Writing to Win

by Moira Allen

Who doesn't love the thought of winning a contest? Writing contests offer more than just the joy of being published. They offer something extra -- not only the sense of being accepted, but the sense of having won. They are the ultimate affirmation of one's ability as a writer.

But what does it take to be a winner? The enticement of prizes and prestige lures thousands of writers every year to compete in hundreds of competitions. Of all those thousands of entries, only a handful will reach the top prize levels. Wanting to win isn't enough. There are steps you can (and must) take to elevate your submission above the rest.

Investigate Before You Submit

Before you begin to ask what you should submit, ask whether you should submit. Hundreds of contests are available to writers. While many seem similar, in fact, every contest looks for different things, and offers different benefits. Before you pop that entry (and that fee) into the mail, here are a few things you need to determine:

1) Is the competition reputable? Often, the best clue to a contest's reputation is its longevity. A "first annual" contest suggests a competition in its infancy, and one that may have some growing pains to get through before it achieves significant status in the contest world. A "50th annual" contest, however, suggests an organization that knows precisely what it is doing and why. At the very least, no competition is likely to remain in existence for years or even decades if, for example, it consistently fails to pay its winners.

Longevity, however, isn't the only factor to consider. Check sites like WinningWriters.com to see if a competition is "recommended" and why (or why not). This site offers comments on such issues as whether contest organizers respond to questions or provide lists of previous years' winners, or whether a competition is more suited to emerging or advanced writers.

You can also learn a great deal from the contest site itself. Many contests are hosted by literary magazines, and by reviewing the material already posted on the site, you'll gain a good idea of what the contest organizers are looking for. Since many such competitions will be publishing the winning entries, you can be certain that material that doesn't match that particular publication's style isn't likely to win!

2) Is the competition appropriate for your writing style? There is little point in attempting to enter a competition for material that you would normally have no interest either in writing or in reading. If you write literary fiction, don't waste time entering genre contests, and vice versa. If you don't ordinarily write (or read) poetry, don't enter a poetry competition just because the prize looks good. If you're not sure what creative nonfiction is, find out before submitting a creative nonfiction entry.

It's also important to determine whether a competition is appropriate for your level of skill and expertise. Some competitions are more suited to new and emerging writers; others are looking for writers with significant experience. It's important to be honest with yourself about your abilities: If you haven't been published before, or have only published a handful of pieces, you may not be ready for the "top" competitions. There's no point in squandering entry fees on contests in which you'll be unable to successfully compete. However, at the same time, there's also no point in constantly "playing it safe" by aiming too low.

3) How is the competition judged? The reputation of a contest often hinges upon the reputation of its judges. While some competitions are judged by the editors of the sponsoring publication, others seek judges whose names and reputations will lend added prestige to the competition. These are often published writers who have themselves won awards in the field. In other competitions, judges may be drawn from the professional side of publishing -- editors or agents familiar with the type of material being judged.

Even if you're not familiar with the name of a contest judge, the contest site should be able to provide you with crucial information about a judge's qualifications. Will your material be judged either by someone who is published (and hence can be assumed to know something about what it takes to be a published writer), or by someone (such as an editor or agent) who regularly makes decisions about what to publish?

Another factor in a reputable contest is how material is judged. Ideally, every entry should be judged on its own merits, not against the merits of other entries. In other words, judging is not simply a matter of comparing entries and choosing favorites. In many competitions, judges are provided with score sheets that assign point values to various aspects of the entries -- e.g., theme, voice, originality, technical ability, presentation, appropriateness of subject, and so forth. Each entry is scored individually and the winning entries are determined by the total number of points scored.

Perhaps the least effective form of contest judging is the "reader vote" method. This type of competition either publishes or posts entries, and the winner is chosen by the number of reader votes it receives. Unlike the method described above, this is a purely "comparative" method of judging. Readers are not judging each story on its own merits, but declaring simply that they like this story better than that story. One has no guarantee that readers have, in fact, read every entry (as a judge must), or that you have won due to merit or simply because your entry was slightly less awful than the rest.

4) What does the competition offer -- and what does it require? Prize money is nice, but it is only part of the contest picture. If you win, what else will you gain? Will your work be published in a reputable journal or magazine? Will it be published online? Will the award be an asset to your reputation and publication history?

If the contest is for a book-length manuscript and part of the "prize" is a publication contract, be sure to evaluate the publishing company and its contract very carefully before submitting. How will your book be published? How will it be distributed? Will you receive a cash award that is equivalent to a commercial advance? Does the contract include future royalty payments? While some competitions offer cash awards of $5000 or more and a standard royalty contract, others offer as little as $150 and a "publishing contract" that makes no mention of future royalties. (Note that small literary presses that host "chapbook contests" typically offer a flat fee and a number of copies of your published book; this is standard for this type of publisher.)

Some competitions offer critiques in addition to prizes, often for an additional fee. This can be particularly helpful to the emerging writer, but before you shell out that extra fee, make sure that the feedback will be provided by someone qualified to evaluate and comment upon your material. Most RWA romance contests, for example, offer feedback as a standard part of the competition. Their fees can be steep, so make sure that you'll be getting comments from published writers, agents or editors. Keep in mind as well that all feedback is subjective, regardless of who offers it; you may not always agree with it. Regardless of how you feel about the evaluation you receive, always remain polite and professional; never argue, complain, or challenge the judges' decisions.

