Excellent writing skills allow you to express your narrative and discuss things in an effective manner. The perfect way to showcase your writing skills is by taking part in a writing competition. Participating in such a competition will allow you to compare your writing with others and analyze where you stand against them.
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Moreover, it will enable you to gather the deserved attention and appreciation from the audience, mentors, and judges. If you are fond of writing and expressing your opinion regarding various matters, then participation in a writing competition is definitely worth your time.
If you are thinking of taking part in a writing contest, then it is a great idea. However, there are some things that you can’t ignore while participating in such a contest. We have put together a list of some useful ideas that can help you improve your writing skills. Further details are given below:
Don’t Get Overly Inspired by Someone Else’s Ideas
We all have some favorite writers, and we tend to follow their ideas and writing. However, while participating in a writing contest, you need to make sure that someone else’s ideas shouldn’t inspire you. You need to work on a unique idea. Make sure you don’t try to structure your writing in a way that is similar to your favorite writer. Moreover, don’t ever try to rephrase someone else’s writing. This practice will create a bad impression in other people’s minds. Therefore, try to write in the form of drafts and use a plagiarism checker to make sure your writing is unique. By doing this, you will ensure that your content is not similar to anyone else and eligible for submission in the contest.
Proper Research
While writing your submission for a writing contest, don’t neglect the role of proper research. If your writing lacks adequate research, you may fail to explain your narrative correctly. The judges and audience won’t appreciate this lack of elaboration, and your submission will fail to make a mark. However, you need to make sure that your research is credible and worthy enough to be included in your submission.
Another type of research you need to do while participating in a writing competition is about the credibility of judges, what kind of topics interest them, and people who won the same competition in the past. This practice will enable you to come up with submissions according to the requirements of judges. However, don’t get too influenced by previous winning submissions, as it can cause plagiarism in your submission. Make sure you make full efforts to check plagiarism online. Take help of an online plagiarism checker, this practice will ensure that you didn’t copy even unintentionally.
References Where Needed
Sometimes you need to include quotations and references from other sources in their original form. However, if you don’t use the proper method for reference and quotation in your submission, you may get involved in accidental plagiarism. The best method to avoid such a scenario is using the suitable method for reference of quotations from other sources and using a plagiarism checker from time to time. This will help you keep your submission unique.
Rules of the Writing Competition
This is obvious; you can’t neglect the writing competition rules. For example, if the contest rules require you to keep your writing submission restricted to a specific number of words, you should follow the rules and make sure you stay within the limit and keep the minimum and the maximum number of words in your mind. Similarly, you need to write your submission using the style suggested by the rules of the contest. Finally, if the administration of the writing contest wants you to write formally, then you need to do it.
Different Submissions
Some writing contests allow participants to submit multiple submissions. If the contest you have joined also enables you to do that, then make sure all your submissions discuss different topics. For example, if you submit all the submissions with paraphrasing or a little twist, then none of those submissions will do good for you. Instead, this practice will cast a bad impression on the judges. Therefore, if you are going with multiple submissions, then make sure all those submissions discuss different topics.
Constructive Feedback
Writing competition is not all about winning. It is an excellent way of getting constructive feedback from the judges about your writing. Make sure you take part in such a contest to get feedback from the professionals and further work on their suggestions to make your writing even better. Don’t neglect constructive feedback because it is intended to make you better.
Final Thoughts
Taking part in a writing contest is a great way to assess your writing skills and your ability to express your opinion. Those who are fond of writing or even do it professionally should take part in such contests. We hope these tips will assist you in performing well in a writing contest and becoming a better writer.