Why you should enter writing competitions and 7 tips to increase your chances of winning

If you enter your short story into a competition, you have a chance of winning, right? And if you don’t enter, you've got no chance. That's the first reason, but wait, there's more...

1. Good motivation

If you’re like me and struggle with motivation, having a competition deadline looming can help you get a story written or the revision of a novel completed.

2. Coming second (or third or fourth) has benefits too

A few hundred dollars for a winning entry is a great bonus and a huge boost to your confidence. A free copy of an ebook containing one of your short stories for a 'highly commended' doesn't seem like much, but it's still valuable because you can list it in your publication history when you send your pitch letter to a publisher with your first book manuscript. If you've got a few published stories you'll come across as a serious writer and it might increase the chances of your manuscript being read.

But wait! Before you enter your short story into any and every competition, there are a few things you should know that will increase your chance of success.

Tip #1. One at a time

Enter your short story into one competition at a time. Most competitions require that your story is not under consideration elsewhere. Make sure you read the competition rules and abide by them.

Tip #2. Be content with one win

If your story has won a competition, don’t enter it in other competitions as most won’t accept it. Check the competition rules.

Tip #3. Be careful about publishing your work online

Most competitions only want unpublished stories. In most cases this means online as well – so be cautious about publishing your writing on online, even on your own blog - until after it has won or placed in a competition.

Tip #4. Check who can enter

When you find a competition that you’re interested in entering, check who is eligible to enter. Make sure you are eligible to enter (age/gender/nationality/residency, etc), but consider who you'll be up against.

For example, if you enter your story into a prestigious Australia-wide or international writing competition with a large monetary prize (eg $1000 or more), you may have very little chance of even being long-listed because you'll be up against hundreds or thousands of entries, some of whom will be written by published authors.

However, your chances will be higher if you enter your story into a competition with fewer entries. And even if you only get into the short list it’s still something to add to your CV.

And keep an eye out for competitions for ‘emerging’ writers because you'll have a greater chance in these because you won’t be up against published authors.

Tip #5 Abide by the rules

Before you enter your story in a competition, make sure you read the entry requirements, and if you can, read previous winning entries. Why? Because you may have written the most brilliant short story ever, but if it doesn’t abide by the entry requirements it won’t win, it won’t even place and you’ll end up disappointed and the judges will be annoyed.

So, if it says double spaced 12 pt Times New Roman (and you hate Times New Roman, especially double spaced) do it anyway. And if it says use double quotation marks and you usually use single, use double. Most importantly, abide by wordcounts and themes. If they ask you not to put your name on the document, don’t! And if they don't want romance, don't enter romance.

You might wonder whether entering competitions is worth it after all. Let me share with you an anecdote that I think shows that it is: last year I sat next to a writer at a writers’ convention in Adelaide and he told me he had entered 100 competitions in the previous 12 months (and he worked fulltime, and was married!) It paid off for him though, because he won the Margaret River Writing Competition. I’m not sure how much the prize money was, but they flew him from Adelaide to Margaret River (WA), provided him with accommodation and free entry to the Margaret River Writers Festival, invited him to speak on a couple of panels and published his story in an anthology. Wow!

Tip #6 Finding competitions to enter

I find competitions to enter by subscribing to Australian writers’ organisations. Each state has at least one writers' centre, and you can usually subscribe to their enews without having to be a member (see websites at the end of this post). Some of these sites also publicise international competitions.

I have a big whiteboard calendar onto which I write upcoming competition deadlines so I can see what's coming up.

I write Australian historical fiction so my target audience is Australian and I usually only enter Australian competitions. Your situation may be very different – eg fantasy, crime and romance have different audiences. Figure out who your audience is and search out corresponding competitions.

Tip #7 Keep tabs on what you have entered where

Make sure you record where you have sent your stories, whether that's by hand in a book or on an excel spreadsheet. You should at least record the story title, name of the competition, the cost, the date the results will be announced and whether or not you were successful.

And now you know how to increase your chances of winning, here are a couple of open competitions to enter:

18 December - 2020 Hal Porter Short Story Competition Submit a short story up to 2,500 words in any style. Entry fee: $10.

21 December - Aniko Press Summer Flash Fiction Comp Seeking entries of flash fiction up to 100 words on the theme of ‘Swelter’. Free entry, limit to two per person.

31 December - Curiouser Magazine submissions Curiouser Magazine are seeking submissions of short stories and poems (5,000 words max.) for their inaugural edition.

31 December - Viva la Novella 9 Entries for Seizure Magazine prize for novellas are accepting entries of unpublished manuscripts (20-50,000 words). 31 January - Stringybark Open Short Story Award 2021 Submit a short story up to 1,500 words with a link, no matter how tenuous, to Australia. Entry fees: $14 for one story, $26 for two stories, $36 for three stories.

And here are some writers' organisations that you can subscribe to:

www.writerssa.org.au (SA)

www.fawwa.org/ (WA)

www.writingwa.org/ (WA)

www.wheelercentre.com/ (Victoria)

writingnsw.org.au/

Plus like or follow writing groups and organisations on social media as they often post information on competitions there too.