Once in a while, school, college and higher college students get the opportunity to present their writing skills to good use. Essay contest organizers offer a motive to write a good essay because writing a good essay for the contest can bring prizes. But essay writing contests also bring Tough competition. So how you can win an essay writing contest? There is no any magic formula that you will win, but there are some steps you can take to make sure your entry gets a read and stands a good chance of receiving a good reply from the judges. In this article we are going to discuss some of the effective methods that you can improve your writing skill to win an essay writing contest. Essay contests are the way to turn your creativity and your style of the writing into great prizes. But how do you give your perfect essay that gets it picked from among all of the other entries?
Here is a step by step guide to write good essay. Follow the following steps for your best chances of winning writing an essay contests.
Read the submission rules:
Different contests have a number of different rules that you have to follow. Your essay will not make it to judging if you do not follow the rules of the contest. Initially, make sure you know the deadline of the contest and the submission method. If the organization does not able to accept electronic submissions, for example, emailing will not win you a prize.
Similarly another one, be sure that you have read the rules for the formatting of the essay and the topic of the contest. Your essay must be relates to the required topic for the essay contest. If the essay is on why you love a particular thing and you write about their competitor, you will not win. This also applies to length of the essay. You may feel that you need 200 extra words to do justice to your opinion on particular topic, but if the hard requirement of words is no more than 800 words, you better come in under 800 words if you expect to win. Give yourself the better start by confirming all the rules before you begin writing.
Pay special attention to:
- The contest’s start and closing dates.
- How often you’re allowed to enter.
- The word or character count.
- The contest’s theme.
It will help you to create an outline of the contest rules and note down the important elements and keep them close at the time of writing.
Brainstorm Your Essay Ideas:
Most of the competitor in the essay contest want to direct jump into writing their contest entries but it is a best idea, to take some time to manipulate different ideas related to the contest. Often-times, your first impulse is not your best.
“Delete weaker ideas or make weaker ideas stronger. Choose the only the best and most unique topics of discussion for your essay while deleting off-topic ideas. Or, create a new topic that you might have left out that fits with others.”
For an effective brainstorming session, find a disturbance-free area with a pen and paper. A warm healthy snack might give you energy to take right words in your process. Then, think about your contest topic and write down quick words and compare that are suitable to your theme.
This is not the time to make polish your ideas or try to write them out coherently. Just capture some of the ideas that, you know what you meant, when could you review your results.
Consider different things that you can make the contest theme personal like come up with a different angle. How you can make your ideas surprising and unexpected?Write all of your ideas, and don’t judge them yet.
Use a Good lines to grab the Reader’s Attention:
After finishing brainstorming, look over all of your ideas which you have put down, to pick the one you want to express for your essay contest entry.
When it’s time to start your writing for the contest, remember that the first line of paragraph is the most important of all. If you want to make your first paragraph grabs the reader’s attention then start with powerful sentence.
When you start with a powerful first sentence, you grab your readers’ interest and stick in their memory when it is time to pick winners.
Write the First Draft of Your Essay
Now it’s timeto get all of your thoughts which you had think and start to write down on paper. Remember that, this is your first draft, so don’t worry about correct grammar or if you are crossing your word count.
Instead that, focus on whether your writing is hitting the right emotional notes and how your story comes across and whether you are using the right voice in writing.First drafts are most important because, they help you overcome your feelings to write. You are not trying to be good yet, you aresimply trying to tell your story.
Be true to yourself
Most of the essay organizations are looking forward for the writer to share something about themselves. When you work on a particular essay topic then you need to think about how you can convey something about yourself and your feelings without going overboard. Try to write simply and clearly and explain your feelings. The goal should be to move the reader with your story rather than tooverboard.
Revise Your Essay for Flow and Organization
Once you have completed the first draft of your essay then look over it to ensure that it flows smoothly. Is it your points well-made and clear? This is also the time to cut out extraneous words and make sure that you have come in under the word count limit given by organization, which will generally improve your writing skill.
In the book of “Stephen King’s” On Writing the King writes that, He once received a rejection that read “Formula for success/ 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%.” In other words the first draft may always use some idea to make the best parts shine.
If you had like some tips on how to improve your first draft, check out the tips about how to self-edit.
Keep an Eye Out for “Red Mittens”
Terry Ryan in her book, “The Prize Winner of Defiance” Ohio talked about how her mother Evelyn used “red mittens” to help her be more successful with contest entries.
As she put it:
“The main purpose of the Red Mitten was almost self-explanatory andit made an entry stand from the rest. In a basket of “mittens” a red one will be noticed.”
Evelyn Ryan used rhyme, alliteration, inner rhyme, puns, and coined words were some of the red mittens that to make her entries pop.
While Evelyn Ryan entered jingle contests then you can use the “red mitten” concept to make your essay contest entry different from others. Your essay’s red mitten might be a play on words and a dash of humor on the judges’ minds.
If your first draft is feeling a little bland then consider, whether you can add a red mitten to spice up your story.
Put Your Contest Entry Aside
Now that you have a fairly polished your first draft of essay then put it aside from you and don’t look at it for a little while. If you have time before the contest ends then put your essay away from you for at least a week. Let your mind mull over the idea subconsciously related to the contest for a little while.
Many times, people think of exactly what their essay needs to make it perfect,after they have hit the submit button of the contest.
Letting your entry simmer in your mind for a while after some time it gives you the idea to come up with these great ideas of entry before it’s too late.
Revise Your Essay Contest Entry Again
Now, it’s time to put the final draft of your essay. Have you said everything you wanted to? Have you made your point? Does the essay sounds good, when you read it out loud? Can you make up the prose of the essay by making additional cuts in the word count? Revise these points and make final look of essay.
In this phase, it helps to ensure the help of your friends or your family members. Read your essay in front of them and check their reactions. Did they smile at the right parts? Were they confused by anything? Did they connect or feel with the idea behind the story?
This is a good time to ensure that, you have not made any spelling or grammar mistakes. A various online grammar checker software’s are available to check grammar mistakes made by you for example Grammarly is very helpful for catching those silly mistakes your eyes gloss over. But since even computer programs make sometimes mistakes so it’s helpful to have another person like a good friend or family member read it through before you submit.
Read the“Contest Rules” One Last Time
If you have been following these directions then you have already read through the essay contest rules carefully. But now that you have written your draft and had some time to think things over then read them through one more time to make sure you have not overlooked anything apart from the rules given by organization.
Finally go through your checklist of the essay requirements point by point with your completed essay in front of you, to make sure you have hit them all. Whenever you feel your essay is good for submit to your contest then submit the essay by following contest rules and keep your fingers crossed for the results!
“Be the change if you wish to see in the world”
-MasiddKhalate (Author)
