Submitting Stories for Competitions: Top Tips From Writers and Judges
I didn’t start writing fiction intending to enter competitions. After more than five years, writing competitions still aren’t something I regularly consider. I’ve predominantly written flash and micro fiction, and when I started, there weren’t as many publications giving space to this genre. Reflex Press, AdHoc Fiction, and Bath Flash Fiction were, and remain, my go-to publications for sending my flash to, and the main way to do this was through one of their quarterly competitions.
I’ve had the pleasure of being long-listed, awarded highly commended and third place, and it’s little buzz to have your work acknowledged in this way. I love writing for the pleasure of the process and tugging something from my brain into a cohesive other on the page. This has always been enough for me - but there’s no denying the wonder of validation for our creative outputs that writing competitions and prizes offer.
Whether you leap at the idea for the thrill of the gamble, or you’ve made it the only way you’ll consider yourself a ‘real’ writer, OR you run away and hide at the slightest suggestion of maybe submitting something - writing competitions tend to divide us. And rightly so. It’s more work, and the big cherry on top is that it makes you feel vulnerable. We all know rejection is part of the game, but there’s a magnificent difference between the rejection of a pitch or piece to not being placed in a competition. Especially when writing acquaintances flood to social media to announce their longlisting, shortlisting, or win, while you weep over your newest ‘you have not been successful on this occasion’ response.
I have no shortcuts to offer. Much like other writing rejection, it should be embraced as part of the process. The only way to get used to it is to become immune to it - and that, my dear friends, simply means you have to submit and keep submitting, allowing rejection to become something you acknowledge, learn from and lean into when you can. I especially love this advice from Ashley Kalagian Blunt, writer and author of How to Be Australian and My Name is Revenge, on treating rejection as something to covet:
“Set rejection goals: you can’t control whether or not your work gets accepted, but you can control how much you submit. The more rejections you get, the more you’re submitting - which gives you the best chance of getting accepted. Track your rejections in a spreadsheet and see how many you can rack up in a year.”
Celebrate if (when) you do get placed, at any level within the competition and celebrate even if you don’t (submitting in itself is a big deal and should always be celebrated in some small way).
I recently submitted a piece of flash memoir for a competition. Before submitting, I read an article the founder and contest judge, B. Lyn Goodwin wrote for Books By Women where she outlined the benefits of submitting to competitions and her best advice for success. Many competitions use a rubric for judges to measure work against, but Goodwin advises she instead provides her fellow judges with a list of questions. These can be applied against fiction or non-fiction, and I found them especially helpful to refer to. You can read the full list within Goodwin’s article, but here are a few that spoke to me:
Do you care about the main character?
How is the pace?
Is the dialogue believable?
Does the story draw you in, or do you feel like you’re outside and watching it?
Is language used effectively?
Are right and wrong complex? Is there more than one way of looking at the issues?
Are the characters likeable but flawed? Will readers identify?
Was the writing clear and accessible, too dense to fathom or somewhere in between?
While writing this piece, I decided to turn to my community of writers and writing lovers to ask them to share some of their advice and tips for submitting to competitions and was delighted by the responses. Once again, the writing community has reminded me how supportive and generous they are with their time and desire to help others succeed.
What the Writers Had to Say
“Read the shortlisted and winning entries of previous years. And then write what you must.”
Kate Crowcroft (@katecrowcroft), Writer & Author of Tongue: A Cultural Anatomy (Forthcoming, 2022)
“One thing I’m learning is the tension between writing for a publication without losing your voice. As a newcomer in this space, I know trying to fit in with the larger writing community can sometimes overshadow what I want to say. It’s important to write relevant pieces for publications, but trying to blend in too much can be a tempting safe option.”
Matilda Eggbert (@matilda.ee), Copy & Creative Writer
“Don’t submit to just one. Have a few submissions on the go, be always looking ahead to the next deadlines rather than just endlessly refreshing your inbox. You won’t be so invested in the one outcome and can treat the application process as a way of keeping yourself accountable. Before you know it, you’ll have developed a body of work that you can be proud of, regardless of whether or not you’ve found yourself on a shortlist.”
Emily Clements (@emily_clementsy), Writer & Author of The Lotus Eaters
“My biggest tip for submitting to writing prizes is simple but crucial: triple check the formatting stipulated in the guidelines. Having been on both sides of writing prizes (submitting and judging), I know that it’s a tad frustrating to receive submissions that haven’t paid close attention to the guidelines. It may only be a question of font, font size, or spacing, but it’s an easy thing to get right, and you don’t want to put the judges off your entry before they’ve even started reading. Getting those details correct (do they want page numbers or a title page, for instance?) will demonstrate that you’ve invested that extra care and attention into their prize, and therefore into the judges’ time and expertise.”
Charlotte Guest (@charlotte_lucy_paints), Award-Winning Writer, Bookseller & Creative Writing PhD Candidate
What the Judges Had to Say
“When I’m selecting work, I look for the detail. Detail doesn’t have to mean including a ton of description: most of the time, a seemingly small or intimate detail can carry a lot of weight and reveal much about the characters, their backstory, the situation and the author’s voice. For instance, take this line from Katelin Farnsworth’s flash fiction piece Black Cockatoos (which was runner up in our Summer Flash Fiction Comp): “Dad drinks coffee from a paper cup, talks about the rebuild in a strange voice.” In a story that deals with bushfires’ devastating effect, this otherwise everyday gesture and insignificant object – drinking coffee from a paper cup – takes on a larger significance when we understand the loss it represents. Details can be poignant, like this, or piercing or playful, but the best kind of detail contributes to the piece’s momentum, rather than bogging it down. This is what takes me, as a reader, into the story’s specific world and shows me that the author has something unique, original and surprising to offer.”
Emily Riches (@anikopress), Founding Editor Aniko Press
“Rule number one: do not think about winning. Instead, focus on what's in your heart or head. Then work on shortening the distance between your thoughts and your writing. If you're entering a longer format, consider outlining your thoughts first. Then feel free to move your line-items around 'til it feels right. If you're writing something as short as haiku, do the same. But think of haiku as playing instead of outlining. Short or long, write a gift to the judges and yourself!”
Steve Fitzgerald (@haikucrush), Writing Coach, Founder of Haiku Crush & Editor of forthcoming anthology The Best Haiku
“Without a rubric, judges look for writing that works, ideas that seem original, and something that touches their hearts. They look for carefully edited pieces free of mechanical glitches and work that either says something new or says something traditional in a new way.”
B. Lyn Goodwin, Founder of Writer Advice & Competition Judge
“Edit and proofread your work, and then edit and proofread again. But editing and proofreading are not always enough. Source feedback from your peers. Feedback is critical: even the best writers know that the story they think they are telling sometimes does not appear to be the story readers are engaging with.”
Astrid Edwards, Writer, Teacher, Director & Podcaster, in an article for Writers Victoria.
And my top tip?
See competitions as another essential resource in helping you to develop your craft. Even when I haven’t been placed, I’ve received some wonderful feedback and editing guidance on my work - all of it positive, all of it helping me improve my writing and keep moving forward.
I’ll leave you with this final piece of vital guidance from Poet, Writer and Editor, Rae White that is so applicable across all writing - whether for a competition submission or not:
“If a writing tip doesn’t work for you, don’t do it, or switch it up to suit your needs. Not everything works for everyone - we all learn and write differently. Be gentle with yourself and know that you will write The Thing; it might just take time, a different writing tip or another point of view to kickstart things.”
