoughts on “ How to Host a Writing Contest ”

Recently, I have started using old comics for writing practice. They are public domain and from the WW II era. It is a lot of fun and a challenge since the pictures are already done. Do you have any thoughts on me organizing a writing contest in which writers fill in the blanked dialog balloons. Every entry would have the same eight pages to fill in.

This a great article thank you for being so truthful about the process of build a contest.

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

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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!

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6 Ways Winning a Writing Competition Helped Me Get Published

• Author: Guest Column

Winning the grand prize in the 80th annual Writers Digest Competition was easily the most thrilling experience of my writing career. Eleven thousand seven hundred entries and the judges picked my story, “Boy Witch”. I’m a full time writer now, but was still practicing dentistry when the call came through. My receptionist interrupted me in the middle of a procedure and said, “You’re going to want to take this.” I remember very little about the rest of the day.

This guest post is by John Biggs . Biggs is a broad-spectrum fiction writer. His short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies that run the gamut from literary to young adult and everything in between. He has published two novels with strong contemporary Native American content that blur genre borders between literary and speculative fiction. John was the grand-prize winner of the 80th annual Writers Digest Competition, as well the winner of the 2012 the Storyteller magazine’s People’s Choice Award, OWFI’s Crème de la Crème award, 3rd prize in the 2011 Lorian Heminway short story contest. His second novel, Popsicle Styx was a finalist for the 2015 Oklahoma Book Award. You can visit John at johnbiggsoklahomawriter.com and his FB author page .

I’d written about eighty short stories before the WD win on the advice of an editor I met at a writers’ conference. He told me I showed promise but needed to stop working on novels for a while and hone my skills on short fiction—easily the best writing advice I’ve ever received.

For the next three years I wrote short stories, submitted them to markets, and entered them in contests. By the time WD’s 80th annual competition rolled around, I’d won several contests but had managed to publish only four stories. Three of those were in a writers’ conference anthology with about 100 subscribers, and one was in a small literary magazine, The Storyteller .

[ Click Here to Enter One of our Writer's Digest Writing Competitions Now ]

Since the WD grand prize I’ve published sixty short stories and two novels. I have another novel and a linked short story collection coming out this year, and a contract on a fourth novel for 2016. Here’s how winning a single major contest made the difference:

1. Breakout psychology

After my story had been picked in a selection process as rigorous as the Annual Writers Digest Competition I knew I was a writer. Rejections still hurt (they haven’t stopped coming) but that big win carries me through a lot of hard times, and keeps me writing and submitting.

2. Fresh Eyes and Old Work

I used to believe something was intrinsically wrong with every piece of short fiction an editor rejected. After the WD win I gave those manuscripts another serious look. Some were well written and deserved to find a home. After minor modifications and several more submissions they did. Some had serious flaws that were obvious to me after a letting them rest a few months. Once identified, most of those problems could be corrected. Without the WD writing competition , my once rejected manuscripts might never have seen the light of day.

3. Prestige

Not every good story has a blockbuster start. Editors read hundreds of submissions and they seldom give manuscripts more than a couple of pages to capture their attention. A narrative with a slow opening will usually wind up in the rejection pile. Fortunately for me, most submissions include a short author bio. If that bio includes winning a Writers Digest competition, a slow starting manuscript is likely to get a more in depth read.

4. Editorial Feedback

After the WD win, rejections—at least some of them—became more personal. “Your story was excellent but, not right for this collection.” I received invitations to submit again, or sometimes to re-submit the same story for a later edition or another publication. Comments varied from a single word rejection, “close,” to a more enigmatic, “We were torn by this one.” Some editors made specific suggestions and accepted stories contingent on changes. Editors are more likely to want a relationship with an author who has won a major contest. Once that relationship is established they will likely read future submissions in a very favorable frame of mind.

5. Recycled Characters

Once I have well-developed characters I never let them go. Danny Riley, the protagonist of my grand prize winner, has been featured in several subsequent stories. You can bet I include Danny’s past successes somewhere in my submission. My soon to be released novel, Cherokee Ice, actually picks up Danny Riley’s life where “Boy Witch” leaves off. Publishers are enthusiastic about tapping into a fan base a popular protagonist might have developed.

6. A Not So Perfect Pitch

Summing up a story in five minutes seems to be beyond my grasp no matter how many blogs posts I read that tell me exactly how it should be done. One editor at a writers’ conference actually stopped me in the middle of a pitch. But he looked over my resume and agreed to read a draft my first novel. Afterward he offered me a contract. That editor sat through a lot of pitches and asked for very few manuscripts. If I hadn’t had a major contest win, he probably wouldn’t have asked for mine.

Winning the Writers Digest competition gave me a strong push through the very steep climb at the beginning of my writing career. Partly, or perhaps chiefly because of that contest my short story publication resume has blossomed and I have established a relationship with two small publishers (Pen-L Publishing and Oghma Creative Media). I’m still looking for a way into major New York publishing house. Maybe my WD win will help me with that too.

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Thanks for visiting The Writer's Dig blog. For more great writing advice, click here .

Brian A. Klems is the editor of this blog, online editor of Writer's Digest and author of the popular gift book Oh Boy, You're Having a Girl: A Dad's Survival Guide to Raising Daughters .

Follow Brian on Twitter: @BrianKlems Sign up for Brian's free Writer's Digest eNewsletter: WD Newsletter

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5 Creative Writing Contests to Look Out For in 2023

4-minute read

• 31st December 2022

Whether you are a published or unpublished writer, creative writing contests are a great way to get your work to a larger audience while also taking home some cash prizes and getting published in top creative writing magazines and websites along the way. 

While there are many options for submitting your creative writing to contests around the globe , this article will look at 5 creative writing contests you can enter your original work into in 2023. 

1. Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2023 

Deadline: August 31, 2023.

Who may enter: Open to anyone.

Contest description:

●  The competition is organized by the international art and culture magazine Aesthetica .

●  The competition accepts works of fiction and poetry.

●  Fiction entries should be no more than 2,000 words.

●  Poetry entries should be no more than 40 lines.

●  You may submit work on any topic or theme.

●  All work should be in English.

Entry fees:

●  Poetry entries are £12.

●  Short fiction entries are £18.

●  The poetry winner receives £2,500.

●  The short fiction winner receives £2,500.

●  Both winners will have their works published in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual.

Official website:

Please visit the contest’s official website for more information on entry submission and requirements.

2. 2023 Bristol Short Story Prize 

Deadline: April 26, 2023.

Who may enter: Published and unpublished writers over the age of 16.

●  Your short story should be more than 4,000 words.

●  You may write your short story on any subject or theme and in any style.

●  Your short story must be in English.

●  The work you submit must not have been published, whether online or in print, or broadcast, or have won a prize in any other writing competition.

Entry fee: £9.

●  First prize £1,000.

●  Second prize £500.

●  Third prize £250.

●  Each of the 17 remaining shortlisted writers will receive £100.

●  20 stories will be published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology, Volume 16.

For more information on the contest’s submission guidelines and requirements, please visit the official website .

3. The Masters Review Winter Short Story Award for New Writers

Deadline: January 31, 2023.

Who may enter: All emerging writers.

●  The Masters Review , an American literary magazine and book publisher, is the organizer of this contest.

●  There is no theme.

●  Your short story should not exceed 6,000 words.

●  Your work should be unpublished.

●  Your work should be in English.

Entry fee: $20.

●  First place $3,000.

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●  Second place $300.

●  Third place $200.

●  All winners receive publication and agency review.

For more information regarding submission guidelines and requirements, please visit the Masters Review ’s official website .

4. Scottish Arts Club Short Story Competition 

Deadline: February 28, 2023.

●  This contest is organized by the Scottish Arts Club in Edinburgh, Scotland.

●  Your work must be in English.

●  Your submitted work must be unpublished in any format.

Entry fee: £10 per story.

●  First prize £3,000 (open to writers worldwide).

●  Second prize £500 (open to writers worldwide).

●  Third prize £250 (open to writers worldwide).

●  Isobel Lodge Award £750 (open to unpublished writers living in Scotland).

●  Write Mango Award £300 (open to writers worldwide).

●  Publication is offered to authors of the top 20 stories (or more) in the Club’s next anthology.

Please visit the Scottish Arts Trust’s official website for more information.

5. The Bridport Prize 2023 International Creative Writing Competition 

Deadline: May 31, 2022.

Who may enter: Anyone over the age of 16.

●  This contest is organized by the Bridport Arts Centre in Bridport, England.

●  This contest has five categories: poetry, short story, flash fiction, novel, and memoir.

○  Short story entries must be no more than 5,000 words.

○  Flash fiction entries must be no more than 250 words.

●  Your submitted work must be unpublished in any format, and must not have won or been placed in another writing competition.

Short story: £14 per short story.

Flash fiction: £11 per flash fiction.

●  Short story first place receives £5,000.

●  Short story second place receives £1,000.

●  Short story third place receives £500.

●  Highly commended 10 x £100.

●  Flash fiction first place receives £1,000.

●  Flash fiction second place receives £500.

●  Flash fiction third place receives £250.

For more information on all categories and submission guidelines and requirements, please visit the official website .

Be sure to check out Proofed’s writing blog for information on writing novels , poetry and fiction , and how to overcome writer’s block to make sure your writing is ready for submission.

If you need help with proofreading your creative writing, Proofed will proofread your first 500 words for free !

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‘Creative writing can be as impactful as an academic paper’

Grassroots initiatives can promote visibility of marginalised groups, self-expression and community, writes Emily Downes. Here are her key tips from running a creative writing competition to mark LGBTQ+ History Month

Emily Downes

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Last year marked two decades since the repeal of Section 28, a UK law that prohibited what was described as “the promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities. What this meant, in practice, was that generations of LGBTQ+ children grew up with no safe access to information about LGBTQ+ issues, no role models, no representation. They had no indication, in fact, that they could have a successful life that included employment, acceptance and community. 

Surely, as hubs of knowledge production, higher education institutions have a social and ethical responsibility to actively repair some of the damage wrought by this law. As LGBTQ+ staff in the sector continue to report  discrimination and erasure , are we providing enough opportunities for our students to see their own lived experiences roadmapped and reflected? 

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While institutional support and backing are essential in amplifying LGBTQ+ representation and visibility, staff on the ground can also make an impact through grassroots initiatives. And where better to push back against the fearmongering of Section 28 than from a place of love? For author, theorist and educator  bell hooks , all key social justice movements have promoted a love ethic: a practice that seeks to use knowledge, responsibility, care, trust, respect and commitment. How might that look in your professional context? 

In mine, I have had the privilege of coordinating a creative writing competition for LGBT+ History Month . Here’s some of what I learned.

Knowledge and responsibility

It’s natural to feel powerless against discrimination. However, take heart – there’s no one defining form of activism. You may not feel you have the capacity or physical ability to protest in the streets or the wherewithal for a strategic campaign. That doesn’t mean you have nothing to contribute to the cause of a more inclusive landscape in higher education. We each have our own offering of knowledge, skills and interests to share. These needn’t exclusively be academic pursuits.

What brings you joy? Perhaps it’s a gentle walk in nature or listening to a podcast or crocheting. I’m partial to all three…and I also enjoy using writing to make sense of my inner and outer worlds. A couple of years ago, I started facilitating LGBTQ+ creative writing for well-being sessions in my local community. Last year the chair of our university LGBTQ+ focus group asked if I would use this experience to make our campus more inclusive. We agreed that I would deliver a drop-in session exploring the importance of queer representation , and that I would coordinate a creative writing competition around the same theme. As a “late bloomer” bisexual who grew up with a dearth of positive representation, I felt a responsibility to be visible in our university community. I had first-hand experience of the possibilities that creative writing affords for healing and growth. I am also well aware of how stifling and impenetrable academic writing can feel for many. I saw the creative writing competition as an opportunity to put self-expression firmly back into the hands of a marginalised community. 

