Poetry Contests - Tips on avoiding bad writing competitions
If you are an aspiring poet and would like to enter some of your poems in poetry contests, there are some things you should be aware of. Every writer wishes to be published, and sometimes a writing competition may offer the chance for that to happen. However, there are good and bad poetry contests. The intent of bad poetry contests is to get money from people rather than award them for their writing skills. There are some warning signs of bad poetry contests that you should look for. Following are some examples of red flags or warning signs every poet should be on the lookout for:
- The contest sponsor tries to sell you products related to your work
- The contest entry is free, but winners have to pay a high price for a copy of their own book
- An unusually large amount of cash awards
- An unusually large number of winners
- They don’t appear to be choosy about who gets published and who doesn’t
- You have questions and contact the sponsor and the sponsor doesn’t respond or responds with evasive answers
- The prize is not money or publication but supposed agency representation, which you must pay for
- Advertised in large markets such as newspapers or magazines that have nothing to do with writing
- You receive word that you have been selected as a winner and have won a prize but have to pay to attend a convention to receive it
There are poetry contests out there that are considered “vanity” competitions. They have low standards and are willing to publish most of the entries they receive. They market their publications to the contestants themselves rather than to libraries or buyers. These vanity competitions are not necessarily scams and they usually spell out the terms and procedures for selections accurately. However, there are better poetry contests out there that will promote good writing to more people.
Some poetry contests are sponsored through websites of different names, but it is actually all the same company. It may be wise to Google the websites that are offering these competitions to see which are legitimate. If any of them turn up on scam warning pages, you can bet these should be avoided.
If you still have doubts, check with your local society for poets to find out if the poetry contests you are looking into are worth entering.