Writing contests

Some forums here have a contest links sticky thread at the top of the forum page.

I agree, I was thinking this very same thing today as I was perusing site after site after site trying to find writing contests/competitions. Would be nice if we had a one stop shop.

Maybe everyone from AW could contribute info as they come across it, collective effort, and then once the contest is closed to submissions someone can take it down. That was another problem I had, I kept finding contests where the deadline had already passed or they were closed to submissions.

Anyway, I think it's a great idea.

Kay
www.kayemevans.com/blog

Playing devil's advocate for a moment: It's an interesting idea, but the problem becomes organization.

What sort of writing contests? Blurbs? First chapters? Three chapters? Short stories? Short-shorts? What about query letter contests?

How about contests that are specific to one genre? Or to screenplays? Or to previously self-published works only?

Which contests? Ones backed only by major publishers/agencies/booksellers? Contests run over on Granny's House of Writing & Plotting?

Networking: Sharing Leads, Paying Markets, and Non-Paying Markets do a lot of what a single thread (which would get unwieldy and confusing) or an entire sub-forum (see organizational problems) would do.

I think a single thread for links to contests (or contest 'directories') would be good - one that specifically has as its title "Contests". Put "contests" in the search engine here - I came up with 500 results, most of which have little to do with finding contests to enter. A single thread could, as I say, just have the link and maybe a short description of what it's for (genre, or length, or if it's for published or unpublished authors, etc) to give people a general idea if they'd even be interested. If so, they can go to the link for more details. It'd be better than floundering through a search here or on the net. Or maybe it would be possible to set up a separate searchable directory.

For whose benefit is this repository?

What's wrong with googling? Or combing through half-a-dozen places looking for a competition to suit oneself? There's no hard labour in that, surely?

Fair enough suggestion, but in practice why should someone else comb through hundreds of sites - and keep the list updated?

Having the contests in whichever sub-forum they pertain to is, IMO, the best way to do it. Each sub-forum is already moderated very well, and that frequently includes sifting through contests from unknown/unreliable sources, etc.

Google and other search engines already can search out keywords for this, so I don't see any real benefit to adding to the workload of the mods/admins.

Drachen Jager said:

ChaosTitan: I was thinking all of the above.

Sure many of the contests might not apply to everyone here but it's better than combing through a half dozen places to find the contest that does fit you.

I'm still relatively new here so I have no idea how to actually set it up. I just wanted to open up a suggestion box so the mods can gauge opinion.

Click to expand...

Not a problem, and we appreciate the conversation.

The problem with googling is that, like the search here, you end up with tons of results that may or may not have anything to do with what you're looking for. And putting contests into subforums means (if the person posting is thorough) that the same contest could actually end up in every subforum - contests are not always narrow in what they will accept as far as subject, genre, length, etc.

When I read the suggestion, I saw nothing about the mods keeping it updated or doing the searching. My take was that someone would find out about a contest and have a single forum that they could post a link (and a short description) and that way people wouldn't have to search all over AW/the net to find out about it. As to updating, most contests of any merit are annual events, so the update as such would be found at the link (ie, the latest deadline).

I think some folks here don't have any idea how many bogus contests there are. It would be an administrative nightmare to make sure that only legit ones got posted (and that doesn't even address the question of who decides what 'legit' means). Believe me (I have loads of experience of this with a Yahoo group I moderate), once you open up a forum like that, the bogus contest runners will spam the boards worse than they already do.

Most of us here who find out about legit contests post information about them in the proper forum(s). As long as the contest is active, people make posts when they enter, which keeps the contest thread on the 1st page. Once the contest is over, it drops off and no one has to deal with finding old information and thinking it's current.

It's the author's responsibility to check up on any contests they enter, just as it's their responsibility to check up on agents and publishers before signing on the dotted line. And again, posting about a contest in one forum when the contest could actually fit in others - then it's missed unless the poster does multiple posts about it.

I don't understand the problem in just having a forum to list them, no endorsements offered, info only, enter at your own risk. At least that way the info is one central place. No reason to make a mountain out of a mole hill...