I've just read the post about the Wergle Flomp poetry comp and I wondered how you're supposed to figure out which competitions are legit and which are just ways for the organisers to get your details so they can bombard you with advertising. I was considering entering the Academy of Childrens' Writers' children's short story competition, but couldn't find any details on previous winners, which seemed a bit weird. They claim to offer a first prize of £2,000, which made me suspicious too, especially as the entry fee is only £2.70, and they ask for it to be entirely in the form of 2nd class stamps - presumably so they can afford the postage of the junk mail they'll then send you. They also specify that they want your name and address on the entry, which seems unusual. Ah, I think I've answered my own question, but what does everyone else think?
Essential Writers » General writing discussion
Competitions - how do you know if they're legit?
(17 posts)-
Steve
InactivePosted 1 year ago # -
Rebecca Lloyd
InactiveHi Mike,
If you were suspicious of a compo. you might try 'Watercooler' and see if anyone on there has made any comments about it. But on the Academy of Children's Writers' compo., I wasn't particularly suspicious of them, and did enter it. I'll let you know if junk comes my way. But although you put your name on the entry form, you don't on the work itself, so that seems standard enough. As for the stamps - I thought it was an ingenious way of not having to faff around with cheques. I wonder if I'm terribly naive? I promise to let you know if I am. But £2.70 is less than the price of a glass of horrible wine in a rundown pub....
Becca.Posted 1 year ago # -
Rebecca Lloyd
InactiveI've just had a scout about, and I think the chances of them being scammers is higher than 50%. They're very low key and I can't find anything definite, but it did occur to me that they work like this:- they send everyone a letter saying they've been shortlisted and with it an ad. for their courses - and they use the stamps they get from the contestants on these postings! Anyhow, I'll know more later, and keep you updated.
Becca.Posted 1 year ago # -
Steve
InactiveHi Rebecca, what did you find out that made you think they're scammers? Will be v interested to find out if you're right - let me know what happens!
Posted 1 year ago # -
emily
InactiveOoh, interesting stuff! I'm planning to enter as many comps as possible this year and see what happens - I've heard it's a great way to attract the attention of publishers and agents. Suppose that's only true if it's a prestigious competition though. What does everyone else think?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Rebecca Lloyd
InactiveHi Mike,
I just scouted around a few of my online connections and found a few suspicious comments about them, but nothing definite. I'll let you know if I get a 'you've been shortlisted, and now take one of our courses' letter.
Hi Emily,
yes prestigious compos are better, but you also have to weigh up the amount of money you have to give them with your submission. You'll find on Editors and Preditors, [google it], that they think writers' shouldn't have to pay to enter. They're fantastic people providing a brilliant service for writers, but I don't agree with them on this particular matter.Posted 1 year ago # -
Rebecca Lloyd
InactiveWell, I received what I expected to receive from the Academy of Children's Writers which was a letter saying I'd been shortlisted, and having come so close, they suggested I take their course, oh, and I'd get a discount - 'your 'way with words' indicates that with a little effort your natural talent could be developed to enable you to produce work of publication standard.'
They sent an application form for their course in which you enclose a cheque etc.
They gave the names of the first, second and third prize winners, and there is no evidence online anywhere of these people because they are made-up names, I'll bet.
So the competition is a fake and used as a hook to entice people to them so they can persuade them to take the course. The course itself could be genuine, though.
Rebecca.Posted 1 year ago # -
Thanks so much for the update on this, Rebecca. Has anyone else had experiences like this?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Steve
InactiveWow - nice to know how this turned out. Yep, I've had this kind of experience before, which is why I was so suspicious! I entered a poetry competition and was a runner up, which I was chuffed about until I received the anthology (which I had to pay for!), and it was an immense tome containing every entry they'd received! Not my best writing day.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Another thing to watch with on-line competitions - is the prize worth having? I submitted a short story, won the competition and all that happened was my story was on the website for a month, which wasn't worth the cost and also means I now can't submit that story to other competitions which prohibit previous publication. In another competition I won, the prize was to be considered for publication by an independent publisher (gold dust to a new author) but they sat on it for 6 months - always promising to look at it in a few weeks - until I got fed up and withdrew it - and then they answered aqlmost instantly. It was just a waste of my time.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Steve
InactiveI guess what you have to decide is whether the prize or the prestige is worth it. If neither of these is up to much, don't bother. Rebecca, I couldn't find the Watercooler site you mentioned. What's the URL?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Rebecca Lloyd
InactiveMore on the Academy of Children's Writers - I got in contact with someone who has a website with a list of compos. and mentioned the suspicions about the Academy, and he sent me the following, [and said I could use it],
I’ve conducted an investigation into the competition in question, and I agree that there is no proof that any prizes have been awarding recently. I do know of a writer who won a third prize back in 1998 (http://merlinscrystal.co.uk/about.html), so the contest seems to have been okay at that time. But the absence of any publicity-seeking winners in recent times, plus the fact that no winning entries are shown on the website, does make me wonder. However, wondering is not knowing.
