Tips October 9, 2026 0 Comments

Unlock the Secret Strategy That Guarantees Victory in Any Writing Contest

How NOT to Win a Writing Contest

Before you learn how to become a contest winner, it’s worth knowing what will prevent you from winning a contest. Let’s get the obvious out of the way.

Submitting a proofed short story that is free of writing errors and follows the contest submission guidelines is the minimum requirement you need to meet if you want to win a writing contest.

Here are some common mistakes that prevent writers from winning, entry after entry:

Don’t proofread. Do I really need to tell you to proofread? Personally, I’m lenient when it comes to some typos. If the piece is excellent but has two or three mistakes. I recognize that there is time to fix them before we publish the story. A grammatical error every once in a while won’t break your story, but enough that clutters the story will.
Knowingly or unknowingly break grammar rules. If you want to win, observe proper grammar. Again, I don’t really need to tell you this, do I?
Write 1,000 words more than the word count limit. You will not win a short story contest if you submit a 2,500-word story to a writing contest asking for contest entries 1,500 words or fewer. Follow the word limit, and don’t waste your entry fee.
Submit a literary fiction masterpiece to a supernatural romance contest. Yes, that’s a recipe for failure. Writing contests generally lean toward certain genres. If the genre is not explicitly stated, read previously published stories from the contest to get a sense of what the judges will be looking for.
If there is a theme, ignore it. Writing contests often ask for pieces that fit a certain theme or even follow a prompt. A good way to lose a short story contest is to ignore the contest theme requirements and write whatever you feel like.

These are obvious, right? I would like to believe that they are, but I’ve judged enough writing contests to know that many people don’t seem to understand these tips.