Writing Contests: Are the Fees Worth It?

I have entered approximately thirty writing contests since high school. I won my first contest when I was a high school junior, with an essay on government that helped me to get a scholarship to attend a government studies program called Close-Up. There was no entry fee for my essay, and the first place award covered all of my expenses.

Sadly, that was the first and last contest I won with my writing. The twenty-nine contests that followed have yielded no rewards, but I've probably spent nearly $300 in entry fees. Deciding to enter writing contests is tricky. With limited money, how do you know which contests to enter?

Literary journals, magazines, and book publishers sponsor contests for a wide range of reasons. Contests generate publicity for the publisher, bring in money, and help the publisher to read work from aspiring writers. Contests can help writers as well: at least you know that a judge will read your work. When you send in a regular submission, you never know whether your work will be read or simply thrown away. Because some publishers receive more submissions than their staff can handle, unfortunately, the work can be discarded or returned to you without having been read. When you enter a contest, though, you pay an entry fee so that your work is read and considered.

Another reason for contests, especially poetry contests: there is such a small market for some forms of writing that publishers cannot take the financial risk of publishing without gaining some money in advance. If one hundred poets pay $10 each to have their manuscripts read, the poetry publisher now has $1000 to work with. It's simple economics.

The cheapest way to enter contests is to choose contests without an entry fee. Use any search engine to look for "writing contest" and search for those without a fee.

The next step is to find contests with inexpensive entry fees (under $5) and contests where you receive a subscription to a magazine in return for your entry fee. Many college literary journals do this. By giving you a subscription they increase their reading base, and you feel better about sending in your hard-earned money. In return, even if you don't win, every few months you receive a journal that shows you what other writers are publishing. Only by reading can writers improve and grow. You can find ongoing contest listings in Poets and Writers Magazine.

Poets and Writers Magazine (also known as "P&W") has entire sections of the magazine devoted to contests. In addition, it provides information on grant programs and retreat centers--each of which requires a submission of your work. You can easily sort through the magazine or their website to find the non-fee contests, grants, and programs.

Finally, sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay the high fee for contests that intrigue you. If you think you have a strong chance of winning, or if the contest judge is a writer whose work you admire and you would like to have him or her read your work, then use your judgment. Is the entry fee an investment in your future as a writer?