Care and trust

Over the past two academic years, I have gained important insights into developing the competition process with care and establishing trust with our participants. Working with students with protected characteristics means a vital aspect of care is gaining consent at multiple stages. For trans students , for example, being named in certain contexts could have immediate and severe material consequences. One student sought me out during graduation week last year to ensure they would be  dead-named – otherwise, they said, they wouldn’t be able to return home with their parents after the ceremony. 

This has fed into my experience with the competition. Just because someone has entered doesn’t mean they will feel willing or able to be named in a university update or read their piece at a public event. However much you think you’ve tied up loose ends, please double-check. It’s better to be mildly irritating with an abundance of care.

That said, please don’t let the need for caution be off-putting. Demonstrating this level of care is foundational to developing trust. Repeatedly checking in with participants about how they are represented also helps to build a sense of agency they may not always feel they have in wider society. Liaise with those in your initiative whenever a new context arises in which they may be named. 

Respect and commitment

University community members who participate in our writing competition are occupying a  brave space , and this demands our respect. We value our staff and students’ intersectional identities and recognise how vulnerable it can feel sharing those parts of yourself in your place of work or study. I have shared some of my own LGBTQ+ journey during the drop-in sessions. Another sign of respect has been the active and enthusiastic engagement from our executive director of communications and development, who has sat on the judging panel both years. Having buy-in from senior management is indescribably validating not just for our entrants but for the wider LGBTQ+ community at the university.

Commitment to such an initiative can take many forms, the most essential of which are reflection and learning. For example, our inaugural winner, Allison Rosewood, submitted a non-fiction piece about becoming the trans role model she had always sought herself. We platformed her work at the university Pride event – she was unable to speak in person, so we recorded her reading her work and played it during the Pride Literary Hour. We invited Allison to sit on the 2024 judging panel, and the award has been named the Allison Rosewood LGBTQ+ History Month award. Now, our winner will always be invited to read at Pride and to sit on the panel. Allowing the project to evolve has helped create space for students to have their experiences and identities validated, and to build an archive of visible role models. 

This year, our prompt invited entrants to imagine a world where Section 28 had never existed. Mac McClelland’s winning entry,  Brianna , is staggering. The piece eloquently draws a line from past to present, highlighting just how far-reaching and damaging legislation in this vein can be. Opening the door for this creative expression has resulted in something that, in my opinion, is as impactful as an academic paper. 

Knowledge, responsibility, care, trust, respect and commitment, then…what’s coming to mind for you? Perhaps you owe it to yourself and your community to explore your own initiative. One caveat to this: please also apply a love ethic to yourself. Does the thought of a project like this make you weary? You may be running low on reserves, especially as we so often expect members of marginalised communities to advocate and enact positive change themselves. Someone else can take up this mantle, and that’s fine, too. 

The legacy of Section 28 is a traumatised, under-represented LGBTQ+ community and a wider UK society that still often struggles to accept those living outside a heteronormative, cisnormative version of reality. But if you do have the energy and resources, projects like ours can be transformative for individuals and institutions. As bell hooks wrote: “When we are taught that safety always lies with sameness, then difference, of any kind, will appear as a threat…The choice to love is a choice to connect – to find ourselves in the other.” Let’s work to make our institutions a place of connection and relish all the richness of experience that entails. 

Emily Downes is senior student success tutor (academic writing) and LGBTQ+ Focus Group co-chair at Teesside University.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week,  sign up for the Campus newsletter .

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Find details about every creative writing competition—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, grants for translators, and more—that we’ve published in the Grants & Awards section of Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it in the Writing Contests database, the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

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The Time Is Now offers three new and original writing prompts each week to help you stay committed to your writing practice throughout the year. We also curate a list of essential books on writing —both the newly published and the classics—that we recommend for guidance and inspiration. Whether you’re struggling with writer’s block, looking for a fresh topic, or just starting to write, our archive of writing prompts has what you need. Need a starter pack? Check out our Writing Prompts for Beginners.

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Nearly fifty years ago, the writer George Perec spent three days sitting behind a café window in Place Saint-Sulpice in Paris recording everything he saw. In his short book, An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris , his observations of mundane occurrences and objects often considered unnoteworthy—passersby, cars, buses, pigeons, signs, and slogans—are documented. This week situate yourself in one spot, perhaps in your home or workplace, or in a public space like a park, busy crossroad, commercial area, library, or café. Then, jot down the objects and behavior you see, and the snippets of conversation you hear. Write a lyric essay composed of these notes, trying to avoid interpretations or analysis. Taken together, how do your observations create a portrayal of a specific time or place? Pay particular attention to how one observation might lead to another, and to potential rhythms and repetitions.

Power Couple

The 2023 thriller film Fair Play , written and directed by Chloe Domont, follows the lives of a young, newly engaged couple, Luke and Emily, who are colleagues working as analysts in the cutthroat world of high finance in New York. The film focuses on the progression of their relationship, which has been kept hidden from their hedge fund office, and the bitter disintegration of their happiness after a promotion that was initially rumored to go to Luke is unexpectedly bestowed upon Emily, which situates him as a subordinate to his wife within a misogynistic workplace. Write a short story that revolves around an occurrence that catalyzes a shift in the power dynamic between two main characters who have a close relationship. What are the initial responses, and does the transformation happen suddenly or gradually? Are there gender, generational, or other cultural issues that play a role?

Organic Insinuations

“All too often, on a ‘poetry scene,’ people prioritise ‘subject matter,’” says John Burnside in a 2023 interview about his writing process by Jesse Nathan published on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. “I am sure that, as I am working, environmental concerns insinuate their way into the content of a poem organically, as other concerns will—but I would never start from there.” Inspired by the late Scottish poet, who died at the age of sixty-nine on May 29, write a poem that springs not from a predetermined topic or subject matter, but instead allows you to “trust in the sounds, the rhythms that come out of the day-to-day, the sheer immediacy and truth of the quotidian…and the images that lead, sometimes via fairly roundabout paths, to metaphor.” Later, as you reread and revise, what do you discover is the subject of your poem? What might have organically insinuated itself into your poem?

The maintenance or restoration of native plant and animal species has long been at the heart of many ecological and conservation projects, and has historically been a focus of land and environmental stewardship principles held by native and first peoples all over the world. But what if a beloved plant or animal is considered invasive, like the palm trees of Los Angeles or the cattle of Texas? What are the effects or consequences of centuries of existence with this invasive species in a particular locale? This week reflect on the notion of belonging—what are various places and times when you have felt a strong sense of belonging, and situations when you did not feel you belonged? Consider your own perspectives and responses when you encounter someone or something else that seems invasive or does not belong.

In Stephen King’s 1983 novel, Pet Sematary , a doctor moves into a remote house in Maine with his wife, two young children, and their pet cat, and learns from a neighbor about an ancient burial ground nearby cursed by a malevolent spirit which gave it power to reanimate those buried there. This is put to the test first by the family cat, and then by members of the family who die throughout the course of King’s horror story. While each formerly dead being is returned to the land of the living, they don’t come back quite the same. Write a story in which a creature or person returns from the dead, either in actuality or under circumstances in which their reappearance feels as if they are “back from the dead.” What familiar traits remain the same and what is disconcertingly different? Is their return ultimately for the better or the worse?

“I told a friend about a spill at the grocery store, which—the words ‘conveyor belt’ vanishing midsentence—took place on a ‘supermarket treadmill,’” writes Madeleine Schwartz in a recent essay published by New York Times Magazine about her experience of negotiating with and toggling between the French and English languages after moving from New York to Paris. In the piece, Schwartz notes that as she became more comfortable with living and thinking in French, she noticed a blurring of her linguistic capabilities, including a muddling of her articulative abilities in English. Think about a time or situation when words have failed you, or you’ve drawn a blank as to the mot juste. Write a poem that traces or enacts a loss of language, perhaps using invented words, phrases, and spellings or experimenting with font sizes, line breaks, and spacing.

Edible Memories

Many foods, flavors, and dishes hold a wellspring of emotional associations because they remind us of loved ones, habits and traditions, specific locales, and a different time of our lives when we were different people. Write a series of flash nonfiction pieces this week with each segment focusing on an edible item that evokes particularly resonant memories for you. You might begin by jotting down lists of foods you ate regularly growing up—breakfasts, school lunches, vending machine go-tos, favorite fast-food joints, diners, late night spots, home-cooked specialties—as well as a few momentous meals. Who are the people you associate with each one? Aside from taste and smell, consider the surrounding environment, atmospheric sounds, time of year, and who you were at that point in your life.

Wheels and Nails

While the American proverb “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” may be one you’ve heard time and again, often in reference to the idea that whoever raises or vocalizes a criticism the loudest will be appeased, there is a Japanese saying that translates to “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down,” which points to the positives of conformity in order to maintain a productive and humble society. It can also refer to putting someone who has become too successful back down in their place. Write a story in which your main character diverges from a group of people, and sticks their neck out, so to speak. Perhaps they vocalize a contrary perspective, protest something they feel is unjust, or simply present themselves in an unconventional manner. What are the consequences? Does your story lean toward one proverbial lesson or the other, or does the conclusion demonstrate more ambiguity?

Night at the Museum

If you could spend a night at any museum, which would you choose, and why? The French publisher Editions Stock has a series of books that begins with this premise—each author selects a museum, arrangements are made for an overnight stay, and a book is written about the experience. In Jakuta Alikavazovic’s Like a Sky Inside , translated from the French by Daniel Levin Becker, she spends a night at the Louvre in Paris, where childhood memories of visits with her father are vividly recalled. “From March 7 to 8, 2020, I spent the night in the Louvre, alone. Alone and at the same time anything but,” writes Alikavazovic. Write a poem that imagines a night at a museum of your choosing, anywhere in the world. What memories will you excavate from this imagined, solitary experience?

Chosen Family

Although the origin of the term is unknown and can be defined in many ways, a chosen family is made up of a group of people who choose to embrace, nurture, and support each other despite conventional understandings of biological or marital relationships. Oftentimes a chosen family is formed to take the place of a biological family, however, in some cases, these relationships are formed to expand a family. Write a personal essay about a relationship you have with a chosen family member. How did you first meet? Was there a particular incident that catalyzed what would become an inextricable bond? Has your commitment to each other been tested in ways big or small? Reflect on past memories and experiences you have had with this special person and how your relationship has evolved over the years.

Kingdom of the Planet

In the 1968 science fiction film Planet of the Apes , which is based on French author Pierre Boulle’s 1963 novel and has spawned several sequels and a recent reboot, a crew of astronauts crash-lands on a planet ruled by apes who have developed an advanced and hierarchical civilization, complete with systems of governance, labor, scientific research, and a military force. In this far-off place, humans have been reduced to mute primitive beings who are subjugated and kept captive as workers for the primates. Write a speculative story that takes place in another universe with a premise revolving around a role reversal. What are the rules and governing structures of the society that you invent? You might decide to approach your narrative with a tone of horror, satire, or comedy to emphasize your perspective on stereotypical assumptions and social expectations.

Another Country

“I love these raw moist dawns with / a thousand birds you hear but can’t / quite see in the mist. / My old alien body is a foreigner / struggling to get into another country. / The loon call makes me shiver. / Back at the cabin I see a book / and am not quite sure what that is.” In these eight lines that comprise Jim Harrison’s poem “Another Country,” which appears in his final collection, Dead Man’s Float (Copper Canyon Press, 2016), the late poet moves between observations about a natural outdoor setting and the speaker’s own bodily presence, arriving in the final two lines at a sentiment that expresses a feeling of defamiliarization at the seemingly mundane sight of a book. This week write a poem that explores the concept of being so absorbed in one environment or circumstance that to behold a different scene is like traveling to a strange and unknown realm.

