Entering writing competitions is easy. Winning is trickier. Want to boost your chances of your writing coming out on top?

Competitions are a key part of a writer’s journey—but if you’re tired of getting nowhere, it might be time to rethink your strategy. In this video, I share ten practical tips to help your entry make it to the finals. Whether you're submitting short stories, poetry, flash fiction, or essays, these strategies will give you the edge. From following the rules to polishing your prose, discover how to make your work competition-ready.

In this video, I share ten practical tips to help your entry make it through to the finals. Whether you're submitting short stories, poetry, flash fiction or essays, these strategies will give you the edge. From following the rules to polishing your prose, discover how to make your work competition-ready.

I’ve been entering writing competitions for years and my poems have been longlisted, shortlisted and published in anthologies and magazines, with a fair few first-place wins along the way. Now I also judge competitions, and have seen how easy it is even for a good piece of writing to fall at the first hurdle. If you don’t take it seriously, entering competitions is a waste of money. And none of us want that.

I can’t guarantee a win, but whether you're a seasoned writer or submitting your first entry, these strategies will increase the odds.