4 Writing Contests To Try Your Hand At

Written by a Guest Contributor

4 Writing Contests To Try Your Hand At

Writing contests can represent great ways of gaining a good reputation as a writer online. Many of the contests also offer some great cash prizes that you can use to invest in building your career as a writer for example. If you have a genuine passion for writing, you should definitely check out some of these writing contests, because you never know how well these can help your career.

When you are a writer, participating in such contests, is like volunteering or taking part in internship programs at reputable companies. Most of the writing contests are held by reputable organizations, colleges, universities, non-profits and so on. You can also find the exact type of writing contest that you are mostly interested in: poetry writing, essay writing contests, blog writing contest, or noel writing. The shortest type of well-paid writing contest is basically the tagline writing. However, it may take even up to a week of serious ‘thinking’ and brainstorming until you can come up with a gorgeous marketing line.

Writing Contests

So let’s check out below 5 of the best writing contests you should really try your hand at. All it takes is some ambition, creativity and you are ready to take part in any of these contests:

1. Short Story Contest - Tethered by Letters

TetheredByLetters.com - TBL is holding a short story contest, and the award is $500. For this contest, there is an entry fee of $15, but up to 5 finalists will receive professional editing services on their papers. Each of the finalist works will be considered for publication. Basically, as you will visit the page you will see there several contests going on besides the short story contest, and here are some extra details:
  • Short story contest- between 1,000 and 1,750 words (open genre)
  • Flash Fiction contest- 55, 250 or 500 words
  • Poetry contest- max size three pages per poem
If you are eager to get some work published, this contest might be very important to you. The prizes are: 500 USD for the short story contest, $150 USD for poetry & flash fiction. The deadline for the contests is December 31, 2015. No strict eligibility criteria announced.

2. The Barbara Jordan Media contest

Barbara Jordan Media Awards - This is an annually ongoing writing contest held by Barbara Jordan Media. The contest requires that students or journalism professionals need to write a real life story about people with special needs/ disabilities. The story must reflect an honest, positive portrayal of such a person with disabilities. The company expects stories that are written in the most genuine manner, with respect and stories talking about integrity and success.

The contest does not have any entry fees. This is a different kind of writing contest, yet one that can help you jumpstart your career as a journalist for example. The deadline for the story is January 15 of each year.

3. Essay writing contest

EssayMama.com - This is a well-established and reputable writing services company. The company holds several writing contests throughout the year. Some of the past writing contests they held are entitled EssayMama Summer Essay Writing Contest, EssayMama Spring Essay Writing contest, or even the Christmas Essay Writing Contest. Make sure to check back often to the site and catch up with the latest writing contests that are active.

The company offers cash prizes for the best essay writer. The first place typically gets $550 cash, the second place gets $400 and the third place gets $250. Even if you are not the best, you still have a chance to earn some cash by getting the third place for example.

Eligibility criteria: you need to respect the submission guidelines posted online and ensure to provide an original, top quality essay on one of the topics from the list published online.

Related: More Essay Writing Contests and Competitions

4. Funny stories contest by MTC Publications

MTC Publications - The editors at MTC Publications is holding a contest where writers are welcome to create quite ingenuous pieces. In order to become eligible for the price, you need write a story about life situations where you would need a certain tool in order to make things work. You don’t have this tool yet you manage to ‘save the day’ through different other solutions. They expect funny, whimsical stories written with a lot of humor and language twists. The deadline for the contest is January 25, 2016.

Participating in a writing contest can really help you in your career. Besides, these contests also represent a good way to make some extra cash. If you are lucky, you can cash in several hundreds with only a few hours of work. Take your chance and pick a contest…you never know, you might be the winner!

Related: United Nations University Eisaku Sato Essay Contest (more than ¥750,000)

Author Bio
Kenneth Waldman is a professional freelance writer and content creator. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.

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