Self-Healing

A recent study in Scientific Reports journal revealed that, for possibly the first time, a nonhuman wild animal was seen using plant medicine to heal an active wound. In a rainforest in Indonesia, a Sumatran orangutan was observed ripping off leaves from a climbing vine plant, chewing them, and applying the plant sap to treat a wound on his face, which then healed after a few days. Write a personal essay on the theme of self-healing. Think about experiences when you’ve witnessed another person perform this task, or particularly resonant memories that pertain to your own past behavior. What are the primary emotions present throughout this process? What instances of self-treatment or self-medication in film, art, or literature created an impression on you?

Campus Story

Take inspiration from the concept of a campus novel—which takes place in and around the campus of a university and often involves the intertwined dynamics of students, professors, and conventions about learning and power—and write a story that engages with a school setting, whether prominently situated in the context of the plot or used for a particular scene. Some recent additions to the campus novel canon include Elif Batuman’s The Idiot (Penguin Press, 2017), Xochitl Gonzalez’s Anita de Monte Laughs Last (Flatiron Books, 2024), Kiley Reid’s Come and Get It (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2024), and Brandon Taylor’s Real Life (Riverhead Books, 2020). Will you include a character who is a student, teacher, administrative staff member, custodial worker or caretaker, or possibly an alumni revisiting the past? Consider the multitude of ways the incorporation of an educational environment might permeate the atmosphere of the narrative.

The Last Friend

“The day the last friend / dies / we sit alone. / A visitor / from outer space / tries hard / to summon us. / Someone says / EAT DEATH. / I fish around for answers / but the questions / still won’t come,” writes Jerome Rothenberg, who passed away in April, in his poem “The Last Friend.” Included in his collection of one hundred poems, A Book of Witness: Spells & Gris-Gris (New Directions, 2022), the poem presents a list of statements and observations, many of which refer to death or dying in some personal way, though the connections are enigmatic and the logical progression is oblique. Try your hand at writing a poem that mentions its subject directly, but which also deliberately obfuscates or remains ambiguous in its intentions. How might using the “I” as a witness include the reader into your point of view?

Mind Your Manners

The New York City culture and news website Gothamist recently asked New Yorkers about their thoughts on sidewalk etiquette in the crowded, bustling streets of their beloved city. What are the rules, who has the right-of-way, and who should yield? Respondents focused on always walking to the right of the sidewalk and to “move quickly and never stop.” One thoughtful respondent considered the cultural differences of sidewalks used for recreational strolls versus commuting. But the overall consensus was that among nine-to-fivers, tourists, parents with kids, dogwalkers, bicyclists, and groups, seniors deserve the right-of-way. Write an essay about the unwritten rules or etiquette you have observed in your daily surroundings. How have these common practices adapted to fit the needs of different people? Do they evolve over time as social norms change? Consider some of your own experiences with how public etiquette has helped or hindered harmonious community life.

The term sub rosa means “under the rose” in Latin and refers to something said or done in private. The rose has been associated with secrecy since ancient times, a decorative symbol often carved and painted in places like meeting rooms, banquet halls, and confessionals as reminders of confidentiality. This week write a short story that revolves around a conversation or discussion that occurs sub rosa in an enclosed space. Does a certain detail get leaked out or overheard? How might the secretive nature place a burden on your characters? Consider the ways in which the atmosphere and tone of your story feel distinctive in the time and space of your sub-rosa conversation versus the scenes that take place before or after the talk.

Wisdom in Translation

In the anthology Another Room to Live In: 15 Contemporary Arab Poets (Litmus Press, 2024) edited by Omar Berrada and Sarah Riggs, multinational and multilingual poet-translators challenge foundational narratives and rework mythologies through poetic expression. Yasmine Seale’s poem “Conventional Wisdom (Arabic Saying Translated Twenty Ways)” is composed of translations of an ancient aphorism expressing the inextricable place of poetry within Arab cultural heritage. Each line presents a variation on the truism: “Poetry is the record of the Arabs / The art of poetry is Arabs, collected / Good poetry is a list of Arabs / To speak in verse is to remain in Arab memory / To surpass another poet is the Arab odyssey.” Write a poem inspired by this idea of translating a proverb or maxim—either from another language or from English into English. How might you creatively interpolate different “translations” of the saying by incorporating connotations and riffing on free associations and personal experiences?

In Response

In a recent interview with Aria Aber for the Yale Review , when asked his thoughts on the responsibility of the poet, Jackson Prize–winning poet Fady Joudah says, “I often think that the responsibility of the poet is to strive to become the memory that people may possess in the future about what it means to be human: an ever-changing constant. In poetry, the range of metaphors and topics is limited, predictable, but the styles are innumerable. Think how we read poetry from centuries ago and are no longer bothered by its outdated diction. All that remains of old poetry is the music of what it means to be human.” Write a creative nonfiction piece that presents your personal theory of the responsibility of a writer or an artist. To construct an expansive approach, you might use observations about how different creative disciplines overlap in their goals, or consider what has remained resonant as the arts make their mark throughout various eras.

Earth to You

In honor of Earth Week, write a scene that revolves around a character who experiences an unexpected moment in a natural environment that produces a sensation of wonder, perhaps an unusual encounter with wild flora or fauna. You might contrast the elements of this scene with others in your story in which the character is interacting solely with humans or only attuned to the sounds, rhythms, and sights of city life and densely packed civilization. Is the occurrence mind-bogglingly quick and then reflected upon in hindsight, or does time slow down in the scene? How do you manage or manipulate the pacing and rhythm of your prose to draw attention to the emotional and psychological response of the character?

From Dirt Level

In Sharon Olds’s poem “May 1968,” the speaker recounts the memory of spending the night with other protesting students, who lay down their bodies on a New York City street at a university’s campus gates in order to obstruct the mounted police force that had been called in. While “spine-down on the cobbles,” she observes the city and surrounding scenery—the soaring buildings and the police and horses’ bodies—as she gazes upward, thinking about the state of her pregnant body. Write a poem this week from the vantage point of lying face-up, “from dirt level.” What circumstances bring you into this position? How does this upward point of view transform what you see, and how you feel about your own body?

More, please? Or, no more, please? In The Fast: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Promise of Doing Without (Avid Reader Press, 2024), John Oakes recounts his personal experience conducting a weeklong fast and examines the practice’s history and place within a wide range of religions and philosophies. The book also explores the act of self-deprivation and the potential transformative benefits of subtracting rather than adding to one’s life. “The act of fasting…won’t stop routine, but impedes it for a bit, signifying a shift and a determined unwillingness to follow standard operating procedure,” writes Oakes. Use this idea to consider your personal relationship with consumption—of food, conversation, media, clothes, space—and write a personal essay that reflects on what you might otherwise take for granted.

All in Your Head

In “Table for One,” a short story from Korean author Yun Ko-eun’s new collection of the same name, translated by Lizzie Buehler and published by Columbia University Press in April, a surreal quality seeps into the tale of a lonely office worker who enrolls in a course to make solitary dining easier. Tips from the course include: “Target corner tables rather than those in the middle. Seats at the bar are also good. Hang your coat or bag on the chair facing you and take advantage of tools like a book, earphones, a cell phone, or a newspaper.” The fantastic element of the story lies less in the oddity of the premise than in the narrator’s meticulously recounted neuroses and detailed rendering of processes that become seemingly cyclical. Write a scene that focuses on your character’s minute observations as they attempt to overcome something debilitating. Does the situation lend itself to a quirky or dark sense of humor?

Neither Questions nor Answers

“Where is the homeland / to lay a cradle for the dead / Where is the other shore / for poetry to step across the end point / Where is the peace / that lets the days distribute blue sky...” In Sidetracks , forthcoming in May from New Directions, the Chinese poet Bei Dao begins his book-length poem with a list of twenty-five enigmatic questions that dance around mythological, philosophical, and existential subjects. In Jeffrey Yang’s translation, the speaker’s questions lack the end punctuation of the original text, with question marks omitted. Through these unanswered questions, the poet conjures loss and nostalgia. Loosely following this structure, write a prologue to a poem that poses a series of questions gesturing toward your most pressing uncertainties. While Bei Dao’s lines are mysterious and mystical, allow your poem the tone and allusions that feel instinctive to you.

With Certainty

In a 1789 letter, Benjamin Franklin wrote the phrase, “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Franklin was reflecting on the establishment of the U.S. Constitution, which he said promised to be durable, as well as his own ailing health and mortality. This week write a personal essay that riffs off this proverb, reflecting on your own worldview about what can be certain. You might start off with the prompt: “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and ______.” Tell the story of how you arrived at your own ideas about what you can always count on, whether good or bad. What past experiences, encounters, or memories seem to reinforce your belief?

About Our Writing Prompts

What is a writing prompt and how do you use one? Whether you find yourself in front of a blank page or stuck in a work-in-progress, writing prompts can offer a spark that ignites your creative thinking and can lead to new writing. Prompts offer guidance, fresh ideas, and direction for writers of all levels of experience. First, choose a prompt for the genre in which you’d like to write, then carefully read it and consider what it is asking you to think about. It could be a specific setting, a writing technique, or an element of an imagined character; a specific poem, story, essay, song, book, or film from which you might take inspiration; or a current event or a topical theme. A writing prompt is filled with endless possibilities—and there is no wrong way to use one to generate new writing!

What makes our writing prompts unique? We have an archive of over 2,000 prompts, all original and offered here and in our weekly newsletter . You’ll find a variety of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction prompts—some inspired by recent and classic literature and other forms of art, current events, and writing practices, and others that offer guidance for a particular form, including sonnets, erasure poetry, flash fiction, lyric essays, and more. For more than fifty years, Poets & Writers has supported creative writers with trustworthy information and inspiration, and our weekly prompts provide a regular dose of encouragement and motivation.

What are the benefits of using writing prompts? Writing prompts can help you get unstuck if you’re in a rut and the ideas aren’t flowing. But even if you’re not experiencing writer’s block, writing prompts can offer a fresh take or a new approach to a work-in-progress. Writing prompts can also provide the motivation to experiment with a new form, try out a new genre, or learn about other writing techniques. And writing prompts are an invaluable tool for teachers who want to encourage and inspire their writing students.

What is this list of Best Books? Best Books for Writers is a list of essential books for creative writers that we curate to support your writing practice. Every week, we add a book (whether new or a classic) with a synopsis and highlights. Included are books on the writing life, anthologies of craft essays, collections of lectures, practical guides with writing exercises, and more.

Poetry writing prompts Every Tuesday we post a new poetry prompt to guide you in your practice. Get to know the work of contemporary and classic poets, as well as a variety of poetic forms.

Fiction writing prompts Every Wednesday we post a new fiction prompt to spark your imagination. Take inspiration from recently published short stories and novels, and of course, the classics.

Creative nonfiction writing prompts Every Thursday we post a new creative nonfiction prompt to help your exploration of this ever-changing genre. These prompts include information and inspiration for a variety of essays as well as memoirs. Discover new writers and their craft, and fresh ways to generate writing inspired by your life.

Need a starter pack? Check out our Writing Prompts for Beginners .

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Calling all Fiction Writers: Enter Our Fall 2024 Short Story Contest

• Author: Verily Magazine

Winners will be featured in our upcoming “Creativity” issue.

We’re thrilled to announce the theme of the fall 2024 issue of Verily magazine: Creativity.

