🏆 Literary contests and their role in an author's career

Why a writer should enter literary contests

A literary contest is not a lottery, it is the fastest way to get a manuscript in front of the people who decide the fate of books: editors, literary agents, and publishers. A single open contest can give an author in a few weeks what would otherwise take years of cold submissions. In 2025, The Next Big Story prize from The Novelry school received more than 22,500 entries and became the world's largest writing contest, according to BookTrib. The grand prize was $100,000 plus a year of mentoring from the school's team. To win, you only had to submit three pages, the opening of a novel.

💡 Quick overview: if you want a return from a contest rather than just paying a fee, keep four anchor points in mind.

• Pick a contest that matches your genre and level, not the "most prestigious" one.
• Check the organizer for signs of fraud before paying the fee.
• Prepare your text for the specific rules: format, length, deadlines.
• Use the feedback even after losing, it is worth more than the prize.

Below we will break down each point with numbers and real examples, not vague generalities.

What contests actually give an author

A contest's value is not measured only by its prize fund. The Reedsy catalog for 2026 lists 460 vetted contests, according to Reedsy, and most of them offer not money but something more valuable: access to professional readers. Here are three effects a participant gets.

The first effect is visibility. A major prize's shortlist puts you on agents' radar. The story of Canadian writer Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, began with recognition on the contest stage: the 2002 Booker Prize turned the novel into a global bestseller with over 12 million copies sold. A contest does not write the book for the author, but it turns on the spotlight.

The second effect is feedback. Many contests give jury comments even to those who lose. This is a rare resource: a professional manuscript assessment from an independent editor costs from $100 to several hundred dollars, and here you get it as part of a $5 to $25 entry fee, according to Reedsy.

The third effect is the deadline. A hard submission deadline disciplines better than any personal plan. An author who cannot finish a story for months suddenly completes it a week before submissions close. This effect is especially strong for debut authors: an external deadline removes the author's right to endlessly "polish" the text and forces them to bring the work to the point where it can be shown to a professional.

There is also a fourth, underrated effect: a publication trail. Even making the longlist of a major prize becomes a line in the author's bio that an agent will later see. The publishing industry runs on reputation, and every shortlist mention reduces the risk for an agent of taking on an unknown author. In essence, a contest converts anonymity into a verifiable quality signal that is hard to get any other way.

How to choose the right contest

The main beginner mistake is applying where the name is loudest. The right choice starts with three questions to yourself.

Genre and form. The Next Big Story prize accepted only literary fiction: nonfiction, poetry, short stories, memoirs, and screenplays were automatically rejected by the jury, according to BookTrib. If your text does not fit the format, the fee is wasted.

Level and audience. For a debut author, a contest for unpublished writers makes more sense than an open prize where laureates with agents compete. The Caledonia Novel Award, for example, specifically works with unpublished and self-published novelists and connects them with literary agents.

Prize logic. Decide in advance what you need more: money, publication, or contact with an agent. Some contests offer a publishing contract instead of cash. For example, the Libraro Prize offers a package of £50,000 and a deal with Hachette UK, according to IngramSpark.

Compare the typical parameters before you pay.

The fee and fund figures are based on Reedsy data and the 2026 prize catalog.

How to avoid a fraudulent contest

Authors’ money attracts not only publishers, but also scammers. Poets & Writers explicitly warns that phishing schemes and fake "awards" target writers and self-published authors, according to Poets & Writers. So check every submission against a simple list.

• The fee is disproportionate to the prize. If the entry fee costs more than the prize itself, that is a red flag.
• You pay to have your own work published. The classic vanity anthology scheme: winners are sold a collection containing their text.
• No transparent jury or history of past winners. A legitimate contest is proud of its judges’ names.
• They demand full rights to the text just for entering. You should not lose your copyright simply for submitting an entry.

Reedsy separately vets contests in its catalog to filter out frauds and time-wasters, according to Reedsy. Rely on trusted databases (Reedsy, Poets & Writers, Winning Writers), not on ads in your email.

How to prepare a submission the jury will notice

Winning starts long before you hit send. Professional judges eliminate most entries in the first pages, so the first impression decides everything.

First, proofread the text as if you were the pickiest editor alive. Spelling and punctuation errors on the first page read as disrespect for the contest. Use Grammarly or similar tools for checking, but do the final edit by hand: a tool does not feel the rhythm of a sentence.

