My experiences of writing competitions

When I was 11 years old I entered a poem into a writing competition hosted by a local radio station. Weeks later I got a call saying I had come in joint fourth place, and they sent me a cheque for £2. I didn’t have the nerve to ask if there had been any more than 5 entries in total, which I suspect may have been the case. But it proved something to me: competitions can be won. They are worth it.

Fast forward to today, and I’ve added a few prizes to my CV. I won the University of Surrey Creative Writing Prize, and I was twice runner up in the P.G. Wodehouse Society Essay Prize. I also won a few quid for co-writing a comedy theme song for an early Ricky Gervais TV show (viewers were invited to submit songs for a competition, the prize being their use in the show). It’s all good fun and for me it’s been an entertaining sideline to the real business of being a writer.

But competitions can be more than a sideline. Success in writing competitions can open doors that would otherwise remain stubbornly shut. Winning a prize may favourably tip the balance of an editor’s decision whether to reject your book or sign it up. Sometimes the prize itself is access to the guiding hand of an agent or a publisher. Competitions are a valuable tool for writers looking to establish their career. I recommend entering the most relevant ones to your writing genre several times a year. Good luck!