How to Enter a Writing Contest

Writing contests are designed to recognize outstanding authors. They’re a good way to add some credibility to what you’ve written. Here’s what to consider and how to enter without getting overwhelmed.

Fountain pen by günter from Pixabay; Trophy cup outline by Crazy Monday Studio; compiled by Wanda Thibodeaux via Canva Pro

Verify validity

Plenty of legitimate contests are available, but scams are plenty, too. So, always verify the credibility of the contest before you enter. Legitimate contests will offer

• Names and bios for founders (and often, members of the judging panel),
• Full contact information including a physical address, phone number, email address, and social media pages,
• Full descriptions of contest goals, history, affiliations, and genre categories to enter,
• Transparency around the typical number of entrants and the odds of winning,
• What each winner receives,
• Links to previous winning authors or books, and
• Clear deadlines and instructions for how to submit your materials.

Real contests will NOT ask you to submit personal information beyond what is necessary to process the submission. They will not ask you to purchase your own medals, trophies, award gear, or additional materials to participate. However, it’s common for contests to set a limit on elements like book award stickers — they’ll give you a few (usually 20-50) for free, but if you want more based on your own marketing plans, you can order them at any time if desired.

Mind the fees

Some writing contests are free to enter, particularly if they’re a smaller contest. But others have fees, which usually go to cover costs of medals, compensating judges, or hosting an award ceremony. Even though most contests offer a reduced fee for entering early, average fees for book contests still are around $100. That doesn’t include the cost of submitting hard copies of your materials, which some contests require. Some traditional publishers will nominate your book and cover the fees as part of their marketing strategy, but not all will.

Your odds of winning

Large contests (e.g., Writer’s Digest) often get thousands of submissions every cycle. Smaller contests, however, might have less than a dozen applicants per genre. Unless you are a well-established writer, it’s often best to start with the smaller contests where the competition is more reasonable. Only invest the fee in larger contests if you have a significant reason to believe your material can compete at an elite tier (e.g., professionals have told you to enter, the story or thesis has marketing traction plus exceptional alignment with past winners and the contest mission).

Standards in large contests are often exceptionally high due to the number of entries received — judges can afford to be strict and picky. But even in a small contest, judges are often industry experts who absolutely know what they’re doing. Always send your best work, and only after you’ve had it edited and reviewed.

The function of your win

Never enter a writing contest just to boost your own ego — you can boost your confidence for free through other paths like writing groups. Instead, look at the contest in the context of your larger marketing and be strategic. Do you need an award to open a specific door for you? For example, noting you’ve won a book award can make you more attractive to an agent or to PR representatives who handle speaking engagements. If you already have won awards with the material, what additional functions will the new award offer, and how do those fit into what you actually want as an author? Those functions have to be worth the contest fees.

As you consider function, be mindful of when the contests close and awards are announced. If you are still doing preliminary marketing for the work you entered, the announcement that the book has won a contest can support initial traction. If your material has been out for a while, the contest can give you a new way to make sure sales don’t slump. But either way, you want the timing of the award to feel like it’s a natural piece of the work’s larger puzzle. It should coordinate with your other efforts, not eclipse them.

How to enter your contest

• Review all contest rules and confirm that the contest is legitimate, financially logical, and strategic for your goals.
• Identify which categories to enter in the contest. Sometimes, contests will allow you to enter the same book in multiple categories if it makes sense, or you can enter multiple books in different categories. But typically, you’ll pay an entry fee per category for every book you enter. If you can only enter one category, place your work into the category that fits the best.
• Complete the submission form. The simplest contests will have you submit digital copies of your work (PDFs of cover and content, or ebook) as attachments within the submission form. This is cheaper and means the judges don’t have to deal with physical materials when the contest is over. But it’s not always to your advantage if the work is designed with sensory experience in mind.
  It’s most often the case that you can submit the form digital and then send the hard copies through the publisher (e.g., Amazon). It’s good practice to include your submission confirmation number in the order/instruction notes for the hard copies so that when the materials arrive, the judges can easily confirm you’ve submitted an application for that specific work.
• Pay your fees with the bank account or debit/credit card you prefer. (Pro tip: Ideally, use a bank account or card associated only with your writing, as this makes it easy to track the expense and treat it appropriately for general tax and budgeting purposes.)

Remember — contests really are a measure of whether a work meets a specific group’s criteria, rather than a measure of your work’s overall potential or quality. So, if you don’t win, don’t get discouraged. Just keep moving forward with a strategy that doesn’t rely on the contests as you try a few others within your budget. If the best happens and you medal or even win, take the time to celebrate — you’ve earned it!