In celebration of that theme, we’d like to offer you a chance to showcase your creativity in our first fiction contest! We invite you to pick up your pen (or rather, power up your computer) and submit a short fictional story with creativity as the theme.

When we say short, we mean very short: flash fiction. Generally speaking, flash fiction is a story that’s shorter than 1,500 words . Some writers and publishers use more narrow definitions , such as microfiction or sudden fiction , for differing word counts within that range; others use the terms interchangeably. Whatever you call it, the result is a short yet powerful story—a story with a plot and characters, all packaged neatly into a small space. ( This article from Masterclass offers some good pointers for those who are new to this type of fiction.)

For our contest, we’re looking for stories that are no more than 500 words.

Together with the help of our guest judge (who we’ll announce at a later date), we will select one overall winner and three runners up for this contest.

FIRST PRIZE: $200 and publication in the fall 2024 Creativity issue of Verily magazine, plus a copy of the Creativity issue in print. Your story may be edited by a professional editor, with feedback from the editor and judging team.

RUNNER UP PRIZES: $100 and publication in the fall 2024 Creativity issue of Verily magazine, plus a copy of the Creativity issue in print. Your story may be edited by a professional editor, with feedback from the editor and judging team.

We are excited to read the stories you create, and we’re honored that you’re considering sharing your words with us. Please share the details of this competition with other writers you know who might want to enter.

The Verily team

COMPETITION RULES & HOW TO ENTER:

Deadline for submissions is midnight ET Sunday, July 28, 2024 (entries after this date will not be considered). We will contact our selected winners by Friday, August 9, and announce the winners publicly soon after.

Work must be entirely your own and original, not published online or in any other print publication (we will not consider social media or self-publishing via a blog or similar platforms as “published,” so it’s okay to enter work that you have previously shared via Instagram, for example). The copyright and ownership over the work will remain with you, the author, and by entering the competition you give Verily the right to use your work of fiction online and in print in perpetuity.

Stories must be on the theme of creativity, and they must be under 500 words.

This competition is free of charge to enter, and we are open to entries from anywhere in the world, but entries must be at least mostly in English (i.e. including a line or word here or there in another language is fine).

Please send your submission in a Word document in a simple font (preferably Arial, size 11) attached to an email to [email protected] with the subject line marked: FICTION 2024.

We request that you do not include your name or any identifying information in the Word document containing your story, as this competition will be judged blind. However, in your email to send the submission, please include these details:

• Your full name
• Your preferred contact email
• A short bio (just a few lines)
• The title of your story

You may enter one story.

Your entry will be final and we cannot accept edits after entry. But don’t worry—winners will have a chance to do any necessary edits before publication.

The Verily team and family members of the team or our guest judge are not eligible to enter.

The winners will be chosen at the discretion of the Verily team with the support of our guest judge, who will read the final selection of top 10 stories. We reserve the right to alter these rules and prizes if necessary at any point.

The prizes stated must be claimed within one week of our team reaching out to contact the winners, otherwise the right to the claim may be withdrawn and the prize awarded to another entrant.

If you have any questions about this contest, please contact [email protected].

Announcing the Winners of Our Adventure-themed Photography Contest

Adventure can take many forms.

Verily's Home Issue and Our Poetry Competition Winners

This meaningful issue will be in your hands soon.

Announcing Our Summer 2024 Issue Contest: Nominate a Dreamer!

Celebrate the women in your local community who are dreaming big and making positive change happen.

Announcing Verily’s Winter 2023–2024 Photography Competition

Submit your photographs on the theme of "adventure."

Readers Write: Calling for Submissions

We want to share your stories.

Announcing Our Fall Issue and a Special Launch Event

Let's have better conversations.

Announcing Verily’s Fall 2023 Poetry Competition

Submit your poems on the theme of "home."

Women at Home: Inside Our Home Issue

An excerpt from our latest edition of the print mag

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 9 Easy Steps [Free Template]

Creating your social media marketing strategy doesn’t need to be painful. Create an effective plan for your business in 9 simple steps.

A social media marketing strategy is a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve on social media. It guides your actions and lets you know whether you’re succeeding or failing.

The more specific your plan is, the more effective it will be. Keep it concise. Don’t make it so lofty and broad that it’s unattainable or impossible to measure.

In this post, we’ll walk you through a nine-step plan to create a winning social media strategy of your own. We’ve even got expert insights from Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing.

How to create a social media strategy:

Bonus: Get a free social media strategy template   to quickly and easily plan your own strategy. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your boss, teammates, and clients.

What is a social media marketing strategy?

A social media strategy is a document outlining your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you will track to measure your progress.

Your social media marketing strategy should also list all of your existing and planned social media accounts along with goals specific to each platform you’re active on. These goals should align with your business’s larger digital marketing strategy.

Finally, a good social media plan should define the roles and responsibilities within your team and outline your reporting cadence.

Create. Schedule. Publish. Engage. Measure. Win.

Creating your own social media marketing strategy (video guide)

No time to read the whole article? Let Amanda, Hootsuite’s own Senior Manager of Social Media Marketing, guide you through our free social media marketing strategy template in less than 10 minutes:

How to create a social media marketing strategy in 9 steps

Step 1. choose goals that align to business objectives, set s.m.a.r.t. goals.

The first step to creating a winning social media strategy is to establish clear objectives and goals. Without goals, you have no way to measure success and return on investment (ROI) .

Each of your social media marketing goals should be SMART : s pecific, m easurable, a ttainable, r elevant and t ime-bound.

Psst: Need help getting started? We’ve got social strategy guides for small businesses , financial services , government , higher education , healthcare , real estate , law firms , and non-profits .

Oh, and if you need examples of smart social media goals , we’ve got you covered there too.

Once you’ve decided on your goals, track them in a social media strategy doc — grab our free template if you don’t have one already.

Track meaningful metrics

Vanity metrics like number of followers and likes are easy to track, but it’s hard to prove their real value. Instead, focus on things like engagement, click-through, and conversion rates.

For inspiration, take a look at these 19 essential social media metrics .

You may want to track different goals for different social media networks, or even different uses for each network.

For example, if you use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website, you would measure click-throughs. If Instagram is for brand awareness, you might track the number of Instagram Story views. And if you advertise on Facebook, cost-per-click (CPC) is a common success metric.

Social media goals should align with your overall marketing objectives. This makes it easier to show the value of your work and secure buy-in from your boss.

Start developing a successful social media marketing plan by writing down at least three goals for social media.

“ It’s easy to get overwhelmed by deciding what to post and which metrics to track, but you need to focus on what you want to get out of social media to begin with,” says Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing. “Don’t just start posting and tracking everything: match your goals to your business, and your metrics to your goals.”

Step 2. Learn everything you can about your audience

Get to know your fans, followers, and customers as real people with real wants and needs, and you will know how to target and engage them on social media.

When it comes to your ideal customer, you should know things like:

• Average income
• Typical job title or industry

Here’s a simple guide and template for creating audience/buyer personas .

Don’t forget to document this information in your strategy doc!

Social media analytics can also provide a ton of valuable information about who your followers are, where they live, and how they interact with your brand on social media. These insights allow you to refine your strategy and better target your audience.

Jugnoo, an Uber-like service for auto-rickshaws in India, used Facebook Analytics to learn that 90% of their users who referred other customers were between 18- and 34-years-old, and 65% of that group was using Android. They used that information to target their ads, resulting in a 40% lower cost per referral.

Check out our guide to using social media analytics and the tools you need to track them .

Step 3. Get to know your competition

Odds are your competitors are already using social media, and that means you can learn from what they’re doing.

Conduct a competitive analysis

A competitive analysis allows you to understand who the competition is and what they’re doing well (and not so well). You’ll get a good sense of what’s expected in your industry, which will help you set social media targets of your own.

It will also help you spot opportunities and weaknesses you can document in your social strategy doc.

Maybe one of your competitors is dominant on Facebook, for example, but has put little effort into X (Twitter) or Instagram. You might want to focus on the social media platforms where your audience is underserved, rather than trying to win fans away from a dominant player.

Use social media listening

Social listening is another way to keep an eye on your competitors.

Do searches of the competition’s company name, account handles, and other relevant keywords on social media. Find out what they’re sharing and what other people are saying about them. If they’re using influencer marketing, how much engagement do those campaigns earn them?

Pro tip : Use Hootsuite Streams to monitor relevant keywords, hashtags and accounts in real-time.

Try Hootsuite for free. You can cancel anytime.

As you track, you may notice shifts in how your competitors and industry leaders are using social media. You may come across new, exciting trends. You might even spot specific social content or a campaign that really hits the mark—or totally bombs.

Use this kind of intel to optimize and inform your own social media marketing strategy.

Just don’t go overboard on the spy tactics, Amanda advises. “ Make sure you aren’t ALWAYS comparing yourself to the competition — it can be a distraction. I’d say checking in on a monthly basis is healthy. Otherwise, focus on your own strategy and results.”

Step 4. Do a social media audit

If you’re already using social media, take stock of your efforts so far. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s working, and what’s not?
• Who is engaging with you?
• What are your most valuable partnerships?
• Which networks does your target audience use?
• How does your social media presence compare to the competition?

Once you collect that information, you’ll be ready to start thinking about ways to improve.

We’ve created an easy-to-follow social media audit guide and template to walk you through each step of this process.

Your audit should give you a clear picture of what purpose each of your social accounts serves. If the purpose of an account isn’t clear, think about whether it’s worth keeping.

To help you decide, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is my audience here?
• If so, how are they using this platform?
• Can I use this account to help achieve my goals?

Asking these tough questions will keep your social media strategy focused.

Look for impostor accounts

During the audit, you may discover fake accounts using your business name or the names of your products.

These imposters can be harmful to your brand—never mind that they’re capturing followers that should be yours.

You may want to get your accounts verified too to ensure your fans know they are dealing with the real you.

Here’s how to get verified on:

• X (Twitter)

Step 5. Set up accounts and improve profiles

Decide which networks to use.

As you decide which social networks to use, you will also need to define your strategy for each.

Benefit Cosmetics’ social media manager, Angela Purcaro, told eMarketer : “For our makeup tutorials … we’re all about Snapchat and Instagram Stories. [X], on the other hand, is designated for customer service.”

Hootsuite’s own social team even designates different purposes for formats within networks. On Instagram, for example, they use the feed to post high-quality educational infographics and product announcements and Stories to cover live events or quick social media updates.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hootsuite 🦉 (@hootsuite)

Pro tip : Write out a mission statement for each network. A one-sentence declaration to keep you focused on a specific goal.

Example: “We will use X for customer support to keep email and call volumes down.”

Or: “We will use LinkedIn for promoting and sharing our company culture to help with recruitment and employee advocacy.”

One more: “We will use Instagram to highlight new products and repost quality content from influencers.”

If you can’t create a solid mission statement for a particular social media channel, you may want to ask yourself if it’s worth it.

Note : While larger businesses can and do tackle every platform, small businesses may not be able to — and that’s ok! Prioritize social platforms that will have the most impact on your business and make sure your marketing team has the resources to handle content for those networks. If you need help focusing your efforts, check out our 18-minute social media plan .

Set up your profiles

Once you’ve decided which networks to focus on, it’s time to create your profiles. Or improve existing ones so they align with your strategy.

• Make sure you fill out all profile fields
• Include keywords people would use to search for your business
• Use consistent branding (logos, images, etc.) across networks so your profiles are easily recognizable

Pro tip : Use high-quality images that follow the recommended dimensions for each network. Check out our always-up-to-date social media image size cheat sheet for quick reference.

