When I first graduated from my English degree, I didn’t know what I was doing. I basically googled and scrolled Instagram till my fingers bled to find credible contests that I felt like I could genuinely trust. Because let’s face it, it’s a little scary to put your work out there, specifically in today’s climate when your work could be stolen or fed to AI.

Here are the contests I found that were not only enjoyable but beneficial in building my confidence as a writer. These contests do cost money so I will include the cost in CAD here as well.

Writing Battle

This contest ranges in price depending on which kind of battle you’re entering (some allow you to get professional feedback as opposed to peer feedback) and at what point you sign up to enter. For example, in April, the contest Verdant Owl Battle would cost $47.77 but this is currently being offered at 10% off. Their smaller contests like the Verdant Raven Battle in May would cost $27.30 with that 10% off. If you enter too late however you end up paying a little more. Overall, they are affordable for what it is you’re getting out of it.

Writing battle is exactly what it sounds like. You’re given three prompts, your genre being the one that puts you into your specific group of writers. You’re then pitted against those within your genre, and a series of votes happens. Each writer who has submitted a story must then read and vote.. Two stories go head-to-head and you are expected to provide what worked and what didn’t work for each regardless of which you vote for. From there, those with the highest points go head-to-head with the judges voting this time around.

There’s a couple of cool and unique things about this contest. For one, you get redraws. Not a lot of them, but it’s still the fact that if you get your prompt and immediately want to cry, you can redraw and hopefully have better luck. The second great thing about this contest is you’re typically getting a ton of feedback. For example, in one that I entered I managed to get ten sets of anonymous feedback as well as six comments from fellow writers where I was able to then read their story back. This is an unbelievable amount of feedback to allow you to then edit and grow as a writer. Even if you don’t advance far in the rounds, the pros of getting feedback from fellow writers is worth it.

Personally, I’ve found it difficult to go far in this contest. I’ve found the writers who end up doing well are those who have put in the time to learn what resonates with the readers. Think of it as market research just on a smaller scale. When you’re trying to pump out a novel, having the time to dedicate to learning what really works with this contest isn’t easy. It does end up building a community though. The more you do it, the more you recognize and remember writers from other rounds and that can then translate to social media follows and maybe even a potential reader once you publish.

It also should be noted that this contest also has small windows for your deadline. My suggestion is learning how quickly you can write an edit, and how many words you can manage in that window. Overall, I personally find having tight deadlines to bring out a different kind of creativity but for other writers this could hinder their ability to come up with a compelling piece.

Here is a link to the rules and prizes. You can select from the drop down which contest you are curious about to gain specific information about each.

NYC Midnights

This particular contest I’ve had a small bit of success with. I managed a honourable mention in the 2024 100-word challenge for my short story “A Round-Trip Ticket and a One-Way Ticket” that I actually posted here. I also received 4th place in the first round of the 2024 500-word challenge for my short story “Customer Service in the Afterlife Sucks.” This one I’m hoping to get professionally published this year. Cross your fingers for me!

The con of this contest is that it is significantly more expensive. The next contest for this year starts March 20th and costs $49.31. That’s steep, but it has the potential to cover more than one story. If you manage to make it past the first round, you then get the opportunity to write up to three separate stories with feedback for each one. This contest also utilizes prompts that categorize you into groups. From there a set of professional judges vote and offer critiques of your story. At the end of each round you find out if you placed, received an honourable mention and feedback is sent to your email.

As expensive as this is, I’ve found having specific judges who aren’t my peers to have a more positive effect on my confidence in my writing. It’s a different kind of prompt and it’s comforting having professionals offer feedback that will ultimately make your work better.

However, I find the critiques to be very short. There are peer-reviews I’ve had written for me that were paragraphs upon paragraphs of specifics that could make my story that much stronger, whereas this professionally judged contest provides a handful of sentences for both pros and cons.

Something to note for this contest is it’s typically a very short amount of time. For the 100-word challenge, you only have 24 hours to complete and edit your story for submission. The deadline is determined by the word count but if tight deadlines such as this make you clam up, then aiming for a longer contest is better.

Here’s the prize list (it’s pretty dang good in my personal opinion)

Writer’s Playground

This contest I’ve only done once. I wasn’t successful but the feedback I received was positive enough that the story has turned into a back burner project I hope to give my full attention one day. In fact, I think it could be a pretty cool graphic novel…I’m just not much of an artist.

This contest typically costs $38.36 which isn’t too bad. You’re given 10 days to write a 3100-word story. This contest is especially interesting because you’re given a choice in your prompts. It still follows the structure of three prompts to a story but only one piece of that puzzle is decided for you. For example, you may be given 5 options for your character, 5 options for the setting but you have to include the physical item of a wasp’s nest. This is what I received and somehow ended up writing a story about a zombie fighting goblin with his well-trained wasps who caused the zombies to have anaphylactic shock and go into a coma. (I know it’s weird, but it was so much fun to write! And honestly, graphics novels are usually oddballs so I think it could resonate well in that format).

This contest does a blanketed set of feedback despite there being multiple judges. It was multiple paragraphs of feedback however so it, for the most part, works out to the same amount of feedback NYC midnight’s gives out.

The true downside to this contest is that there is no forum. Writing battle allows you comment directly on stories if you’re participating in that contest. NYC midnights has an entirely separate forum where you can post your stories, ask questions, and share socials. This contest has nothing. The only way to connect with other writers participating is to follow the thread of string that is a hashtag…and you’re not guaranteed many are even using them.

The link in the title will also show you the prizes available for this contest.

Overall Thoughts

What I’ve found is utilizing website contests like the three I’ve listed is better for getting feedback. This is great for the early stages of your writing career. Not only are you getting a plethora of feedback but there’s also great opportunity to build a community of other writers you can reach out to for information, feedback, or even just someone to vent. It’s also more likely to garner a solid amount of money if you’re successful. You’re going against a lot of others writers however. With that being said, it’s important to keep in mind that just because you aren’t successful doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. You have no idea how good the person who beat you is. And they could be a couple years ahead of you into learning the craft of writing. They also could have received a prompt that just made every faucet of their creativity sing to the point that their story just couldn’t be ignored.

Let me know what contests you’ve entered and whether you found them beneficial in becoming a better writer!

As always, stay writing cause you’re secretly competitive!

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