Sep
6th
2014
I want to run a contest · 12:47pm Sep 6th, 2014
And I have for a while, and I won't now because that would infringe on my promise, but I've come up with a couple ideas nevertheless.
My one question is, would not being able to offer prizes (the best I can do is some old merch) hinder participation? And would that even be a bad thing? Do people expect prizes for participating in writing contests nowadays? (Even the last writeoff had some, and experienced the largest turnout in its history.)
Report
PresentPerfect · 344 views
·
Well, the prizes make no odds to me, for what it's worth.
Prizes would probably guarantee more entries, but they aren't required. (I'd enter regardless.)
Prizes aren't usually why I enter a contest. I enter a contest for the challenge or the prize of potentially winning or placing and the validation of skill granted therein. Granted, I have not entered a contest in quite some time and I think I've improved markedly since my last attempt.
But it would be nice to take a break from working on my long runners to write something short for a contest.
2431695 I don't disagree at all, but now I'm thinking about it more, I'd say that the prompt for the last two major competitions has been the real selling point.
There is a simple rule to remember for these sorts of things: constraint breeds creativity.
Giving authors a real challenge is a good start, but making sure that the competition is widely advertised is equally important. It's not how many people you can reach, but how many people are seen to be participating. These things tend to have a 'critical mass' effect where 'X author is entering, so I might' becomes a driving factor.
How you see it is important to how many you sell it to.
I'd love to participate..but from past experience, when I'm writing for a reason, i.e. a prompt, I can't let loose as well as I usually write..
I'd still try, though. Or offer some merch.
I just want to be able to cross off this elusive achievement of mine:
I was narrowly defeated by PaulAsaran in the Twyrant's Kingdom's one-shot category. Long-runners haven't been judged yet, and The Princess Rarity hasn't judged the results of her High School prompt in her group either.
I'd enter with or without prizes. herei am trying to admin s group with nothing but contests, and present perfect arrives to sweep us away.
I'd enter without prizes, because I really need to get some practice in.
I'll do contest without prizes, but for the record a common one in this fandom is the winner or their oc getting a shout-out in a story.
For my part I ignore prizes anyway; I don't think I have a reasonable chance at winning, and besides writing is, for me, demanding enough that I will only write for a contest if I think I will enjoy the experience regardless of my placing.
Knowing I would get a review, even a short one, of my story is actually far better at drawing me into a competition than any prize — and, the organizer being you, I guess at least a short review, in line with your blog posts, is guaranteed
I enter for the simple sake of gloating if I win and having an excuse not to go in my corner and cry pathetically at night.
IT'S NOT WORKING!
I know I would at least make an attempt to enter. Prizes don't matter that much to me, as these others have said.
It's the practice and fun that counts, right?
Prizes would be a selling point, sure. But I'd be more concerned over the prompt, because these last two major contests have had some pretty unique and fun prompts to work with. Sometimes competition is all you need to inspire.
2431745
I offered this to people two or three years ago and have yet to make good on it, which is why I do story reviews as prizes now. :/
2431748
And I'd definitely review all the entries. :)
As long as you gots the feedback-giving crowd, you've got prizes. One from every other participant. You have no idea how jelly I am of you lot, being able to join contests with Bad Horse, horizon etc.. Dem juicy feedback. But so little time
I haven 't written a story for this site for almost a year, I'd honestly enter regardless of whether I get anything at all. I desperately need to get back into the groove of things.
I think for a lot of folks, the best prize for winning a contest is prestige and promotion of their fic.
To that end, if you wanted to sweeten the pot, you could talk to some folks with high follower counts about agreeing to reblog the winner -- I'd be willing to help out in that respect, and maybe 2431755 would too? If you get a couple of folks on board, you're offering a really nice promotion of the winning author.
I entered the last EQD contest because there was a chance to win custom art from PixelKitties. And I wanted AugieDog's Luna statue that he gave out in his Luna contest. But those are the only times I've wanted any prize being offered. I think I've turned down prizes that I won twice.
2431879
For me, it's always just the thrill of competition. I don't always do my best work (in fact, the opposite tends to be true), but if not for contests, I'd never get anything done. Prizes are nice, though I never expect them. :B (I got a shirt once.)
