Warning Signs of a Bad Literary Contest
The typical goal of a bad literary contest is to extract money from authors rather than honor excellence. Other questionable contests seem to be an attempt to hoover up a large amount of content on the cheap. Bad contests typically show several of these warning signs. When in doubt, check with your local poetry society.
- An unusually large number and size of cash awards (e.g., $58,000/year)
- The contest claims the right to publish your work as soon as you enter it, even if you don't win a prize
- Contest sponsor tries hard to sell you products that incorporate your work, like anthologies
- Contest is free to enter, but 'winners' have to pay a high price for own copy of book
- Contest turns up on "Scam Warning" pages when you search for it with Google
- Hard to contact sponsor with questions—responses are slow or evasive
- Low standards—not choosy about who gets published
- Name is close to that of a prestigious contest but for a small difference
- Prize is not money or publication, but 'agency representation' or something you must pay for
- Hard to find the work of past winners to judge their quality for yourself
- Hard to find information about who judges the contest
- Hard to find information about who sponsors the contest
- Small prize relative to reading fee (e.g., $5 fee for a $50 top prize)
- Advertised in mass-market magazines (Parade) and newspapers (Sunday comics) unrelated to literature
- You win a prize—but have to pay to attend a convention to receive it
- Only short poems (30 lines or less) are accepted—the better to pack them into an anthology
