FOR PUBLICATION OWNERS AND EDITORS
How To Award Your Writing Contest Winners
Advice from ‘The Memoirist’ on selecting and paying winners
Holding a contest for your online publication can be a great way to grow membership, draw attention to your writers, and boost your stats. Contests are popular and running one can take a lot more work than one may realize. If you are organized, have a good team working with you, and have a plan in place — you can achieve your desired outcome.
What Is The Best Way To Award Writers In a Contest?
How you want to award contest winners is entirely up to you, your bandwidth, and the type of award you’re offering. There are many possibilities to choose from, and oftentimes what works best depends upon the publication. For example, Gaurav Jain—publisher of The Press Box—holds sports-style writing tournaments with knockout rounds. It’s a very different approach and is perfect for a sports publication.
The most basic considerations are:
- Award 1st, 2nd, 3rd place winners
- Award several 1st place winners by category (humor, etc.)
Also important is deciding how winners will be selected — by other writers or by editors on…