I double dipped for the last contest, (Little Apple won first place at a local con, and 9th in the Outside Insight contest.) and well the prizes are certainly a nice bonus, I mostly did it for the personal ego boost.
Prompts can definitely offer insights into creativity though, and reviews / promotional efforts for a fic of the authors choice would certainly make a decent prize.
Eh, I wouldn't have a problem with no prizes. This would be a nice way to just write something quick and see what I could put together. So I'd be down. I could be the obligatory scrub in his first contest XD
The best prize for most writers is the chance for someone to read and comment on their work. Getting feedback and exposure, and a chance to make some new friends along the way, is more important to me than the possibility of winning a set prize.
You may find you get more participation if there isn't any pressure to perform. You may also find the caliber of submissions to be lacking due to the absence of tangible reward.It's kind of a crap shoot either way.
I couldn't care less about prizes. I just want a chance to hone my writing skills and boost my ego at the same time.
2431851
Promotions I do regularly, so indeedy I shall help!
2432097
Maybe everyone else feels the same way as me:
I don't really care about prizes as a reward (except Augie's Luna statue; I kinda wanted that), but they definitely make a contest harder to ignore, more "real" to me. I know that I'm far more likely to enter a contest that has prizes than one without. Although honestly, the final determinant vis-a-vis my entering is usually whether I can confluence* a concept, plenty of free time, and a departure from my usual laziness all together.
So, the getting prizes doesn't really matter to me, but the fact that there are prizes to get makes a difference. I know that doesn't make much sense on the face of it, but I'm not here to psychoanalyze myself; I'm just here to answer PP's question.
*I attended a workshop last weekend where that was used as a verb by the speaker. I died a little inside.
I don't care about prizes. I've turned them down at times and accepted them at others. I'm at least heartened by much of the talk in this thread that the feedback during these things is the most valuable result coming out, though prizes definitely give it a more "contest" feel, where people are less civil, since they're focused on winning. I like them when they're seen more as writing workshops, but most participants see it otherwise, the ones commenting here notwithstanding.
I ponied up some prizes for the latest writeoff not because I thought anyone would say, "$10? Holy crap, I'd better stop everything else I'm doing and bring my A game!", but because the notion of prizes, no matter how modest, brings a sort of legitimacy to it.
It's not the only source of legitimacy — as we're seeing here, reviews are big motivators for the crowd that cares about improving their writing, and recognition will motivate fanfic writers almost by definition — but "here is a contest; here are prizes" is a very simple sales pitch, and you'll notice that talk of the writeoffs did leak out beyond just me yelling about it in my blog. In that sense, the experiment did exactly what I meant it to do, and now that the writeoffs have had their signal boost, I don't feel the need to throw more money in, because I'd like people to stick around who appreciate what the writeoffs already provide.
What does that mean for your contest? I dunno. I think you probably have enough name recognition to pull in a good crowd just by announcing an event, but not quite at the level that Obselescence and EqD have. (I would have entered those, prizes or no, but I couldn't quite pull together an entry with the other things I had going on.) A great theme could serve as its own signal boost. So could prizes, but a prize would really have to stand out in order for the prize itself to be more of a draw than the notion that there's Something To Win, as 2432135 said. (I'll join the crowd in saying that the Luna statue specifically motivated me, but something like cash or a Steam game or an art commission is basically nothing but tangible egoboo.)
2432458
Admittedly, if I got as many entries as either EQD or even Obs, I would have to kill myself. >.> I have an idea to counteract this, however I'm not sure how well it would work.
I'd join if I ever got over my pressing laziness.
I think the draw of a contest is actually split halfway between the prizes and the prompt, and that one can support the other if that one is weak.
For example, I don't remember whether Obs' "Most Dangerous Game" had prizes or not, but I'm of the opinion it got so many entries (and of such a high quality) due to its frankly quite brilliant idea: can you write a good story while using tropes that are associated with horribleness in fanfic form?
The greatest prize would probably be writing us a story of our choice.
And the contest sounds DANG fun!
Now, if only I wasn't lazy....
2434418
I'm only averse to writing stories as prizes because who knows what you'll get asked to write. I have a hard enough time writing stories for myself. :(
2434542 Ah. I understand.