Many people enter writing contests in the hopes of winning a large cash prize or getting their work published in a book of winning entries. The sheer volume of entries received in some of the more competitive writing contests, however, is something that many people are unaware of. Judges may have to sift through thousands of entries to find the few that have a chance of winning. Entrants in writing competitions must understand the judging process in order to ensure that their submissions are not rejected prematurely.
Adherence to the rules and mechanics is one of the criteria used judges in writing competitions. Judges look for reasons to eliminate entries based on obvious violations of the ground rules, especially in the early rounds. For example, entrants should include all of the requested contact information. If the entries are to be judged anonymously, without the author’s identity being revealed, the entrant must follow the rules for submitting a second copy complete with contact information, or whatever format is required.
Mechanics and word limit violations are two other reasons for an entrant’s early exit from a writing contest. Even if the content is compelling, misspellings and obvious grammatical errors are often enough to eliminate an entry. In writing contests, word or line limits should be adhered to, though some overage may not be penalized if the content is deemed a potential winner. Entrants should assume that the judges are familiar with the contest genre’s parameters, so novellas in short story contests and epic poems in general poetry contests are not appropriate. Judges are human, and scoring long entries at the end of a long day may not be in the best interests of the entrant.
Judges in writing contests frequently re-read promising entries once the field of entries has been narrowed down. They’re looking for writing that stands out from the rest of the competition. Although this is highly subjective, experienced judges develop a sense of what constitutes good writing.
Adherence to a theme or subject matter is critical during this round of judging. Many writing competitions are sponsored businesses or organizations that want to promote their own causes or worldviews. Judges tend to give higher marks to entries that match this tone.
Most writing contest judges’ criteria become more nuanced in the final round of judging. Even if nearly all of the remaining entries are of equal quality, only a few will be chosen as winners. Some writing contests allow judges to confer on the final selections, while others prefer to keep the judges apart throughout the process. They have the option of providing their own scores to the sponsors, who will then award prizes to the top-rated entries. A committee may be formed in some cases to consider the merits of the finalists. To determine the order of the winning entries, a consensus is usually reached.
In general, writing contest judges have personal preferences and biases, but quality and originality usually triumph. It’s always a good idea to poll friends, family, and instructors about your proposed entries before entering writing contests, especially those with large entry fees. Only submit your best work, and double-check your entry for mechanical or formatting errors. Most judges prefer to judge entries based on their literary merit rather than technical issues.