Writing competitions!
Video script:
Hi, I’m Jess, a writer and careers advisor, and this is careers advice for writers. This video is about entering writing competitions...
...and ultimately, is it worth your time and energy? And money – since a lot of them have entry fees attached.
Okay, so disclaimer first: I got my book deal and agent through a writing competition, so my bias is clear and up front: it was worth it for me. And even before that big win, I’ve entered lots of writing competitions since about 2010, and I’ve found most of them worth doing. Here’s why:
I like working to deadlines. I used to make myself an annual spreadsheet of relevant writing competitions, colour-coded with deadline dates by month. Some of these were for short stories, some of them were novel contests, and I made a decision month by month which ones I could afford to enter. I then used that to motivate me to write, using the contest deadlines as a goal. Even if I didn’t win those competitions (which I often didn’t), at the end of that month I usually had a new story, or an edited version of something I was working on, that I hadn’t had before.
Competition prompts can boost your creativity. Much like a writing exercise, having a prompt to get you going can be useful for breaking through a writing drought from time to time.
Occasional validation of a win! I know that sending your writing out into the world can sometimes feel like walking around with a “reject me!” sign on your back. However, writing competitions can offer some respite from that – a win, a runners’ up prize or honourable mention can really lift the spirits!
It can improve your writing. Some competitions give a little bit of feedback, which you can apply to your writing or use for edits. I got some amazing feedback on a poem I wrote once that almost shortlisted for a writing magazine. I’m not really a poet but it gave me a lot more confidence with that form even though I didn’t win.
I built up a portfolio. I’ve got about half a collections-worth of short stories at the moment, most of which were written as responses to competition prompts, or finished because of a certain deadline. Also, some of the wins I got meant I was published on website or in magazines, which I was able to talk about on my query letters when I was still doing those.
Sometimes – only sometimes – you make your money back. The first time I “earned” any money from writing was a £100 cash prize for a short story. I was 22, desperately poor, and it was the best feeling in the world.
Obviously, if you can’t afford to enter writing comps, you don’t have to. You might still find an agent or publishing deal without, so it’s not a requirement. But if I can do it, it could work out – the £25 I paid to enter the Chicken House Prize in 2022 quite literally changed my life, after all.
OK - so you’ve decided you’d like to do some writing competitions…
Where should you look to find some??
Video script:
Hi, I’m Jess, a writer and careers advisor, and this is careers advice for writers. This video is about writing competitions...
Specifically, where can you find them? I have 4 resources to recommend today. This is fairly UK-specific, although many writing competitions are international in one way or another.
Poets & Writers (pw.org/grants) is a free database of writing competitions, grants and awards the magazine has published over the year, and one of its benefits is that the magazine do vet the organisations they advertise through this, so information like entry fees, prizes etc should be roughly accurate.
Neon lit mag have a Big List of writing competitions too (https://www.neonmagazine.co.uk/the-big-list-of-uk-writing-competitions/), and Neon will only feature a competition if it meets two criteria: must run at least every year, and must have a prize that justifies the entry fee. I think that first requirement makes it easier for authors to plan their entries in advance, in terms of allocating entry fee money.
Reedsy have a great blog post on writing competitions (https://blog.reedsy.com/writing-contests/) for 2024, with some for early 2025 on the list as well.
And, just so you can cross-check and feel confident you’re not missing anything, Creative Writing Ink (https://creativewritingink.co.uk/competitions/) have a useful page as well.
I would recommend you allocate an afternoon or evening to trawling through these sites, and make yourself a spreadsheet of the ones you want to enter over the next 6-12 months. Include details like deadlines, entry cost and brief notes about what you are allowed to submit. Then give it a couple of days at least before you come back to that list and make some plans to get going!
In a previous video I talked about why I recommend writing competitions if it’s possible for you to take part, so I thought it might be a good idea to clarify the kinds of places where I found the ones I’ve entered!