For the year of 2026, I decided to make a real effort in entering competitions. It’s an excellent way to keep yourself challenged with the various word limits on offer, the prompts you might be given, and it keeps you out there, for people to see (if you place, of course, which isn’t always a guarantee).
There’s a number of reasons I’ve wanted to get involved in competitions this year. A major consideration is because momentum is really important. It can be so hard to build momentum in a creative industry, so if the ball starts rolling, even if it’s only slowly, keeping it rolling should be a priority. It’s not the easiest thing to do, especially if you’re depending on publishing and other people, but trying wherever you can so that your work and your name remain out there for people to find is how you keep that ball moving.
Of course, as with anything when it comes to writing, there’s no guarantee that work will be seen by anyone. Just with how a book you write might never get published, a competition story might not place and thus not be seen either. That’s not to say either of those things will never be seen, you could always self-publish or even post your competition work on a blog, you still own the rights to that work and you can absolutely show the world what you’ve done.
But there’s a difference with traditional publishing and placing in a competition, and that’s that your work will likely be seen by more people as your work is being hosted by another platform (or publishing company.) Also, there’s a level of prestige that doesn’t necessarily come with posting your work on your own blog. There’s still absolutely merit in doing those things, and you shouldn’t be deterred at all! There have been so very many success stories for people who have self-published, and putting your work out there will always have its advantages, whether that’s on your own blog or someone else’s. But I think I’d feel pretty confident in saying we enter competitions or we try for traditional publishing for a reason, and that reason often includes the fact that there is more momentum in winning a competition than posting on your own site.
There’s also a level of pride if you do place, because it can become a reminder that your writing is good enough to win. There’s a lot of self-doubt in writing because you’re relying on yourself, there isn’t always much external critique or aid, especially early in your journey. So if you get a win or a placement of any kind, it can feel exceptionally rewarding and encouraging. Of course, the downside is entering into competitions and never getting a placement, but the same can be said for publishing, right? You can send off manuscript after manuscript and see no traction, no reward for the work you’ve put in, no pride in getting publication. So you have to have similar expectations for competitions too. Winning is a real joy and should be celebrated, but as with anything else with writing, you can’t let yourself be beaten when you don’t win.
The truth is, although I had committed to entering more competitions this year, I’ve actually only entered one so far, so my commitment hasn’t been as excellent as I had intended. With that being said, I’ve got some new stories I’m working on and their deadlines are fast approaching. Some of their word counts are as small as 250 words, others coming in at 3,000. There will, generally, be more time and effort put into a story with a larger word count, but any entry of your work deserves as much of your energy as you can give it. If you enter something that is one sentence long or even something that is novel-length, you want it to represent your best work.
That’s why, even though the word count can be small for a competition, it sometimes takes me much longer to write 2,000 words than it would if I was writing a novel. For me, it’s because of the tighter deadlines and because the word choice needs to be strong from the get go. With a novel, you’ve got much more time, you know if a paragraph you’ve just written isn’t the best, you can come back and fix it later. That whole later thing is less viable with a competition deadline, especially if you’re partaking in a sprint competition that might last only 10 days, or perhaps even just a weekend! So I find, instead of just writing and rectifying at a later date, I’m thinking a whole lot more before I get anything down. The whole process needs to be tighter, which means writing it can take much longer and more energy from me, even though the word count is smaller.
I also find it difficult because of the tighter deadlines meaning things can’t be left to breathe. For me, my drafts can find so much strength when I’ve given something a few weeks or even a months of not being touched, because that fresher perspective can give you so much to work with. Obviously, the constraints of some competitions are the fact they are over a shorter period of time. What’s important to remember is that the other writers are in the same situation as you.
It does mean that you might know something needs to be made stronger but you simply don’t have the time to do it. Part of the challenge of a competition is that feeling sometimes, and working with it, submitting even if you might not be totally sure about it. I would definitely argue you should submit your work even if you are unsure, because all the other writers might be feeling the exact same thing, and you never know how a judge might feel about it; we might see only its flaws, the things we wish we had more time to strengthen, but a judge might see all its merits instead, especially as they take into account these tighter deadlines too.
So, for the couple of successes I have had, neither are wins but I have placed. One was included in an anthology of the stories submitted for that particular competition, which you can find here, The Last Plastic Fork. The other can be found on The Booby Prize Hall of Fame page, and my specific story can be read here. They aren’t wins, but they get to be out there, for others to read, and that’s really important.
For what comes next, it’s entering some more competitions in the latter half of the year and hopefully some more placements will follow, some wins would be excellent too, of course. But if nothing comes, I won’t be discouraged. I’m challenging myself as a writer, writing to these deadlines, writing to prompts, writing things I wouldn’t necessarily consider writing otherwise. Pushing yourself and your writing abilities is crucial, because without that, you don’t get better, you stay where you are and don’t move forward, and I always want to be moving forward.
If you’re considering competitions, absolutely give them a go. There’s nothing to lose (except maybe a small fee), and you never know what it might bring you. For me, a competition entry resulted in my first novella being published, so who knows what it might bring you too.
Robyn x
R. A. Howard 