Like to make a regular income from cash prizes in short story contests? Here are four proven tips. They are based on my own contact as a judge of a regular short fiction contest but they should help writers to maximise their income from all writing competitions that offer cash awards.
Look for contests that offer a good spreadof prizes.
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A good spread might be a top prize of, say, 0, second prize of , third prize of , plus ten runner-up prizes of each. The exact cash values are not important; what matters is that there are many prizes. This contest gives you 13 opportunities to win. However, if you strain every brain cell to enter a major contest that offers just one stellar top prize, but no other prizes, it's petite consolation to be haloed later among its top 100 also-rans - if their names are published at all.
Look for contests that offer cash awards but where contestants must meet specific criteria.
The criteria might insist that the author falls within a clear age range, ethnic group, gender, work or nationality. In case,granted you truly fit these criteria, you stand a great occasion of winning than if you enter a contest which places no restrictions on the entrant.
Why? The amount of entrants should be fewer and the judges will be seeing for elements in the story which justify the criteria of the contest. As an authentic member of this niche, you can persuasively provide those elements. The prizes might also be higher than usual because such contests are often run by organisations which have some Pr, cultural or political schedule to pursue - plus a allocation to match. Of course, it would be very unwise to fake your identity to enter such contests!
The organisers will thirst to publicise their winners to support their Pr agendas. So if a contest is run to encourage female Canadian writers and you masquerade as, say, a Vancouver-born mum of three it would be quite embarrassing if you won and were asked to give a media interview. Especially if you turn out to be, undisguisably, a male Australian...
Seek out contests that ask only a token entry fee.
A fee of say - is a cheap wager if the top cash prize is in three figures. A fee of or more is probably not. For a weekly investment of 0 and entry fees of you could enter 20 contests a week and have a very good chance, not only of recouping your investment, but also of production a healthy profit. At per entry, given a 0 budget, you could enter only five contests per week and you would stand very petite occasion of winning at all.
Resubmit a non-winning story.
Do not resubmit a story that has already won a top prize. This is the literary equivalent of spamming. The judges will probably find you out and blacklist you in future.But if your story has not yet won a major prize, you are free to resubmit it to as many contests as you wish. What one judge loathes, an additional one might love. You own the copyright, after all. If you adapt the story each time to the themes and rules of each contest you are roughly certain, with a good story, to win a prize - if you persist.
This is the most qualified tip of all. Why? Your chances of winning in a further contest are now greater because you are continually honing and testing your 'product'. Before long, you will have a folder of such tested stories. If you adapt and resubmit them using good judgement, they can win you a dependable cash income over several years.
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