We’ve also got step-by-step guides for each network to walk you through the process:

• Create a Facebook business page
• Create an Instagram business account
• Create a TikTok account
• Create a X (Twitter) business account
• Create a Snapchat account
• Create a LinkedIn Company Page
• Create a Pinterest business account
• Create a YouTube channel

Don’t let this list overwhelm you. Remember, it’s better to use fewer channels well than to stretch yourself thin trying to maintain a presence on every network.

Optimize your profiles (and content) for search

Never heard of social SEO ? It’s time to learn.

44% of Gen Z consumers use social platforms to research their purchase decisions, which means it’s extra critical that your channels are optimized for social search.

That means making sure your profile names are clear and descriptive, you’re including relevant hashtags and keywords in your bio and on every post, and you’re using features like alt text and captions to include your target keywords as naturally as possible.

Step 6. Find inspiration

While it’s important that your brand be unique, you can still draw inspiration from other businesses that are great on social.

“ I consider it my job to stay active on social: to know what’s trending, which campaigns are winning, what’s new with the platforms, who’s going above and beyond,” says Amanda. “This might be the most fun step for you, or the hardest one, but it’s just as crucial as the rest of them.”

Social media success stories

You can usually find these on the business section of the social network’s website. ( Here’s Facebook’s , for example.)

Case studies can offer valuable insights that you can apply to your own social media plan.

Award-winning accounts and campaigns

You could also check out the winners of The Facebook Awards or The Shorty Awards for examples of brands that are at the top of their social media game.

For learning and a laugh, check out Fridge-Worthy, Hootsuite’s bi-weekly awards show highlighting brands doing smart and clever things on social media.

Your favorite brands on social media

Who do you enjoy following on social media? What do they do that compels people to engage and share their content?

National Geographic, for example, is one of the best on Instagram, combining stunning visuals with compelling captions.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo)

Then there’s Shopify. The ecommerce brand uses Facebook to sell themselves by showcasing customer stories and case studies.

And Lush Cosmetics is a great example of superior customer service on X. They use their 280 characters to answer questions and solve problems in an extremely charming and on-brand way.

Source: lushcosmetics on X

Notice that each of these accounts has a consistent voice, tone, and style. That’s key to letting people know what to expect from your feed. That is, why should they follow you? What’s in it for them?

Consistency also helps keep your content on-brand even if you have multiple people on your social media team.

For more on this, read our guide on establishing a compelling brand voice on social media .

Ask your followers

Consumers can also offer social media inspiration.

What are your target customers talking about online? What can you learn about their wants and needs?

If you have existing social channels, you could also ask your followers what they want from you. Just make sure that you follow through and deliver what they ask for.

Step 7. Create a social media content calendar

Sharing great content is essential, of course, but it’s equally important to have a plan in place for when you’ll share content to get the maximum impact.

Your social media content calendar also needs to account for the time you spend interacting with the audience (although you need to allow for some spontaneous engagement as well).

Set your posting schedule

Your social media content calendar lists the dates and times at which you will publish types of content on each channel. It’s the perfect place to plan all of your social media activities—from images, link sharing, and re-shares of user-generated content to blog posts and videos. It includes both your day-to-day posting and content for social media campaigns.

Your calendar also ensures your posts are spaced out appropriately and published at the best times to post .

Pro tip: You can plan your whole content calendar and get recommended best times to post on every network based on your past engagement rate, impressions, or link click data in Hootsuite.

Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature

Determine the right content mix

Make sure your content strategy and calendar reflect the mission statement you’ve assigned to each social profile, so that everything you post is working to support your business goals.

(We know, it’s tempting to jump on every meme, but there should always be a strategy behind your social media marketing efforts!)

You might decide that:

• 50% of content will drive traffic back to your website
• 25% of content will be curated from other sources
• 20% of content will support lead-generation goals (newsletter sign-ups, ebook downloads, etc.)
• 5% of content will be about your company culture

Placing these different post types in your content calendar will ensure you maintain the right mix.

If you’re starting from scratch and you’re not sure what types of content to post, try the 80-20 rule :

• 80% of your posts should inform, educate, or entertain your audience
• 20% can directly promote your brand.

You could also try the social media content marketing rule of thirds :

• One-third of your content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates profit.
• One-third of your content shares ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like-minded businesses.
• One-third of your content is personal interactions with your audience

Whatever you decide on, be sure to document it in your strategy doc.

Don’t post too much or too little

If you’re starting a social media marketing strategy from scratch, you may not have figured out how often to post to each network for maximum engagement yet.

Post too frequently and you risk annoying your audience. But, if you post too little, you risk looking like you’re not worth following.

Start with these posting frequency recommendations:

• Instagram (feed): 3-7 times per week
• TikTok: 3-5 times per week
• Facebook: 1-2 times per day
• X (Twitter): 1-5 times per day
• LinkedIn: 1-5 times per day

Pro tip : Once you have your social media content calendar planned out, use a scheduling tool to prepare messages in advance rather than updating constantly throughout the day.

We might be biased, but we think Hootsuite is the best social media management tool. You can schedule social media posts to every network and the intuitive calendar view gives you a full picture of all your social activity each week.

Try It Free

Step 8. Create compelling content

Remember those mission statements you created for each channel in Step 5? Well, it’s time to go a bit deeper, a.k.a. provide some examples of the type of content you’ll post to fulfill your mission on each network.

If you’re not sure what to post, here’s a long list of social media content ideas to get you started. Or (to make it even easier) you can use an AI tool like OwlyWriter to generate on-brand content in a flash.

The idea here is to:

• Keep your content aligned with the purpose of each network;
• Show other stakeholders (if applicable) what kind of content they can expect to see on each network.

This last point especially will help you avoid any tension when your colleagues want to know why you haven’t posted their case study/whitepaper/blog post to TikTok yet. It’s not in the strategy, Linda!

Ideally, you will generate content types that are both suited to the network and the purpose you’ve set out for that network.

For example, you wouldn’t want to waste time posting brand awareness tweets if you’ve designated X/Twitter for primarily customer support. And you wouldn’t want to post super polished corporate video ads to TikTok, as users expect to see short, unpolished videos on that platform.

It might take some testing over time to figure out which type of content works best on which type of network, so prepare to update this section frequently.

We won’t lie: content creation isn’t as easy as everyone not on the social team seems to think. But if you’re struggling, Amanda suggests going back to basics.

The first question to ask is: is there cohesion between your content types? Is your content providing value? Do you have a good mix of entertaining, or educational content? What does it offer that makes a person stop and spend time? Creating a few different content pillars or categories that encompass different aspects of storytelling for your brand, and what you can offer your audience is a good start.

This brings us to Step 9.

Step 9. Track performance and make adjustments

Your social media marketing strategy is a hugely important document for your business, and you can’t assume you’ll get it exactly right on the first try.

As you start to implement your plan and track your results, you may find that some strategies don’t work as well as you’d anticipated, while others are working even better than expected.

That’s why it’s important to document your progress along the way.

Look at performance metrics

In addition to the analytics within each social network (see Step 2), you can use UTM parameters to track social visitors as they move through your website, so you can see exactly which social posts drive the most traffic to your website.

Benchmark your results

You’ve got your numbers, but how do they stack up to the competition in your industry? Industry benchmarks are a great way to evaluate your performance against other businesses in your category.

If you’ve got Hootsuite Analytics , you can use our built-in social media benchmarking tool to compare the performance of your social accounts against the average of brands in your industry with just a couple of clicks.

You can set up custom timeframes, switch between networks — Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok — and look up benchmarks for metrics like followers, audience growth rate, engagement rate, clicks, shares, and much more.

You’ll also find resources to improve your performance  right in the summary section:

Re-evaluate, test, and do it all again

Once this data starts coming in, use it to re-evaluate your strategy regularly. You can also use this information to test different posts, social marketing campaigns, and strategies against one another. Constant testing allows you to understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can refine your social media marketing strategy in real time.

You’ll want to check the performance of all your channels at least once a week and get to know the basics of social media reporting so you can track your growth over time.

Pro tip: If you use Hootsuite, you can review the performance of all your posts on every network in one place. Once you get the hang of checking your analytics, you may even want to customize different reports to show specific metrics over a variety of different time periods.

Surveys can also be a great way to find out how well your social media strategy is working. Ask your followers, email list, and website visitors whether you’re meeting their needs and expectations, and what they’d like to see more of. Then make sure to deliver on what they tell you.

Finalizing your social media strategy

Spoiler alert: nothing is final.

Social media moves fast. New networks emerge, others go through demographic shifts.

Your business will go through periods of change as well.

All of this means that your social media marketing strategy should be a living document that you review and adjust as needed. Refer to it often to stay on track, but don’t be afraid to make changes so that it better reflects new goals, tools, or plans.

When you update your social strategy, make sure to watch our 5-step video on how to updating your social media strategy for 2024:

Social media strategy template

Ready to start documenting? Grab your free social media strategy template below!

What’s next? When you’re ready to put your plan into action, we’re here to help…

Save time managing your social media marketing strategy with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can easily:

• Plan, create, and schedule posts to every network
• Track relevant keywords, topics, and accounts
• Stay on top of engagement with a universal inbox
• Get easy-to-understand performance reports and improve your strategy as needed

Try Hootsuite for Free

With files from Shannon Tien .

Do it better with Hootsuite , the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.

Become a better social marketer.

Get expert social media advice delivered straight to your inbox.

Christina Newberry is an award-winning writer and editor whose greatest passions include food, travel, urban gardening, and the Oxford comma—not necessarily in that order.

Amanda Wood is a senior social marketing professional who combines analytical and creative thinking to build brands.

As head of social at Hootsuite, Amanda oversees the global social strategy encompassing organic and paid social on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn, a social engagement and listening strategy, and an employee advocacy program.

As the leader of a high-performing social team, she has extensive experience collaborating with creatives to bring campaigns to life on social and drive business results.

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How to Write a Competitive Analysis for Your Business Plan

11 min. read

Updated January 3, 2024

Do you know who your competitors are? If you do, have you taken the time to conduct a thorough competitor analysis?

Knowing your competitors, how they operate, and the necessary benchmarks you need to hit are crucial to positioning your business for success. Investors will also want to see an analysis of the competition in your business plan.

In this guide, we’ll explore the significance of competitive analysis and guide you through the essential steps to conduct and write your own. 

You’ll learn how to identify and evaluate competitors to better understand the opportunities and threats to your business. And you’ll be given a four-step process to describe and visualize how your business fits within the competitive landscape.

• What is a competitive analysis?

A competitive analysis is the process of gathering information about your competitors and using it to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This information can then be used to develop strategies to improve your own business and gain a competitive advantage.

• How to conduct a competitive analysis

Before you start writing about the competition, you need to conduct your analysis. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Identify your competitors

The first step in conducting a comprehensive competitive analysis is to identify your competitors. 

Start by creating a list of both direct and indirect competitors within your industry or market segment. Direct competitors offer similar products or services, while indirect competitors solve the same problems your company does, but with different products or services.

Keep in mind that this list may change over time. It’s crucial to revisit it regularly to keep track of any new entrants or changes to your current competitors. For instance, a new competitor may enter the market, or an existing competitor may change their product offerings.

2. Analyze the market

Once you’ve identified your competitors, you need to study the overall market. 

This includes the market size , growth rate, trends, and customer preferences. Be sure that you understand the key drivers of demand, demographic and psychographic profiles of your target audience , and any potential market gaps or opportunities.

Conducting a market analysis can require a significant amount of research and data collection. Luckily, if you’re writing a business plan you’ll follow this process to complete the market analysis section . So, doing this research has value for multiple parts of your plan.

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3. Create a competitive framework

You’ll need to establish criteria for comparing your business with competitors. You want the metrics and information you choose to provide answers to specific questions. (“Do we have the same customers?” “What features are offered?” “How many customers are being served?”)

