Have You Ever Entered A Writing Contest? Are Writing Contests Legitimate ? Tell US About Your Experiences.

[Max Nightjar]

3/25/2011

Max Nightjar: www.writestuff-writenow.blogspot.com

Greetings fellow writers!

Last year I entered a writing contest for the first time. I submitted my manuscript according to the guidelines. but I must admit, I was reluctant to send it in.  I was leery of the motives behind such contests. Especially the ones that charge the writer $50.00 or more to submit their manuscript. Has anyone besides me ever wondered if the judges could possibly be using the contest to get new ideas for their work.

There are a lot of contests out there, and it seems like over kill for just one winner to me. What's your slant on the subject?

 

Look forward to your comments

 Max Nightjar,

 bookblogs.ning.com/profile/maxnightjar 

[Annie Bellet]

I enter Writers of the Future every quarter.  It's free to submit and the prizes are huge (1k, 750, 500 for 1st-3rd, plus pro publication in the yearly anthology and a week long workshop).  So if you write fantasy or science fiction and don't have more than three professional short story sales or a professional novel sale to your name, definitely consider entering.

 

Other than that, I avoid contests mostly. They often have high reading fees and not enough of a reward at the end to justify it.

[Anne Robinson]

I have entered only two writing contests in my life, and I would love to do more but just haven't had the opportunity.

The first one was a poetry contest in Idaho, I won second place.
And the second one was for the campus of Missouri-Columbia, also poetry, and I placed third.

I have to say it's wonderful to get cash prizes but it's even more wonderful to have a little certificate or ribbon, something you can frame and keep :)

[Eric Quinn Knowles]

Personally, I find contests that charge a submission fee to be rather sketchy; most exist to make a profit. I'm more interested in contests that are organized by the profession, like Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Awards. Even so, judging is highly subjective. I wouldn't take them too seriously.

 

http://www.ericquinnknowles.com

[Ellen Feld]

Not sure if this qualifies, but my teenage son entered a writing contest a few years back.  He had to write an essay on "Why I want to win a Morgan Horse."  (Morgans are a breed, same as Collies are a breed of dog.)  He won the contest and his prize?  A *real* Morgan Horse.  Absolutely gorgeous, wonderful, sweet, sweet horse.  My son paid $5. to enter the contest.  After the horse's first show, where he won both his qualifier and championship, we were offered $30,000 (!) for the horse.  We turned it down as that horse is my son's best friend and the self-esteem boost he got from winning and loving that animal can never be replaced.  The contest is still run every year, although the entry fee has jumped up to $50.

[Eric Quinn Knowles]

Wow. That is a fantastic story!

[ManOfLaBook.com]

I conquer, fantastic story.

[Ann Rodela]

I prefer to enter if there is no fee.

Last summer I entered a short fiction contest by NPR.  I didn't win, but it was fun.

 

The prize can be small, but I prefer a contest without a submission fee.  :)

[Valerie Douglas]

I've entered a few, to mixed results. Like Celia, one of the definite benefits was the critiques from the reviewers. Essentially, that's how I viewed the fee, as the cost of getting those critiques. I only entered those offered or supported by the RWA...including the last one.

The first review I opened was horrific, almost a personal attack. If I had been a beginning writer I'd have been devastated, as it was I was shocked by the meanness of it. The second review was almost as bad, and then something struck me - the characters she referred to were not in my book. I don't know what book she was referring to, but I hope the response I should have gotten was encouraging to the person who did get it. The third was definitely helpful, but even though I am a published writer, the first and second critique turned me off contests forever. It took days to recover emotionally, and I couldn't tell then or now if the book she was so cruel about was actually mine...

[Ellen Feld]

Wow, Valerie, that really sucks (to put it bluntly!).  We have a rule on my review site - if the book truly has serious problems, we point them out "gently."  There is no need for meanness or personal attacks.  Just shows that those reviewers were not professional.  Sorry you had to experience that!

 

[Valerie Douglas]

*grins wryly* It was a rough few days but I had a few published books under my belt so I knew it couldn't be that bad. What surprised me was the high level of the contest. What horrified me is what a statement like that could do to a new writer just starting out! I still have to wonder whether reviewer 1 reviewed the same book as reviewer 2 (not mine) or the one the last reviewer commented on, which was helpful, once I got over the shock.