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Writing competitions can be useful in helping you get your short stories and flash fiction into print. There are novel competitions out there too, though the entry fee is significantly higher for these, which is understandable, because you are paying for a judge’s time to read your 100,000 words.
But for this post, I thought I would focus on the short fiction forms as there are more competitions available for them.
Benefits of Writing Competitions
Writing competitions can give you excellent practice in writing to themes set by someone else, working to a word count, and meeting deadlines. All of these things are useful regardless of what else you write.
They can also help you build up a track record and help you add useful material to your writing CV when submitting longer work for consideration by a publisher and/or agent. Plus there is the huge morale boost of being listed (and an even better boost if you win or get in one of the “medal” positions).
Above all, especially if you do well, say, in a Writing Magazine competition, the winning entry is always published in the print magazine. The runner-up is published on their website. Either help bring your work to the attention of more people.
So plenty of benefits then but are there disadvantages/things to watch for?
Sadly, yes, simply because writing is an industry and where you get industry, you can get the scammers. Funny how those people get everywhere, isn’t it?
Things To Watch For When Considering Writing Competitions
Check the competition’s background out. There should be an easily accessible website with FAQs. Look at their track record. Now, to be fair, new competitions do spring up but even there, you should be able to visit the website where you can find out more about the organisers and their hopes for the competition. Are the organisers authors themselves with a clear track record?
Check the fee being charged is in proportion to the prize on offer. For a novel competition, I’d expect to pay £20 to £40, given the amount of work involved here. If you come across a flash fiction competition charging £15 an entry and the top prize is £50, run a mile. Someone is making money out of the competition. It won’t be you.
Check to see if you’re being asked to give away your copyright. Never do this. It means you can’t do anything with your story again. I do see this as a blatantly unfair ask. I’ve had stories turned down in a competition, which I’ve looked at again, and then have been able to have them in anthologies (where I can earn a share of the royalties). If I’d signed away my copyright, I couldn’t have done this.
I’ve also edited books for a small press where some of the stories were published elsewhere first but where the rights had reverted to the author. Here, all that happened was an acknowledgment of where the first publication was. (It’s also great for the author because not only can they legitimately get their story out again, they’re proving they have a track record). But again not possible if the copyright has been given away.
Be wary if you are asked to buy a certain number of the books in which your winning or short listed competition entry appears. I’ve had work in a number of anthologies over many years. I’ve always bought some but have never have been put under any pressure to buy X amount. I do get an author discount on the copies I buy in. I can also get cheaper postage costs if I choose to buy over a certain amount but it is never a high amount to buy. And it is totally my call whether to do so or not. Often competition entries do end up in anthologies so do bear this in mind.
You should always ensure you are happy with the conditions of the competition. Have a look at the competitions Writing Magazine run (you can look this up on their website). They charge a cheaper rate for subscribers (I’m only too happy to take advantage of that) and another for non-subscribers but this is standard and naturally a way to encourage further subscriptions being taken out.
This is also where networking with other authors pays which includes joining in with writing groups on Facebook etc. Authors share information all the time. Competition news does come up.
Tips For Writing Competitions
Give yourself plenty of time to draft your story and edit it properly ahead of sending it in. You do need to feel as if you couldn’t take another word out, or put another one in, before sending material off.
You also want to go through the piece several times checking the story makes sense and that grammar, punctuation usage, and spelling are all fine. Never rush an entry in. It rarely pays. I say that with my competition judge’s hat on. You can get a feel for when an entry might have been submitted last minute. It won’t look as polished or feel that way compared with those who have taken the time to edit and edit again ahead of sending something in.
Make your last edit the one where you go through for those pesky typos that have somehow slipped the net in your previous edits. It pays.
Do double check you have met all of the entry requirements such as formatting, font, font size etc. It’s easy to overlook things like that. Part of the test of competitions is to see if writers can meet the competition requirements, including things like this, meeting the deadline, showing the set theme etc.
Conclusion
I enter a number of competitions during the year and have set myself a goal to enter more in 2025 than I did last year. I am already ahead of that goal. I find writing competitions fun, challenging, and a good stimulus to greater creativity. The latter is because I have written stories I would not have done had I missed the competition.
Don’t forget too if a story of yours doesn’t make it in a competition, have another look at it, polish it up and sent it off to another suitable competition. I’ve had work published this way and must do this again myself soon given my Bridport Prize entry this year didn’t make the final cut. But I see no reason why I can’t take another look at that tale and use it again elsewhere. There are options!
Good luck!
Related Posts:-
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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