Should We Hold Another Unofficial Writer Contest?
Should another unofficial writer contest be held and what type of competition would you like to see? Unofficial contests aren’t connected to Triond in any way – but writer-held contests give authors the chance to determine the type of contests they would like to see.
Many authors are aware that I recently held an author contest for the King or Queen of Content. The contest objective was to spotlight the Triond author who had created the article with the highest page views. Now, this contest was not an official Triond contest, but a writer contest designed to help writers to learn from the top achievers.
Part of the objective for the “highest page views” qualifier was to help writers to learn from someone who knows how to get a high number of page views for online content, thus seeing higher revenue.
While many write for the creative satisfaction and submit their work to unpaid markets, others are seeking to earn income from their writing. Writers may start out because of sheer creativity but later decide that they want to get paid for doing that which they love best. Each objective is worthy.
Nelson Doyle won the contest with his article Extreme Music: Top 15 Free Music Websites You Will Want to Visit. In an author interview, Nelson shared his insights about how to gain readers and send traffic to online articles and he discussed factors that make articles popular with Internet readers. I would encourage all aspiring writers to read Nelson’s insights because, as a community, we can learn from a top achiever.
A number of writers expressed interest in seeing more contests and in line with that, this is a call for ideas for future writer contests.
Basically, this article is an author poll, designed to generate ideas for future writer contests. I’m inviting Triond authors to comment with their contest ideas and asking experienced writers/editors to consider holding one of these contests.
What Type of Writer Contest?
- Article Ace–For highest number of published articles at Triond
- Most Popular Author at Triond
- Most Helpful Author at Triond
- Creative Merit
- Poetry Contest
- Best Evergreen Article
- Other
Runners-up and How Many?
- With so many skilled writers at Triond, should recognition be given for the top contenders?
Future Writer Contests
- Should there be a prize?
- Suggestions for a prize (for example, a book about writing)
- Should there be a small entry fee:
- To compensate the writer who takes the time to hold the contest?
- So that the winning author receives a cash bonus?
- To motivate people to write more articles?
- To motivate people to enter writer contests?
Writer contests are exciting, helping us to see what can be accomplished, to chart a forward moving course, and motivating us to reach for even greater heights.
Please comment with your ideas so that we can grow and excel at our craft of creating online content.
Article Resources:
- 10 Proofreading Tips: Polish Your Articles to Near Perfection–Build credibility with well-crafted articles.
- The Five Paragraph Article: Time-Saver for Busy Writers–when time is at a premium, how to create quick articles.
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April 21st, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Yes, we SHOULD DEFINITELY have a/more writing contest(s). I unfortunately was not around when those contests you mentioned came out, but I think that if it were official (e.g., Triond were to actually take initiative on it), then I’d happily enter them.
Helium is a great platform that in my opinion brushes Triond into the shade- it has contests, discussions, debates, marketplace options, and countless other things (also they pay faster and in larger amounts) that frankly make Helium a lot more appealing. If Triond were to follow such an example, I’m sure it’d rise to top worldwide…
We should suggest this to Triond with a 100,000 votes or similar, and they might consider it.
-Fresh Writing
April 21st, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Hi Athlyn
Yes, I’d like to see one for poems with some kind of voting – maybe a 10 day window or one calendar month or something. This would attempt to gauge quality from a shortlist – what do you think?? – revivor
April 21st, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Hi Athlyn,
I thought your contest was a great idea, and I too would love to see you do more of them. It just wouldn’t be the same if someone else held the contest!
I can not come up with any better ideas than you have here. I esp like the first three.
I like the idea that the prize is an interview article done by you. That will only get the author more exposure, and should be prize enough.
However, I would not charge an entry fee. Instead, maybe require all that submit an article for your review to stumble your contest article. Again, this will get you views for your time, but also give those entering more exposure too.
April 21st, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Definitely, but we should leave out the entry fee, please?
April 21st, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I think that we should have more, because it is very helpful for Triond writers.
I’m waiting to see the winner articles
Yours, Gonzalo
April 21st, 2009 at 7:40 pm
How about a contest for the most helpful triond writer? The prize could be a large bold link posting of the winner’s article of their choosing on the contest holder’s blog. I have many people in mind because of all the help they have given me.
April 21st, 2009 at 8:17 pm
If there is another contest I think it should be broken into categories: Poetry, short stories, How To, Top Ten….
Thanks,
Clay
April 21st, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Yes. All of these ideas would be very cool. I also like the idea of one santioned by Triond.
RJ
April 21st, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I’d like to see a contest that is not based on popularity, number of articles, or number of views. I would like a contest based on quality that will help some of us with low numbers get some views and publicity. I like the idea of best evergreen article.
April 21st, 2009 at 9:55 pm
–So many good ideas for another unofficial writer contest or two. It’s great to tap the Triond writer community so that we can shape future contests.
Fresh writing: Be aware that once you publish your stuff at Helium, you cannot remove it from their site.
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:54 am
Some great ideas, I think Clay’s was a good suggestion and Susan’s, it should definitely be on quality …
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Hi Athlyn -
I agree with most of the ideas, suggestions and comments already left by our fellow Triond writers.
There should be no entry fee and no cash prize pool, because we all already make our money from what we publish on Triond. Exposure should be reward enough.
Setup a poll on your blog or website, and then link that poll to your top 10, 25 or 100 handpicked contestants. Run the contest over a 4 week time frame with each week shrinking the top contenders by 25% (1st Week) – 50% (2nd week) – 25% (3rd Week) – 4th Week Poll only shows the top (let’s say) 3 or 5 contenders based on highest votes.
Voting polls do not necessarily capture voting intent such as “Quality” however most people do not vote for poor execution either.
I agree that you should compartmentalize the genres of writing styles, because poets competing against article writers will garner a tremendous difference in results, especially if the contest is rewarded to content with the highest number of views. Different styles of writing should have their own contest, so to keep a level playing field from the start to finish.
God Bless,
Nelson Doyle
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:02 am
Hello Everyone,
Thanks for taking the time to discuss what you would like to see for future unofficial writer contests.
If we hold a contest based on quality of writing, should have a couple of judges (for fairness) or, as Nelson has suggested, polls where others can vote on works they like: and nominate someone as most popular Triond author?
April 24th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I would love to participate in another contest!
April 30th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
All these idea’s sound really good. I am not that great of a writer but it would be fun and intersting to participate.
May 12th, 2009 at 12:21 am
nice idea athlyn…i want to participate! goodluck!