In addition to asking what you will gain from a contest, you should also determine what you stand to lose. What rights will you give up if you win the award? If the material is published, will you lose the right to submit it elsewhere? Some competitions state that all submissions will be considered for publication -- but only the winning entries will actually receive payment. Are you willing to risk having your work published for free just for a chance at a prize?

5) Why is the competition being held? The "ideal" purpose for a competition is to recognize and reward good writing, and most competitions seek to do just that. For the majority of literary magazines and small presses that host competitions, entry fees are simply a means of funding that recognition through cash awards. In most cases, judges and contest organizers receive no fees for their services.

Since the goal of most literary publications and small literary presses is to publish material that they consider of high literary merit but that has, to be blunt, little commercial appeal, many such organizations also rely upon contest entry fees to fund their operations throughout the year. In this case, your entry fees are helping fund the publication of writers who might not otherwise be able to "get into print." Many small and university presses also use competitions to select and fund the publication of an annual or biannual chapbook of literary poetry, short fiction or creative nonfiction.

Other competitions, however, seem to exist solely as a means of harvesting thinly disguised reading fees for submissions. This is often the case if "all entries are considered for publication" or the "contest" is a means of soliciting submissions for an anthology, where everyone has to pay to be considered but only a handful of entrants will actually be paid for inclusion. Be wary of publishers or individuals engaged in "commercial" (for-profit) publishing who expect you to pay for the privilege of being considered for publication.

Finally, avoid at all costs those so-called "contests" whose only goal is to entice you to buy the publication in which your "winning entry" appears. In this type of contest, everyone is a winner: No matter how dreadful your entry, you can be sure of receiving a nice, almost-personal letter praising it to the skies and asking your permission to include it in the next anthology, which you can acquired for just $39.99 (or $49.99 if you'd like the deluxe leather-bound edition). Keep in mind that if no one can lose, winning means nothing. (For more information, see "When Winners are Losers" at http://www.writing-world.com/rights/contests.shtml.)

Improve Your Chances of Success

Before you read further, it's important to understand one thing: There is absolutely nothing, no magic formula or "insider secret," that can guarantee a contest win. The only way to improve your chances is to do your best -- and hope that it's better than everyone else's "best."

Keep in mind that failing to win a contest is not the same thing as losing. If a competition offers three prizes, then only three entrants can "win." This does not make the remaining entrants "losers." Those entries (and yours) may indeed be every bit as good as the winning entries -- but only three prizes will be given, even if 100 entries were worthy of those prizes. And many competitions attract, not just a hundred entries, but several hundred.

There are, however, some foolproof ways to genuinely lose a contest: By submitting poor work, inappropriate work, or work that does not meet the contest requirements. Your first goal, therefore, is not so much to attempt to win as to ensure that you aren't actually an "automatic loser."

1) Read the contest guidelines carefully. The very first and most important step you must take is to read everything the contest organizers want you to know. In some cases, this may not seem like a great deal ("send us your best story" -- duh!). In other cases, the guidelines may specify format requirements, eligibility restrictions and other details that can go on for pages. In a sense, the contest guidelines are like a test: The very first thing that organizers will look for is evidence that you've "passed." It only takes a single deviation from the stated rules -- putting your name on a submission, or single-spacing your story, or using the wrong font -- to have your entry disqualified. The guidelines will also tell you exactly where to send your submission, how many copies to send, and how to pay the required fee.

2) Send exactly, and only, what the competition requests. If a contest says "no genre fiction," don't send your vampire story. If it says "1000 words," don't send 1200 and hope no one will notice. If it says "poetry to 60 lines," don't write 61 (and remember that stanza breaks may count as lines). If it says that entries must be printed in 12-point Courier, don't send a manuscript in 10-point Times. The very fact that so many contests specify that entries must be typed on white paper suggests that there are, even now, people who send in handwritten entries on pink stationery. Don't be one of them!

3) Submit your material on time. Make sure that you know whether the contest "deadline" is a postmark deadline or an "in-hand" deadline. Many contests require entries to be received by the deadline, rather than simply mailed. If the entry deadline falls upon a weekend or holiday, mail it early enough to be postmarked prior to that date. Keep in mind as well that many competitions have a "start date" prior to which no entries will be accepted. Submitting an entry too early can be just as bad as submitting it too late -- if it arrives at the wrong time, it will simply be discarded.

4) Send only your best work. One might think this goes without saying, and yet... There are many writers who simply send whatever they happen to have handy or that seems to meet the contest criteria. Some send the same entries to contest after contest. In a competition that I have regularly judged over the past 20 years, there are no limits on the number of entries a writer can submit -- and I've seen 20 and even 30 submissions from the same writer. This has always struck me as sheer laziness: It suggests a writer who can't or won't choose his or her "best" work. Instead of flooding a contest with material and hoping that at least one piece will rise to the top, make sure that you've selected or crafted a piece that has the best chance of rising to the top. Again, nothing can guarantee that your submission will win. By taking steps to choose the right contests and send them the right >material, however, you'll be putting your entry far ahead of those that fail to follow these simple rules. If you do, you can't "lose."

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