Many writing contests have very impressive prizes. The Nichols fellowship, for example, is no chump change contest. Especially designed for screenplay writers, this contest is so prestigious that even getting into the final cut will earn you offers from Hollywood agents. Up to 5 winners will each take away $30,000 fellowships! Most of the First Place winners have had their screenplays turned into major Hollywood blockbusters!

Three Reasons for Entering Writing Contests

1) Many people enter for the prizes .. money and goodies.
2) Enter to give your career a boost or catapult yourself into a new stratosphere and a new career!
3) Enter to receive recognition and notice for your emerging and improving writing skills. Encouragement to keep on going.

Popular writing contest categories include fiction and non-fiction books on almost any subject, fictional short stories, novels and novellas of any genre; non-fiction articles, essays, and journalistic pieces; poetry which includes book-length manuscripts as well as chapbooks; scripts and screenplays, and an almost unlimited number of specific categories such as contests for grade school writers, college-level essays, and topic-specific such as pet articles and patriotic themes.

The list truly goes on and on.

One very popular contest category is the short short essay contest. These contests are judged not so much for writing skills as for the idea presented. These contests are typically 100 to 200 word contests run by popular magazines, and consumer good manufacturers. They can a huge amount of fun to enter because you can let your creativity go wild. AND the prizes are amazing! Interested in winning a trip to Paris for writing 100 words about a friend? Yep. Lots of fun!!

Visit my website for information about DOZENS of current writing contests.

There are loads of contests that are run on an ongoing or monthly basis. Many of these are a great place to get started because they have low entry fees or are FREE to enter. They usually have smaller prizes. Ongoing Writing Contests

The deadline contests range from small and local to huge International contests sponsored by some of the biggest magazines, and organizations in the world. Deadline Writing Contests

For Fun Essay Contests, check out the blog below.