Savannah Cordova of Reedsy with 4 reasons why you should enter that short story competition . . .
Let’s say you’ve got a short story idea you can’t stop thinking about. You’ve done a bit of brainstorming, maybe even some research… but what comes after that? Well, you could save everything in your notebook, put it away, and inevitably forget about it over time. Or you could see things through and submit your story to some writing contests!
This may seem daunting, especially if you’ve never joined one before — but the payoff could change your entire writing journey. Here are four reasons why you should submit your writing to competitions, plus examples of the best short story contests to enter in 2025.
1. It’ll motivate you to write — and finish
If you’re a perfectionist like me, it probably takes you a long time to produce anything. While that’s not always a bad thing, it does mean that months (or even years) can fly by before you’ve wrapped up and moved on from a creative project.
But whether you’re looking to expand your portfolio or kickstart your career, finishing a single story per year is not the path to success. That’s where writing competitions come in: they all have deadlines, so you’ll need to get the words down before a certain date and time. Like it or not, this push is exactly what we writers (and especially we perfectionists) need to motivate us.
There are tons of ongoing writing contests that run through the summer, so check those out if you’d like a little extra time to put pen to paper. Or to get the creative juices flowing ASAP, you could also look into week-long contests, such as Reedsy Prompts or Writers’ Hour on Substack. Contests like these have a different theme every week, sometimes with multiple prompts, and cash prizes as high as $250!
2. A short story competition will improve you as a writer
Like any exercise, writing requires you to flex your creative “muscles” in order to strengthen and maintain them. And crafting stories for competitions will not only help develop your overall skills, but also help you learn two evergreen writing lessons: 1) how to follow guidelines, and 2) how to trim your work effectively.
As a judge for one of the world’s largest writing contests, I’ve seen my fair share of entries that miss the mark — whether by not following a story prompt at all, writing way over the 3,000-word limit, or including content that we expressly forbid.
Remember, unless you’re already a star in the literary world, you’re unlikely to get away with defying the rules; most contests, magazines, etc. will simply disqualify your story if it doesn’t adhere to them! So another reason to join writing competitions is just to learn how to read guidelines carefully, especially since every contest has different expectations and T&Cs.
Speaking of word limits, joining competitions will notably help you get better at killing your darlings. Again, even if you think your story could be the next “Cat Person”, judges won’t consider your entry if you go over (or under) their specified word count — so you have to become a merciless darling-killer. I’ve entered a number of writing contests myself, and I can’t count the hours I’ve spent editing just to shave off 100 extra words in a piece.
But doing all this, I (begrudgingly) admit, has made me a better writer — someone more conscious of superfluous words, overdescriptive passages, and sentences that could be written in 10 words instead of 20. If you struggle with purple prose yourself, entering a writing competition this year could be just what you need!
3. It’ll help you find your voice
Voice is something that’s hard to master, let alone find in the first place. In a world where more stories are being published than ever, how can you make your own work stand out?
Well, one way is to continuously refine your voice by writing more stories. Indeed, you can’t just write one piece and say your voice is set for life — you need to keep going so it can evolve! By joining contests as often as you can, you’ll give yourself tons of opportunities to try new things and figure out what you like (and don’t like) in terms of style.
If you’re hoping to find your voice this year, I’d particularly recommend joining contests with unusual prompts or exciting themes, to facilitate more experimentation. Globe Soup, for example, gives its members a new prompt or theme to explore each month. Try your hand at writing in a new genre or responding to a prompt totally outside of your comfort zone — you never know where it could take you!
4. A short story competition can give you recognition
For a long time, I used to think that the only way to call oneself “successful” after entering a writing competition was to win it. Now I see that I was wrong! Winning a contest is an amazing feat, but you can still boost your visibility by being shortlisted or longlisted — or, in the case of a public-entry contest like Reedsy Prompts, by gaining community traction.
Look up past success stories of authors who won publishing deals after being listed for popular writing contests, such as the Bridport Prize and the BBC National Short Story Award. Kit de Waal, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Tracy Fells… that’s just off the top of my head! These well-known authors may not have come first in their contests, but the exposure they gained was clearly more than enough.
To spread awareness (and encourage people to enter in the future), many contests out there are active on social media, highlighting their runners-up in addition to their winners. Many of these contests have newsletters as well, which could get your name out to thousands of people around the world.
In any case, if you’ve always been interested in joining a short story competition but needed a push, consider this your sign. With so many contests to choose from throughout 2025, there’s no time like the present to get started!
(c) Savannah Cordova
Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors with resources and professionals to help them write beautiful books. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction, writing short stories, and analyzing literature into the ground.
See here for a list of Writing Competitions on Writing.ie.