The fact that the Academy of Children’s Writers uses a contest to promote its writing courses is not in itself a cause for concern. Every competition is run either to promote something or to make money out of the entry fees. The former type are usually cheaper to enter and might well be preferred by some people. After all, there is no obligation to buy, so as long as the prizes are being awarded, why worry?
But has the Academy been awarding the prizes? There will have been 33 of these since 1998. Not a lot, really. It isn’t inconceivable that the recipients have no websites or blogs through which to boast about their success.
I emailed the Academy and told them there were doubts about the competition, and I asked if they made the winning entries available in any form. Someone responded with a reply that failed to answer the question, saying all entrants are notified of the results in May. I wanted to know if the winning stories would be included in this notification, so I asked. The answer was no. I was told they used to do an anthology but there was no demand for it, so they put the winners on the website instead, only to find that some writers demanded royalties, while others felt that their chances of placing their story with a publisher would be destroyed if it had been made available for all to read on the web. A lame excuse, I thought. I told the person that the norm was for competition promoters to reserve the right to publish winners without further payment, and if there were any genuine concerns about future publication, these would not apply if the stories simply appeared in a privately circulated results newsletter.
The end result of the correspondence was that the person now understood why suspicions had arisen, and the Academy would ‘address the situation with the winners this year’ and make adjustments to the rules for future years, and that they will take the website route as they don’t wish to produce hard copies again.
So all being well we will be able to read this year’s winners on the website. This is the best we can hope for in the way of proof in most literary competitions. Some have a glittering awards ceremony and send out press releases with photos, but the majority don’t. With the latter you just have to take a chance.
Further to the above email, I did a bit more research myself and found a site where the Academy claims that 'every year, about two thousand novice children's writers become sucessful authors.' That would flood the market, wouldn't it!!!
Becca.Posted 7 months ago # -
Steve
InactiveAll sounds highly dodgy to me.
I've also come to realise that there's no point entering competitions with small prizes, little prestige and based miles away. I'm not going to pay £100+ for a trip to Scotland if the prize is only £100... Or does that seem churlish?Posted 6 months ago # -
ninjapirate
InactiveWell! I got back a letter of much the same content from these boyz save for the mention that I reached the top 15% (top 300 out of over 2,000 entrants) and CONGRADULATIONS but you didn't place. And of course a big information pack on the course with a discount voucher of £15. Too bad that it's going to go to waste. They specifically emphasised that they ONLY write to the highest 15% of winners. Also, they mentioned that I would be able to read a copy of the winning story that they would send to me if I contact them 'at the website.'
Posted 3 months ago # -
enigma7
InactiveMy advice re the 'Academy of Children' Writers' - keep well away! I was gullible enough to 'sign up' and ended up contacting the Office of Fair Trading and making my suspicions clear to Mr Roger Dewar, Director? Fortunately, but actually without much argument, I got my money back.
The course work is out of date with the text referring to books which are out of print.
There is no information about the tutors (if there are any!) or their qualifications - if they are legitimate why the secrecy? A friend contacted the Academy and asked about the tutors before joining and got an evasive response.
My first assignment was 'lost'? I received a rude email from Mr Dewar when I queried this, sent when he was 'abroad' via the same email server used by certain Nigerians for their scams!
He charges £3 per entry for the competition - that adds up to a lot of money and what happens to all those stories that writers have entered in good faith!
Again, I foolishly ignored my gut feeling, as when I enrolled by telephone I thought he didn't sound 'quite right'.
The website is very cleverly designed but no information whatsoever about Mr Dewar, any tutors, any winners - again why not if all above board?
DO NOT enter any competitions and send ANY money or your valuable writing unless you have thoroughly researched the establishment running them.
I have learnt the hard way and I hope this saves others from making the same mistake!
Posted 3 months ago # -
Anonymous
UnregisteredI am wary of this sort of publishing as a rule. Unless you can verify their intentions with your manuscript, or have legal safeguards for the use of your manuscript after you’ve submitted it, I would stay away. Many of these operations are vanity publishing schemes, and are not well run. True, many of them have good intentions, too. But often such contests are tactics for building up subscriptions or email distribution lists, ways to raise interest in sagging readership of a given site. Enter a contest, and get spammed thereafter.
===============Posted 3 months ago # -
Rebecca Lloyd
InactiveI could find no evidence of the existence of the winner, second and third for this year's competition, and I found this in a newspaper:-
Sheringham Independent, issue 289, 3rd April 2010
Readers LettersA letter in your last issue from Carol Gardiner suggests in no uncertain terms that our Annual Competition that you kindly promoted was a scam. It does not appear that Ms Gardiner has ever entered our Annual Competition although she mentions that she entered a poetry competition some three years ago. I would point out that we do not run an annual poetry competition nor do we publish poetry books or any other books.
We have been running our Annual Write a Story for Children Competition for the past 25 years and have awarded over £60,000 in prize money to aspiring authors during this period. The main business of The Academy of Children's Writers is the operation of a Distance Learning Course in 'Writing for the Children's Book Market' and the competition is a way of putting something back into the market by encouraging would be authors. I would be most grateful if you could bring this to the attention of Ms Gardiner and your readers who might be dissuaded from entering the competition and winning £2,000.
Yours sincerely, Roger Dewar, DirectorPosted 1 month ago #
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