Submitting your work to creative writing competitions can be an important way to further your writing career.
Get your name out there
Winning first prize in a prestigious creative-writing competition is a sure way to get your name out there, but smaller competitions have their place, too, and being short-listed or even long-listed for some of the bigger prizes can also garner good publicity. Any competition success also provides a useful writing credit to be cited when you submit your work to publishers later on.
Share your work and get published
Some competitions include publication in an anthology as part of the top prize, or even for all the long-listed entries. Others offer a publishing package to the winner, or the chance to share a fuller manuscript with a publisher, editor, or agent. Winning work may also be published on a website or shared on social media. Even if there is no publication involved, you may be invited to appear at a festival or to give a reading at a literary event or on a local radio show, which can also be a great opportunity to put your work in front of potential readers.
Extend your network
Whether a winner, runner-up, or just an entrant to a competition, there is often the chance to attend the awards ceremony once the results are announced. This provides an opportunity to network with writers, readers, and other people from the publishing industry, and you may make useful contacts. Although your primary focus may be on finding a publisher, remember this is not the only possibility: be prepared to discuss collaborations or mentoring, and to hear about other projects, opportunities and support.
Entering competitions is good discipline: you learn to follow publishers’ guidelines, to meet deadlines, and to send work out into the world. And, whether you win or not, there’s a lot to gain.