Writing contests are carefully reviewed by our staff to help ensure that only the very best make it to our website. We understand and appreciate that entering writing contests is often a leap of faith. Our goal is to provide writing contests from reputable companies. These are companies that provide a panel of judges (a committee) to judge the contests. The winners are announced shortly after the deadline is reached. Deadlines are solid and do not change. The fiction writing contests should contain clear guidelines of the type of writing that is accepted. Free fiction writing contests sometimes require a specific genre such as science fiction. The free online writing competitions listed are clear on what type of writing is required. If there are any restrictions on word count you should be aware of this. If there are this will be stated in the contest announcement. Contest announcements will contain any requirements that an author should be aware of. Pay careful attention not just to the word count rqruirement but also the genre requirements, deadline and format requirements for your submission. We post free writing competitions that we believe have a fair and easy submission and judging process. You will find it easy to enter the contests above. Your writing contest will be judged in a fair matter.
Prior to entering a contest we recommend reading our latest blog which explains how to write for a contest and what steps to take.
The most common question we hear is how long should your contest entry be. Flash fiction is a popular form of writing. For these contests your goal is to tell a complete story using a specific amount of words. You'll see a number of flash fiction contests on this listing. For those your word count must be exact (in most cases). So if the free fiction writing contest requires 100 words that should be the total in the body of your work (no more, no less). Normally the title of your work is not included in the count. Some writing contests do not have a word count requirement. For these contests we recommend keeping the word count to 5,000 words or less. The judges for free online writing competitions are not going to want to read a novel when a short story is requested. So keep in mind the number of words when writing your contest piece. Understand longer pieces may not be as well received. But most contests will have guidelines.
Have fun with the free writing competitions. Be creative. Try new things. Whether you win or lose entering a contest, getting feedback (most of our contests give feedback to the author) and learning is the most important thing you can take away from these contests. So enjoy your free writing contests 2024!
At Free Writing Contests we provide a list of reputable contests for our readers.