Here are some common factors to consider including: 

• Market share
• Product/service offerings or features
• Distribution channels
• Target markets
• Marketing strategies
• Customer service

4. Research your competitors

You can now begin gathering information about your competitors. Because you spent the time to explore the market and set up a comparison framework—your research will be far more focused and easier to complete.

There’s no perfect research process, so start by exploring sources such as competitor websites, social media, customer reviews, industry reports, press releases, and public financial statements. You may also want to conduct primary research by interviewing customers, suppliers, or industry experts.

You can check out our full guide on conducting market research for more specific steps.

5. Assess their strengths and weaknesses

Evaluate each competitor based on the criteria you’ve established in the competitive framework. Identify their key strengths (competitive advantages) and weaknesses (areas where they underperform).

6. Identify opportunities and threats

Based on the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, identify opportunities (areas where you can outperform them) and threats (areas where they may outperform you) for your business. 

You can check out our full guide to conducting a SWOT analysis for more specific questions that you should ask as part of each step. 

• How to write your competitive analysis

Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to present your findings in your business plan. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Determine who your audience is

Who you are writing a business plan for (investors, partners, employees, etc.) may require you to format your competitive analysis differently. 

For an internal business plan you’ll use with your team, the competition section should help them better understand the competition. You and your team will use it to look at comparative strengths and weaknesses to help you develop strategies to gain a competitive advantage.

For fundraising, your plan will be shared with potential investors or as part of a bank loan. In this case, you’re describing the competition to reassure your target reader. You are showing awareness and a firm understanding of the competition, and are positioned to take advantage of opportunities while avoiding the pitfalls.

2. Describe your competitive position

You need to know how your business stacks up, based on the values it offers to your chosen target market. To run this comparison, you’ll be using the same criteria from the competitive framework you completed earlier. You need to identify your competitive advantages and weaknesses, and any areas where you can improve.

The goal is positioning (setting your business up against the background of other offerings), and making that position clear to the target market. Here are a few questions to ask yourself in order to define your competitive position:

• How are you going to take advantage of your distinctive differences, in your customers’ eyes? 
• What are you doing better? 
• How do you work toward strengths and away from weaknesses?
• What do you want the world to think and say about you and how you compare to others?

3. Visualize your competitive position

There are a few different ways to present your competitive framework in your business plan. The first is a “positioning map” and the second is a “competitive matrix”. Depending on your needs, you can use one or both of these to communicate the information that you gathered during your competitive analysis:

Positioning map

The positioning map plots two product or business benefits across a horizontal and vertical axis. The furthest points of each represent opposite extremes (Hot and cold for example) that intersect in the middle. With this simple chart, you can drop your own business and the competition into the zone that best represents the combination of both factors.

I often refer to marketing expert Philip Kohler’s simple strategic positioning map of breakfast, shown here. You can easily draw your own map with any two factors of competition to see how a market stacks up.

It’s quite common to see the price on one axis and some important qualitative factor on the other, with the assumption that there should be a rough relationship between price and quality.

Competitive matrix

It’s pretty common for most business plans to also include a competitive matrix. It shows how different competitors stack up according to the factors identified in your competitive framework. 

How do you stack up against the others? Here’s what a typical competitive matrix looks like:

For the record, I’ve seen dozens of competitive matrices in plans and pitches. I’ve never seen a single one that didn’t show that this company does more of what the market wants than all others. So maybe that tells you something about credibility and how to increase it. Still, the ones I see are all in the context of seeking investment, so maybe that’s the nature of the game.

4. Explain your strategies for gaining a competitive edge

Your business plan should also explain the strategies your business will use to capitalize on the opportunities you’ve identified while mitigating any threats from competition. This may involve improving your product/service offerings, targeting underserved market segments, offering more attractive price points, focusing on better customer service, or developing innovative marketing strategies.

While you should cover these strategies in the competition section, this information should be expanded on further in other areas of your business plan. 

For example, based on your competitive analysis you show that most competitors have the same feature set. As part of your strategy, you see a few obvious ways to better serve your target market with additional product features. This information should be referenced within your products and services section to back up your problem and solution statement. 

• Why competition is a good thing

Business owners often wish that they had no competition. They think that with no competition, the entire market for their product or service will be theirs. That is simply not the case—especially for new startups that have truly innovative products and services. Here’s why:

Competition validates your idea

You know you have a good idea when other people are coming up with similar products or services. Competition validates the market and the fact that there are most likely customers for your new product. This also means that the costs of marketing and educating your market go down (see my next point).

Competition helps educate your target market

Being first-to-market can be a huge advantage. It also means that you will have to spend way more than the next player to educate customers about your new widget, your new solution to a problem, and your new approach to services. 

This is especially true for businesses that are extremely innovative. These first-to-market businesses will be facing customers that didn’t know that there was a solution to their problem . These potential customers might not even know that they have a problem that can be solved in a better way. 

If you’re a first-to-market company, you will have an uphill battle to educate consumers—an often expensive and time-consuming process. The 2nd-to-market will enjoy all the benefits of an educated marketplace without the large marketing expense.

Competition pushes you

Businesses that have little or no competition become stagnant. Customers have few alternatives to choose from, so there is no incentive to innovate. Constant competition ensures that your marketplace continues to evolve and that your product offering continues to evolve with it.

Competition forces focus & differentiation

Without competition, it’s easy to lose focus on your core business and your core customers and start expanding into areas that don’t serve your best customers. Competition forces you and your business to figure out how to be different than your competition while focusing on your customers. In the long term, competition will help you build a better business.

• What if there is no competition?

One mistake many new businesses make is thinking that just because nobody else is doing exactly what they’re doing, their business is a sure thing. If you’re struggling to find competitors, ask yourself these questions.

Is there a good reason why no one else is doing it?

The smart thing to do is ask yourself,  “Why isn’t anyone else doing it?”

It’s possible that nobody’s selling cod-liver frozen yogurt in your area because there’s simply no market for it. Ask around, talk to people, and do your market research. If you determine that you’ve got customers out there, you’re in good shape.

But that still doesn’t mean there’s no competition.

How are customers getting their needs met?

There may not be another cod-liver frozen yogurt shop within 500 miles. But maybe an online distributor sells cod-liver oil to do-it-yourselfers who make their own fro-yo at home. Or maybe your potential customers are eating frozen salmon pops right now. 

Are there any businesses that are indirect competitors?

Don’t think of competition as only other businesses that do exactly what you do. Think about what currently exists on the market that your product would displace.

It’s the difference between direct competition and indirect competition. When Henry Ford started successfully mass-producing automobiles in the U.S., he didn’t have other automakers to compete with. His competition was horse-and-buggy makers, bicycles, and railroads.

Do a competitive analysis, but don’t let it derail your planning

While it’s important that you know the competition, don’t get too caught up in the research. 

If all you do is track your competition and do endless competitive analyses, you won’t be able to come up with original ideas. You will end up looking and acting just like your competition. Instead, make a habit of NOT visiting your competition’s website, NOT going into their store, and NOT calling their sales office. 

Focus instead on how you can provide the best service possible and spend your time talking to your customers. Figure out how you can better serve the next person that walks in the door so that they become a lifetime customer, a reference, or a referral source.

If you focus too much on the competition, you will become a copycat. When that happens, it won’t matter to a customer if they walk into your store or the competition’s because you will both be the same.

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.

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32 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for June 2024