Then bring the format into full compliance with the rules. Reedsy stresses that violating submission requirements can disqualify you entirely, according to Reedsy. Font, margins, page numbers, length: everything is checked down to the character.

Pay special attention to the opening. In The Next Big Story, the first three pages, about 1,500 words, decided everything, according to BookTrib. That means the hook in the first paragraph matters more than a beautiful ending the jury may never reach.

Finally, meet the deadlines and keep confirmation of receipt. If submissions go through an electronic platform like Submittable, make sure the status changes to "received."

And remember the new restriction: more and more contests prohibit texts written by neural networks. The Next Big Story explicitly stated that artificial intelligence tools are not allowed in creating entries, according to BookTrib. Violating this rule means instant disqualification.

A real case: what judges advise from the inside

To understand the jury’s logic, it helps to listen to those who evaluate the work. Expert Clay Stafford, founder of the Killer Nashville festival, puts the main criterion simply when discussing contest judging: the jury looks for originality of voice, not flawless technique. Technique can be polished in a course, but an author’s unique perspective cannot be polished.

This explains why shortlists often consist of "awkward" but alive texts rather than smooth but impersonal ones. Listen to the breakdown from a practicing judge below.

The main takeaway from the jury's practice: don't force your text into an imagined "winning format." Stella Donovan, winner of The Next Big Story 2025, made it through a selection of more than 22,500 entries not because she guessed the template, but because her three pages sounded fresh, according to The Novelry. The panel of ten judges, chaired by Women's Prize winner Tayari Jones, chose voice above all.

What to do after the contest

The results are announced, and that is where the work beginners tend to skip begins. If you won, make the success public: a shortlist mention or a win in your bio strengthens trust with agents and publishers.

If you did not win, break down the jury feedback point by point. Write out the strengths and weaknesses as separate lists. Most contests do not have time to give detailed feedback to everyone, according to Reedsy, so any comment you receive is worth more than the prize: it is free expertise.

Then build a system. The best authors treat contests as a funnel: they submit one work to several suitable prizes, track deadlines in a spreadsheet, and start preparing for the next cycle in advance. One rejection means nothing when you have five submissions in progress. With a catalog of 460 vetted contests for 2026, according to Reedsy, finding five relevant prizes for one text is realistic in a single evening.

Set up a simple spreadsheet: contest name, deadline, fee, format, submission status. That way you will not miss a submission window or send the same file to a contest whose rules require a different length. This unglamorous tracking is what separates an author who happened to make a shortlist once from one who builds a publication history year after year and eventually lands an agent.

⁉️🤔 Common questions about literary contests

Is it worth paying an entry fee for a literary contest?

A paid fee by itself is not a sign of fraud: the average legitimate contest charges $5-25, premium ones charge up to $150, according to Reedsy. A red flag appears when the fee exceeds the prize fund or you are offered to buy an anthology containing your own text.

Which contest should a beginner author choose?

Debut authors do well with contests for unpublished writers, such as the Caledonia Novel Award, which connects newcomers with literary agents. Open prizes that include laureates and agents are better postponed until you have a polished manuscript and a realistic sense of your level.

Can I use AI tools for a contest submission?

More and more contests prohibit this. The Next Big Story explicitly stated that texts created with artificial intelligence are not accepted, according to BookTrib. Breaking the rule means disqualification, so reread the specific contest's regulations before submitting.

What matters more to the jury: technique or originality?

According to judge Clay Stafford, the jury looks first for the author's original voice, not flawless technique. Polish comes with practice and editing, while a unique perspective sets a shortlisted work apart from thousands of smooth but impersonal texts in the general pool.

How many submissions typically compete for a prize?

It depends on the scale. The Next Big Story prize collected more than 22,500 submissions in 2025 and became the largest writing contest in the world, according to The Novelry. Local and niche contests have a smaller flow, so your chances of making the shortlist there are objectively higher.

What to do right now

A literary contest is a lever, not a lottery ticket. Pick one vetted contest that matches your genre and level, prepare your text to fit its rules down to the last comma, and submit before the deadline. Even a loss comes back to you as feedback and discipline. Start small: open the catalog of vetted contests today and post your listing on the co-author marketplace to improve your chances of winning.