by Sheila Koester

Created on: May 04, 2008   Last Updated: May 07, 2008

I have researched some of the available online website competitions for writers. The writing opportunities and possibilities that these contests create are endless. The contests provide avenues for writers to utilize the research and writing skills learned and to obtain feedback on how their work compares with the work of other authors.

Writers who enter these website contests benefit in many ways. They have the opportunity to learn something new while researching the topic that they are writing about for their contest article submission. Writers learn how to revise and polish their manuscript submissions to catch the eye of the contest judges. Since they are competing against other writers, they should be prepared to submit their best work. Contestants often turn to critique groups or seek out the opinions of others before they submit their final product to the contest. Through competition, writers do not have the luxury of submitting anything they want. They have strict guidelines that they need to adhere to if they are to achieve their goal of possibly winning. Therefore, it is necessary to work very hard to ensure that the article they are submitting is of the highest quality and their very best work. It is a waiting game for these tough competitors, who reap the financial rewards that the contest offers, when they reach the top and are declared the contest winners by the judges.

The online writing contests are open to all writers seeking to improve upon their own writing skills with the added bonus of earning extra income. It is a fun way for writers to share their experience-based knowledge and opinions while creatively composing these ideas into quality entries in accordance with the contest submission standards. There are contest guidelines that all writers should follow as they prepare their articles or stories. These rules are posted at the website of the contest of choice.

The contest winners receive recognition for their efforts when their manuscript is selected as the winning entry. One Christian website holds weekly challenges. The next week, the winner of the challenges at the beginner, intermediate, advanced and masters' levels are posted for all to see. At the end of the year, the weekly challenge contest winners compete for first place, second place or third place in the best of the best contest winners for a given year. Each place winner receives a corresponding monetary award.

In addition to website article competitions, other websites offer contests in the best poetry, short story, or book category submissions. The guidelines, monetary awards, and the criteria judges use to evaluate the quality of the manuscript submissions varies. Each interested writer should research the contests on the World Wide Web before sending off their work.

In summation, website competitions are as valuable to writers as other writing competitions. They provide an avenue to earn recognition, credits that might open doors for future publication, in addition to monetary rewards. An opportunity to connect with other writers, to learn and further develop writing skills, research, create, and provide an information service to a targeted audience are some of the benefits of online writing competitions.

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