These are themed calls and contests for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some of the call themes are: red; monstrous; classic fairy tales; deadly Yellowstone; a brood of vampires; funny stories; and false memories. THEMED CALLS Mslexia: Red They want work by women authors only. They accept fiction , poetry , nonfiction , fun stuff, as well as pitches for interviews and articles. Some work they publish is on showcase themes (fiction and poetry), and some columns/sections are on other themes, or unthemed. Some sections are open for submissions by subscribers only. For the next issue, the showcase theme is Red. “Red: blood, roses, strawberries, ladybirds…or Taylor Swift’s fourth studio album? Send us your Red themed submissions for Issue 103.” Deadline: 10 th June for the showcase theme, and 8 th July 2024 for other inclusions in the next issue Length: Varies Pay: A minimum of £30, see their submission policy and payment rates here Details here . Space & Time: Solution Revolution They accept speculative fiction (up to 5,000 words preferred), poetry, and art. For fiction, they want “Broken boundaries, blown minds and new horizons. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, steampunk, magical realism—we look for work with a speculative element. Creative hybrids welcome. If you can combine horror, science fiction and fantasy into one compelling plot, you’ve caught our attention.” They want submissions on the ‘Solution Revolution’ theme for their next submission period, which is 15-30 June 2024. On the theme, they say, “There’s a lot going wrong in the world right now. In this issue we want to see answers. Work does not have to be solarpunk or hopepunk as sometimes solutions aren’t happy for everyone. Example: dogs evolve with opposable thumbs, take over the world and bring about world peace by putting people on leashes. This would be a story our publisher appreciates.” Submissions accepted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French or Italian. Reading period: 15-30 June 2024 Length: Up to 5,000 words preferred for fiction (can accept up to 10,000 words), up to 3 poems Pay: $0.01/word for fiction, $5 for poetry Details here and here . Neon Hemlock Press: Baffling Magazine – Monstrous The tagline of Baffling Magazine is, ‘Speculative flash fiction with a queer bent’. “We’ll be open next in June, from the 1st to the 15th, reading on the theme of “monstrous” as well as unthemed submissions.” Submission is via a form. Deadline: 15 June 2024 Length: Up to 1,200 words Pay: $0.08/word Details here and here . (Neon Hemlock is also open for a reprint anthology, We’re Here: The Best of Queer Speculative Fiction . They want speculative stories published in 2023 under 17,500 words that implicitly or explicitly explore queerness and/or transness. Pay is $0.01/word, and the deadline is 31 December 2024. Details here .) carte blanche: Play This Canadian magazine accepts fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry,  translations (French to English only), photography, and comics. They’re reading submissions for Issue 49, and they want work on the ‘Play’ theme. “We are interested in your narrative and poetic experiments, odd stories, humorous pieces, weird fiction, and the quirky. We ultimately leave “Play” up for your interpretation. They specially welcome submissions from underrepresented writers. They may prioritize Quebec-based creators (see guidelines). Please note, there is a cap on poetry submissions – those may close earlier than the deadline if their quota is met.  Deadline: 15 June 2024 Length: Up to 3,500 words for prose, up to 3 poems Pay: $75 Details here and here .  Eye to the Telescope: Strange Mixology This is a speculative poetry magazine. For the Strange Mixology theme, they say, “As your fearless bartender, I’m looking for cosmic concoctions, time-twisted tinctures and charmed potions. Give me something with a kicker, the green fairy’s secret spells, the sweet sap of the old woods and the moonshine of mermaids, alien aperitifs and speakeasies in space. All spirits welcome, even the ones that don’t come in glass bottles. Feel free to interpret the theme broadly but make sure there’s a spec element. Give me your old-fashioned verse and cosmopolitan compositions, pink squirrels, bee’s knees, gimlets and juleps, juniper berries, elderflowers, the marriage vows of Old Tom Collins and Bloody Mary. Garnish with kaleidoscopic umbrellas and a twisty straw. In Poetry Veritas.” They also accept translations.Deadline: 15 June 2024 Length: Up to 3 poems Pay: $0.04/word (up to $25) Details here . The Fairy Tale Magazine: Classic Fairy Tales This magazine was formerly called Enchanted Conversations. “The theme for 2024 is Classic Fairy Tales. You can take a lot of license with the work, but there must be a clear connection to a specific old fairy tale in the work. We are also very open to the stories and poems focusing on seasonal holidays, like solstice celebrations, Halloween, Hanukkah,  etc. Stories must be PG in terms of content. A lot of young kids find our site, even though it’s not a kids publication. …Remember, stories and poems must have the theme in them, even though it needn’t be a huge part of the story. Do bear in mind that all fairy tale related fiction and poetry needs an element of the supernatural—as well as transformation. The essence of classic fairy tales should be maintained when you write these stories and poems.  (The editor) tends to prefer things to end happily, but it’s not absolutely essential.” They have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully. They will read for the fall/winter issue in June. Please send your work only during the reading period. Reading period: 17 to 24 June 2024 Length: 1,000-2,000 words for fiction, up to 500 words for poetry Pay: $25 Details here . Channel Magazine This Ireland-based magazine publishes fiction and poetry, for which they have submission periods; non-fiction (which is considered for both online and print) is considered on an ongoing basis. They have detailed guidelines, including, “We love work that speaks directly of a writer’s bond with and fear for our planet, and work that takes a local landscape, or a local flower, as its subject; equally, though, we love work that draws on an aspect of nature as setting, image or metaphor. We believe that all writing relies to some extent on historical engagement with nature, in that all human language has been shaped by our embeddedness in our shared environments.” For fiction and poetry, the deadline is 20 June 2024. They accept submissions in English and Irish. Deadline: 20 June 2024 for fiction and poetry, ongoing for nonfiction Length: Varies Pay: €35 per printed page, up to €250 per piece and with a minimum fee of €50 for single-page works; €35 per 400 words, up to a maximum of €250 per piece and with a minimum fee of €50 for work published online Details here . Flame Tree Publishing: Two anthologies Flame Tree is open for two anthologies in their Myths, Gods, and Immortals series; Anansi , and Circe . The please see the links for details on each theme. A note on their website says, “All previous submissions for Anansi are still under consideration and authors will be contacted in due course, within 4 months of the new deadline.” They also accept reprints for both anthologies, which will be published in hardcover. Deadline for both anthologies: 23 June 2024 Length: 3,000-4,000 words Pay: $0.08/word for originals Details here (Anansi) and here (Circe). Dragon’s Roost Press: Arkham Institutions Anthology This is a fiction anthology. “Arkham Institutions (tentative title) will feature 10 – 15 short stories focusing on the various aspects of government and business and their relationship with the oddness that creeps up in and around that most (in)famous New England Town. … We want to see Cosmic Horror stories set in and around Arkham, Innsmouth, and other mythos related areas that take place in or are associated with Lovecraftian tales AND which feature a public or private institution of some sort. What does Arkham Elementary teach? What weird cases does law enforcement have to deal with? What kind of people are seen in the Emergency Room? The psych ward? The local library? The institutions in question can appear in previous Mythos stories or be of your own creation. In fact, we would love to see some new places — let’s fill out that city map! Feel free to set your story in the timeframe that fits best. We are still looking for character driven stories, but make sure that these places are characters in their own rights. … We are not looking for stories set at Miskatonic University nor the Orne Library.” Please note, they will close submissions earlier than the deadline if they fill the anthology. Deadline: 30 June 2024, or until filled Length: 3,000-5,000 words Pay: $0.06/word Details here . Thalia Press: Deadly Yellowstone – A Collection of Mystery Shorts They want stories set in the Yellowstone National Park. “Explore the treacherous and awe-inspiring landscape of America’s first national park in this new anthology, “Deadly Yellowstone.” With scalding geysers, stampeding buffalo, and ravenous grizzlies, danger lurks at every turn. As a global tourist magnet, Yellowstone National Park attracts not only nature enthusiasts but also those with sinister intentions. Unravel the mysteries within the park’s boundaries as ten gripping short stories delve into baffling events amidst the beauty and danger of Yellowstone.” Stories can be serious or humorous, but must be in the crime fiction/mystery genre. Please see their note on contributor copies. Deadline: 30 June 2024 Length: Up to 10,000 words (see guidelines) Pay: $25 Details here . West Avenue Publishing: A Brood of Vampires West Avenue Publishing is a fantasy publisher, and they also release themed anthologies. The theme for their next anthology is ‘A Brood of Vampires’. They want fiction and poetry on the theme. Deadline: 30 June 2024 Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, poetry of any length Pay: $10 Details here . Chicken Soup for the Soul: Two themes They’re reading nonfiction prose and non-fiction poetry (no fiction) for various themed anthologies, and two of the deadlines are in June: for their ‘ Funny Stories ’ anthology, as well as the ‘ Grandmothers ’ themed anthology. They have detailed guidelines about the kind of stories they want; see their ‘ Possible Book Topics ’ tab for details on the themes. They have other themes listed too, with later deadlines. Also see their FAQ . Please note, their submission deadlines change sometimes, so please double-check before submitting. Deadline: 30 June 2024 for the above themes Length: Up to 1,200 words Pay: $250 Details here and here . Blue Planet Press: Far Futures 3 – An Anthology of Deep Space This is a fiction anthology. “Space exploration. From the outer planets of our solar system to the edge of the Orion Spur and the even more distant Andromeda Galaxy. How will we get there? Generation ships? Faster than light engines? Dimensional warping? Wormholes? Submissions will involve space travel in some form to deep space. Stories may start or end planet-side, but the bulk of the tale must be in space. Military sci-fi is welcome.” Deadline: 30 June 2024 Length: 6,000-10,000 words Pay: Half a cent per word, up to $50 Details here . The Deadlands They want death-related fiction from BIPOC writers only for the June submission window. They have extensive guidelines, including, “The Deadlands exists in liminal spaces between life, death, and elsewhere. We are looking for fiction that concerns itself with death—but also everything death may involve . A ghost in a shadowed wood. An afterlife discovered through a rusted door. An abandoned house in the middle of a haunted field. A skeletal figure moving with intent toward something unseen. Death personified. Burials in troubled lands. … We are not simply a “horror market.” Sure, we want your horror, but we also want your litfic, your slipstream, your fantasy, your sf, your chicklit, your hist-fic, your everything fic. Death touches everything and so should our fiction.” Their guidelines have details about the kind of work they like, and also the hard sells. They also accept reprints. While they want fiction from BIPOC writers only for this submission window, they have all their submission periods for the year listed on the website. Deadline: 30 June 2024 Length: Up to 5,000 words Pay: $0.10/word Details here . Zoetic Press: Non-Binary Review – False Memories They want poetry, fiction, essays, translations, and art. They’re reading on the False Memories theme. Please remember, they accept submissions until a cap is reached, or the deadline, whichever comes first. All submissions must have a clear relationship to the theme. Apart from the theme, they are also accepting submissions for Dear Horace Greely and Heartbeats: Visual Verse sections; they also offer feedback to 4 POC poets every month. On the False Memories theme, they say, “False memories first came to public consciousness in the 1980s when a group of pre-schoolers at a California preschool were coached by well-meaning social workers and police investigators into “remembering” Satanic abuse that never happened. The fallout from that episode wasn’t just the persecution of an innocent family, but a nationwide mass delusion now known as “the Satanic Panic,” where authorities were warning the public about supposed widespread satanic cults committing heinous acts of abuse. Not a single one of these warnings were founded in fact, and it is now known that a large number of them were propaganda. But false memories aren’t always bad. There is a common phenomenon wherein people hear stories of their early childhoods so often that those stories turn into “memories.” It is common in dreams to have “memories” of things that happened to the dream self, but not to the real self. Or a person might believe that they took their regular medication, brought in the garbage bins, or picked up the mail when they haven’t. We’re looking for weird and wonderful stories of not just the memories themselves, but of their production, their repercussions, their wider meanings. We’re looking for false memories that might have changed history, that led to remarkable discoveries, that impacted lives.” They do not want works on recovered memory. They would also like to avoid stories centering abuse, trauma, and violence. Deadline: 31 July 2024, or until filled Length: Up to 3,000 words for prose; up to 3 pages for poetry Pay: $0.01/word for prose, $10 for poetry Details here and here .

(They’re also accepting submissions for other sections:  – “ Dear Horace Greeley is our advice column for authors.” Details on the kind of questions you can ask, and publication of the letters, are here and here . — “ Heartbeats: Visual Verse isn’t just poetry. It’s poetry that can only work in a visual medium. We want layers of meaning and emotion; we want evocative images and surprising combinations of words, music, and visuals.” Details here and here . They also offer feedback to 4 POC poets every month – please see their Submittable page for details.) Nonprofit Quarterly Magazine: Fall 2024 Climate Justice Issue NPQ is a general-interest magazine which welcomes submissions that seek to advance the work of nonprofits, philanthropists, and social movements in the US. For the current call, they want climate justice writing by “ movement leaders and practitioners in the field of all ages—including, and especially, youth (ages 18–35) —for a special edition centered on the young people bringing new leadership, energy, and hope to the climate justice movement. Youth are moving beyond talk and into action, including legislation proposals brought to policy tables in the United States and globally. We want to know what the youth climate justice movement needs to support their goals, and what’s next for the youngest generations fighting climate change. We’re seeking articles that describe the current state of youth climate justice work, concerns of youth, and new visions for the planet. What we are looking for… Articles by climate writers and leaders of all ages that describe work being done in the field, visions for the future, personal experiences with the climate movement, and how climate intersects with issues of health, gender, disability, neurodivergence, racial justice, and economic justice. (Word count: 800–3,000) Creative writing by youth —from personal narrative to fiction to poetry—that describes living through the current climate crisis. How is your community being shaped and re-shaped by climate? (Word count: no more than 1,000 words.)” Submission deadline: 30 June 2024 Length: See above Pay: $200-500 for writing, $50-100 for art Details here (theme details) and here (general pitch guide) New York Times: Modern Love Modern Love is NYT’s nonfiction column, and their reading period has just opened. They want “honest personal essays about contemporary relationships. We seek true stories on finding love, losing love and trying to keep love alive. We welcome essays that explore subjects such as adoption, polyamory, technology, race and friendship — anything that could reasonably fit under the heading “Modern Love.” Ideally, essays should spring from some central dilemma you have faced. It is helpful, but not essential, for the situation to reflect what is happening in the world now.” Also, “Love may be universal, but individual experiences can differ immensely and be informed by factors including race, socio-economic status, gender, disability status, nationality, sexuality, age, religion and culture.” Send essays of 1,500-1,700 words. Modern Love has two submission periods, September through December, and March through June. Writers are paid. Send submissions to modernlove (at) nytimes.com. They especially welcome work from historically underrepresented writers, and from those outside the US. Deadline: 30 June 2024 Length: 1,500-1,700 words Pay: Unspecified Details here . (Also see NYT’s Tiny Love Stories column; these are also personal essays similar in theme to Modern Love, but much shorter, of 100 words.)  Thema: A New Routine They publish three themed issues a year. They accept short stories, essays, poetry, and art. Their upcoming theme is ‘ A New Routine ’, and the deadline is 1 July 2024; they have other themes too, with other deadlines. They also accept reprints. Only writers outside of the US can submit by email, US-based writers have to post their submissions. Deadline: 1 July 2024 (see guidelines) Length: Up to 20 pages for fiction, up to 3 poems Pay: $10-25 Details here . Spooky This cozy horror magazine is reading on the Halloween theme, as well as unthemed horror submissions. They have detailed guidelines about the kind of stories they want, including, “Cozy horror. Fun horror. Classy horror. Dare we say, wholesome horror? … perhaps the easiest way to understand what we mean is to read stories by some of the old masters we love: Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Roald Dahl. Watch classic episodes of Thriller, The Twilight Zone, and Night Gallery. Read old horror comics. Listen to radio dramas like Suspense, Quiet, Please, and Inner Sanctum Mysteries. … In short, we’re looking to provide a space for a type of storytelling that has largely gone out of style – dark and scary, but playful and approachable with an emphasis on plot.” They also want horror haiku. Deadline: 13 July 2024 Length: Up to 5,000 words (prefer 2,500-3,000 words) for fiction Pay: $0.01/word Details here and here . Black Cat Publishing: Black Cat Tales This is a fiction and poetry anthology. “A black cat approaches, do you eagerly cross its path, or run in the opposite direction? From the superstitious to the unlucky, from a witch’s familiar to a soul stealing grave robber, black cats have captured our imagination and remain solidly in the realm of the dark. Dazzle us with your best black cat story or poem. A black cat or a clowder of black cats must be featured predominantly in your story and not simply set decoration.” Regarding genre, they say, “horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi, erotica, weird westerns, cyberpunk, steampunk…we’re open to all but prefer dark fiction.” Deadline: 15 July 2024 Length: 500 – 3,500 words for story, max 25 lines for poetry Pay: $50 for fiction, $25 for poetry Details here . THEMED CONTESTS

There are also some unthemed contests open this month, including:

— Theatre503 International Playwriting Award — They want script submissions from debut/early-career playwrights around the world. The award aims to identify and champion debut/early career playwrights – see guidelines for eligibility details. They also accept co-written and translated scripts. Musicals are not eligible. Submission is via a portal. Winner gets £3,000 in prize money and £3,000 as an advance against 8% of the gross box office, the deadline is 30 June 2024. Details here .

