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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37154
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

This is really the number one advice I can give anybody entering creative competitions:

## Learn how the competition works.

Every competition has rules. Wordcount; formatting; themes.

Some of them also have guidelines. Stuff the judges like; stuff the contest is kind of tired of; stuff that's considered particularly impressive, or that's OK but generally doesn't do to well.

Learn all of them; follow all of them (or know why you're choosing to ignore some; **don't make any unnecessary mistakes.**

This will do two things for you:

- **It will keep you from being in the bottom 25%.** In most contests and competitions, there are _many_ participants who don't read or follow the rules. They can be pretty much auto-rejected out of hand -- and even if they aren't, they give an extremely poor first impression.  
Now, being in the top 75% is still a far cry from winning, or even placing -- but it's a lot better than being in the bottom 25%.  
(The choice of "25%" specifically is a gross exaggeration, in one direction or another -- it will vary from contest to contest.)

- **You will learn to be critical of submissions in general, and yours in particular.** The rules, guidelines, and mores of the competition can, in combination, teach you an incredible amount. By focusing on "How to do this one specific task, in a way that will impress these specific people" -- you will have developed your own taste, and your own writing ability. It will also help you improve specifically at whatever this particular contest values most.

All this works best with a competition that is relatively _consistent_ -- held regularly, with the same set of judges (or mostly the same, or with similar-ish tastes), spoken about enough in public for you to actually get a sense of what the contest is looking for.

Not all contests are like that -- but that's a good reason to seek out a few that are.

Original score: 4