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» Official WB Contests
Writer's Beat Monthly Contests
Writers' Beat Official Contests
Every month, Writer's Beat hosts it's very own writing contests. Participants can choose to enter in the Poetry, Fiction, or Non-Fiction field (or perhaps a combination of those three). The Writer's Beat staff develops a new and creative prompt each month for these contests, and judging is done by a few select staff members. Winners get their entry published in Writer's Club, the Beat's bi-monthly publication (shown to thousands of people!).
We are actively looking for writers to take part in these monthly contests.
Last Month's Winners
Non-Fiction - Breezy Writer Fiction - gary_wagner Poetry - Blackwolf Congratulations, winners! Unfortunately, according to our new rule, you cannot participate in this month's contests in the category you won. However, if you feel so inclined, we would gladly accept any help you could offer in the field of guest judging. Please contact our Contest Chief, aprilrain, or any of the other judges for further information.
Additional Information How to Participate
Any registered member of the Writer's Beat community is allowed to take part in any of the three contest categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Poetry. At the beginning of each month, new contest threads are posted and you are welcome to post your entry in any of those specific threads.
One entry per person.
You are allowed to take part in any or all categories.
Any post that is edited after the deadline is automatically disqualified.
You should post your entry inside the designated thread. We do not receive entries through private messaging.
Before beginning to write an entry, participants are advised to carefully examine the theme of that particular contest and then write accordingly. For example, if you are asked to write a humorous piece, it would be inappropriate to enter a sombre story. You would not receive many points for such a contrast. It is also advisable to keep in mind that the theme of the contest should be reflected in the entire entry and not just in one part—use your discretion for this.
A basic spell check (either an in-built one in your computer or one from the Internet) should be performed on your entry before you submit it. Entries with fewer spelling and grammatical errors are likely to score higher than ones full of them. Needless to say, the more original your entry is, the better. If the judges have heard the story or the poem a hundred times before, they are not likely to give you particularly good scores. Points will be deducted for exceeding the word limit, so as far as possible, try not to avoid that.
Note: Please keep in mind that if there is only one entry submitted for a particular category, the judges will provide comments on it, but that contest will be considered void. These entries will be submitted for publication on the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief of Writers' Club alone.
Scoring
Each contest entry is scored out of 20 points. There are five points for Mechanics, five for Intangibles, and ten for Overall Impression.
‘Mechanics’ refers to the overall spelling, grammar and punctuation of the entry (grammar is inapplicable to Poetry). ‘Intangibles’ covers tone and voice and how effective the two are in the entry. ‘Overall Impression’ is the personal impression of the piece on individual judges; it is highly subjective.
Scores of the submitted pieces will be posted within the first five days of the beginning of the next month. They are announced in separate threads according to the genre in each of the three forums.
The winners of one month's contest will not be allowed to participate in the next one in order to give other participants a fair chance. For example, if XYZ wins the Fiction contest for August 2020, he will not be able to participate in the September 2020 Fiction Contest. Any winner is welcome to volunteer their services for guest judging the next month.
Contest Judges
We have a special panel of judges on board the staff who devote some of their time each month to judge and organize the contests. They are:
You are welcome to contact any judge if you have any questions regarding the scores or the comments.
Guest Judging
Guest judges are members of the community who judge the contests from time to time according to their willingness and enthusiasm. Guest judges have to be experienced, active in the community, and most of all, characterized by a lack of partiality. They either volunteer or are contacted by aprilrain.
If you want to be a guest judge, you can simply send a private message "PM" to aprilrain or to any of the contest judges. Your application will be processed by the staff and you will be informed whether or not you have been accepted as soon as possible.
Previous Contests