(And see Soho Theatre’s Verity Bargate Award for UK and Ireland based playwrights, prize £8,000, and other benefits, deadline 17 June 2024, details here .)

— Faber Children’s: FAB Prize – This is for undiscovered BAME writers and illustrators; you can read the prize announcement for 2024 here . Entrants must be of black, Asian or minority ethnic background and UK- or Ireland-based. For writers, they want a maximum of 5,000 words of text (no minimum word count). Also, “it does not have to be a short story (though those are welcome too!) We do strongly advise you to complete your work insofar as you can, even if you do not enter the whole manuscript: after the ceremony agents will request the full manuscript, so in order to get the most out of the prize, it is best to have the whole manuscript ready to go.” Entries must be text or artwork for children. The prize is £1,500; second place £500 each for a writer and an illustrator, and mentorship. The deadline is 28 June 2024.  Details here , here , here , and here . — Drue Heinz Literature Prize – This is for previously published writers – see guidelines. The prize is for a manuscript – they want a short story collection, or two or more novellas. Novellas are only accepted as part of a larger collection. Manuscripts may be no fewer than 150 and no more than 300 pages. The prize is $15,000, and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press under its standard contract. The deadline is 30 June 2024. Details here , here , and here .)

Fraser Institu te Student Essay Contest This is a prize for Canadian students (high school, undergraduate, and graduate students studying in Canada and Canadian students studying abroad). For this year’s essay contest, the theme is, What would the Fraser Institute’s Essential Scholars say about the world today? (See their guidelines for details). Essays should be 1,000-1,500 words. Value: Prizes ranging from CAD1,500 to CAD250 each in high school, undergraduate, and graduate categories Deadline: 5 June 2024 Open for: Canadian students Details here (download rules and FAQ) and here

Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest This is for junior and senior division (11-14 and 15-18) students worldwide. The theme for this ocean awareness contest is Tell Your Climate Story (see guidelines). There are various categories: Visual Art (handcrafted and digital); Poetry & Spoken Word; Creative Writing; Film; Performing Arts: Music & Dance; and Interactive & Multimedia. Please also see their various special awards , including  (but not limited to) the We All Rise Prize – five prizes of $500 each, in each category – for young underrepresented writers in the US . Value: Awards ranging from $1,000 to $100 in each category; various special prizes (see here ) Deadline: 10 June 2024 Open for: Students ages 11-18 Details here .

Goi Peace Foundation: International Essay Contest for Young People This is an international essay contest for people aged up to 25 years, in two categories – children and youth. The theme is, My Experience of Overcoming Conflict . See guidelines for theme details. Entries can be in English, French, (up to 700 words), or Japanese (up to 1,600 characters). Value: For each category, there is one first prize is JPY100,000 (about $660); three second prizes of JPY50,000 (about $330) each; five third prizes, and 25 honorable mentions Deadline: 15 June 2024 Open for: Children ages 14 and under; youth ages 15-25 years Details here .

Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors This is a climate fiction contest from Fix, Grit’s solutions lab. They want stories of 2,500-5,000 words. “Imagine 2200 is an invitation to writers from all over the globe to imagine a future in which solutions to the climate crisis flourish and help bring about radical improvements to our world.” They have detailed guidelines on the kind of stories they want, please read them carefully. Additionally, “We are also partnering with Oregon State University’s Spring Creek Project, which will offer the winning writer (or a runner-up, in the case the winner cannot accept) the opportunity to participate in its Environmental Writing Fellowship and Residency, including a writing residency at the Cabin at Shotpouch Creek for the winner to spend up to four weeks in residence to continue their climate writing project. The Fellow will receive a $3,000 honorarium from Spring Creek Project.” Value: $3,000, residency; $2,000, $1,000; and $300 each for nine winners Deadline: 24 June 2024 Open for: All writers Details here and here . 2024 Love Books Competition This is a contest for UK writers, and part of the Malborough Lit Fest. “We want you to tell us why you love your favourite book, poem or play. Your response should be in the form of a piece of text of up to 750 words. Entrants should explain what they love about their chosen read, highlighting key areas of interest, and why they think others should try it. We are looking for creative, passionate, and engaging responses which celebrate your love of reading.” You could write about a novel, a graphic novel, a poem, a collection of poetry, or a play. The contest is for three age groups, 13-15 years, 16-19 years, 20+ years. Entry is via a form. Value: £300, £100 for winners in each age group Deadline: 28 June 2024 Open for: UK residents with a UK bank account Details here . Hubert Butler Essay Prize This is a themed essay contest, of up to 3,000 words, for writers who are UK or European Union citizens. “The Hubert Butler Essay Prize is intended to encourage the art of essay-writing with a European dimension and to expand interest in Butler’s work. … The subject for the 2024 essay prize is: ‘ With narratives of conflict currently distorted by misinformation and the substitution of memory for history, what are the chances of reconciliation? ’“ Value: €1,500; two second prizes of €500 Deadline: 28 June 2024 Open for: UK, European Union citizens Details here (download the entry form). The Fountain Essay Contest They want an essay on the topic, ‘ Where is Home ’. See guidelines for details on the theme. Ideal length is 1,500-2,500 words. Also, “There is no age limit or a condition to fulfill for entry.” Please read the terms carefully, any of the entries may be published in any medium, whether or not they win the prize Value: $1,000, $500, $300, two prizes of $150 each Deadline: 30 June 2024 Details  here and here . Last Stanza Poetry Journal This is a call for a themed poetry issue, on ‘ A Table in the Wilderness ’. A single $100 award will be given for an outstanding poem. An interview with the Editor’s Choice Award winner will be published in the same issue (optional). Poems can be any style, but preferably non-rhyming. Submit up to three poems, each no longer than 64 lines. Value: $100 Deadline: 30 June 2024 Open for: All writers Details here . 

Preservation Foundation Contest: General Non-Fiction This is an international contest for unpublished writers (see guidelines). Their upcoming deadline is for the general non-fictioncategory: “Any appropriate nonfiction topic is eligible. Stories must be true, not semi-fictional accounts. So-called “creative nonfiction” will not be considered.” Entries should be 1,000-5,000 words. Please note, they want all entries, regardless of whether or not they win, to be on their website for as long as the foundation exists (see guidelines). Also see contests in other genres, which have deadlines later in the year.  Value: $200, $100 Deadline: 30 June 2024 Open for: Unpublished writers Details here . The Writers College: My Writing Journey Competition This is an international contest, open to all writers. They want a 600-word essay on the theme, The best writing tip I’ve ever received . Value: NZ$200 (R2000 or £100) Deadline: 30 June 2024 Open for: All writers Details here . (They also have a short story contest with a later deadline, for writers who are unpublished or have been published fewer than four times; see here for theme and other guidelines.) Richard J. Margolis Award The award is for non-fiction writers of social justice journalism. It is for a promising new journalist or essayist whose work combines warmth, humour, wisdom and concern with social justice . Applications should include 2-3 non-fiction writing samples, up to 30 pages. At least one sample should be non-memoir material. Value: $5,000, residency at Blue Mountain Centre artists’ colony; $1,000 for runners-up Deadline: 1 July 2024 Open for: Unspecified Details here and here . The Forum Essay Prize This is an essay prize from Oxford Academic / Oxford University Press and is open to all researchers, whether early-career or established, on the Art(s) of Delight theme. They have detailed guidelines, including, “We are looking for bold, visionary and persuasive essays that use academic research to pursue innovative questions. … The topic may be addressed from the perspective of any of the literatures (including literary linguistics, translation and comparative literature approaches) normally covered by the journal: Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. submissions in comparative literature and literary translation studies are also welcomed, as are those dealing with visual art, film and the performing arts. Forum for Modern Language Studies aims to reflect the essential pluralism of research in modern languages and to provide a forum for worldwide scholarly discussion. We are seeking submissions that focus on literature, film, art, or other cultural outputs that manifest delight in their content or form and/or which provoke us to find joy in how we read, write, research and teach in our discipline(s).” The winning essay will also get published in an issue of Forum for Modern Language Studies. Value: £500 Deadline: 1 July 2024 Open for: All researchers Details here . A couple of contests with later deadlines are:

— The H G Wells Short Story Competition: This is an international short story contest; they want short fiction of 1,500-5,000 words on this year’s theme, The Fool. There is no fee for The Margaret and Reg Turnill Competition for young writers, i.e. for those under 21 years, and the prize for that is £1,000. The deadline is 8 July 2024. Also see their FAQ . Details here and here . — The Mustapha Matura and Alfred Fagon Awards: The Mustapha Matura Award is an opportunity for UK-based playwrights of Caribbean or African descent, resident in the UK, who are 25 years or younger, for a play. The play must be a minimum of 40 pages, and does not need to have been produced. However, if it has, only plays produced since August 2023 will be considered. The prize is £3,000 and mentoring from a top Black British playwright. The deadline is 31 July 2024. Details here . And submissions are also open for Alfred Fagon Awards for UK-based playwrights of Caribbean or African descent, resident in the UK, for a play. The award is £6,000, and the deadline is 31 July 2024. Details here . Please note, writers cannot enter both the Mustapha Matura Award and Alfred Fagon Award. Also see their Roland Rees Bursary . — Amazon: Kindle Storyteller Award: This is an international award for those who publish their work through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing in English in any genre. Entrants must make the book available for sale in both digital and print versions through KDP between 1 st May 2024 and 31 st August 2024. The book must be at least 24 pages long, and can have a maximum of 2 co-authors. Please note, the books must be published through their KDP Select program (be only available on Amazon), and readers play a significant role in winner selection (see Terms & Conditions – which also lists ineligible countries/nationalities – and FAQ ). The book can have up to two co-authors. The prize is £20,000, and the deadline is 31 August 2024. Details here .

Bio:  S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached  here

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NY Writers Coalition Writing Workshop

creative writing writing workshop

This free creative writing workshop, led by workshop leader Marae Hart, is designed to allow writers of all backgrounds, ages and experience levels to work together and grow as writers. Participants write to the prompt/prompts offered by an experienced and trained leader and are encouraged to share aloud. Those who share will receive positive and supportive feedback. The workshop provides structure for writers to produce new work on a regular basis. Walk-ins are welcome.

Saratoga Library