Begin with a bang! Make sure you immediately grab the judges attention in the first paragraph of a piece. If the person doesn't care right off the bat what you have written, most likely they are not going to finish reading. A helpful thing to teach yourself is to read every article or book chapter you can find on openings, beginnings, leads. Then compare yours to what the experts say. This applies equally to fiction and nonfiction. Also, find a few books that you love and see how they opened their paragraph.

 Try to introduce an element of uncertainty or suspense at the beginning. Make the reader wonder how the article or story is going to turn out. You can do this by introducing an unsolved problem or putting the central character into a complicating situation. Too many stories have predictable content and predictable endings. If the reader (or judge) can figure out what's going to happen, then why bother to read the piece?

 Make your characters come alive! Make them talk like real people. Every word of dialogue is important...move the story along.

 Make your story different. That means a different setting or unusual characters or a different plot. If it's cliche get rid of it.

 Think about the length of a story you want to submit. If there is no length restriction or requirement, send a story or article of medium length (1,500 to 3,000 words). Sometime judges feel overwhelmed, especially if they do not have time to read more than 3,000 words. If you have a long story, and really want to submit it, you may want to ask the judge and make sure they don't mind if you enter it. If they do, well, then see if they wouldn't mind reading part of the story. Like a publisher, if it is really good, they will probably want to read the rest of it.

 Theme should stay focused. Make sure your story or article has a clear central theme that you follow throughout the story. You should be able to say, "This article or story is about . . ." and finish the description in one sentence. Get rid of things that don't relate to the theme.

 Follow the contest rules. This seems too basic and simple, but you would be surprised how many people will overlook this. Rules are there for a reason, and if a judge has to wade through a hundred entries, those breaking any rule are easiest to throw out.

 Edit and spell check your item. Watch for spelling errors, grammar, syntax, punctuation, paragraphing, capitalization, etc. Some judges are lenient when it comes to stuff like this, but personally I feel it makes a big difference and will decide if it is a keeper.

Summer Contests:

http://www.writersdigest.com/contests/shortshort/
http://www.fanstory.com/index1contest.jsp
http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/04/nonfictionrules
http://www.familycircle.com/fc/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/fc/story/data/1...
http://resuki.deviantart.com/journal/13447604/
http://www.oncewritten.com/Contests/PoetryContest.php

Contests on Writing.com:

"The Writer's Cramp - Poetry Week" 
"Burn My Letter - Volume 5" 
"Invalid Item" 
"Invalid Item" 
"Invalid Item" 
"Short Shots: Official WDC Contest" 
"Writing Contests @ Writing.Com" 

Most of the contests I selected are reputable, but I cannot guarantee that all contests listed are run responsibly or organized properly by the Contest Administrator.

Until next time...
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