A competition where writers submit their work for a chance to win prizes, publication, recognition, or all three.
A writing contest is a structured competition where writers submit original work to be judged against other entries, usually by established authors or editors. Contests come in every shape and size - from free Twitter flash fiction challenges to prestigious awards with cash prizes in the thousands. Most have specific rules about genre, word count, theme, and submission windows. Winning or even placing in a contest can boost your writing credits, open doors to agents, and give you a legitimate reason to call yourself a published writer.
Contests give you something most writing practice lacks: a hard deadline and external stakes. That deadline alone makes you finish things, which is half the battle. Beyond that, contests are one of the most accessible paths to your first publication credit. When you eventually query agents or submit to magazines, being able to say you placed in a recognized contest signals that someone other than your mom thinks your writing is good.
Enter contests to practice finishing work under deadline pressure and to get your writing in front of new eyes. Winning is a bonus, not the goal. The real value is in the doing.
Plenty of great contests are free or under $10. Use resources like Poets and Writers or Submittable to find them. Set a monthly contest budget and stick to it.
A rushed entry rarely places. Find contests with deadlines far enough out that you have time to draft, revise, and get at least one other person to read it before you submit.
If the contest says 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, with no name on the manuscript, follow those rules exactly. Judges look for reasons to disqualify entries from large pools. Do not give them one.
Find a free writing contest with a deadline in the next 30 days. Look on Submittable, Poets and Writers, or Reedsy. Read the rules carefully, draft a piece that fits, revise it at least once, and submit it before the deadline. The goal is not to win - it is to finish and submit something. Track the contest name, deadline, and submission date so you can build a habit of entering regularly.