How to Enter (and Win) a PenEarn Writing Competition

Somewhere in Lagos right now, a writer named Ada is staring at a blank page, convinced her story isn't "ready" for a competition. She's wrong — and if you've ever felt the same, so are you. A writing competition is not a stage you climb onto once you're famous; it's the ladder you climb to get there, and PenEarn built one specifically for you.

Let's talk about how to actually enter one, understand how it's judged, and give yourself a real shot at winning.

Why bother entering at all?

Because a competition does three things a quiet publishing schedule can't do on its own.

• It hands you readers. Contests like the Junior Writers Bootcamp (JWB) put a spotlight on entries, so people who'd never have stumbled across your book suddenly do. New readers mean new followers, new comments, and — when they unlock your premium chapters — new earnings that outlast the contest itself.
• It offers prizes. The whole point of a competition is that there's something to win. That reward is a genuine boost, but honestly, the discovery and momentum you gain along the way often matter more for your long game.
• It forces you to finish. A deadline is a beautiful, terrifying thing. Chidi in Enugu has three half-written stories; a competition is what turns one of them into a finished one.

A competition doesn't ask whether you're good enough yet. It asks whether you're brave enough to show up. Those are very different questions.

Step one: find the right competition

Open the competitions area and see what's currently running. You can browse competitions to check what's open, who it's for, and when it closes. Some are open to everyone; others, like JWB, are aimed at younger and student writers who are just finding their voice.

Read the brief slowly, then read it again. Every competition has:

• a theme or prompt you're expected to write toward,
• word-count limits (both a floor and a ceiling — more on that below),
• an entry window with a hard closing date, and
• rules about what counts as an eligible entry.

Don't skim this part. The fastest way to lose is to write a beautiful story that quietly breaks a rule.

Step two: register and enter

The mechanics are simpler than you'd fear. In broad strokes:

1. Sign in to your PenEarn account (or create one first — it's free to start writing).
2. Open your dashboard and create a new book for your entry, or nominate an existing one if the rules allow it.
3. Follow the competition's entry flow to register your book against that contest, so the judges and readers know it's officially in the running.
4. Publish your chapters within the entry window, keeping an eye on the word-count and format rules as you go.

If you're a student, this is your moment to rep your school. When your profile is tied to your school, your wins help put your school's name on the map — and there's real pride in that. If your school isn't set up yet, you (or a teacher) can affiliate your school so your entry flies its flag properly.

Step three: understand how judging works

Here's the part most people get wrong. On PenEarn, competitions are typically judged on two tracks at once, and you need both.

The judging panel

A panel reads for craft: Is the writing clear? Is the story well-structured? Does it actually deliver on the theme? Judges have read a hundred entries by the time they reach yours, so cliché and sloppiness stand out like a torn seam. Panels reward the writer who clearly tried — who edited, who thought about structure, who fit the prompt with intention rather than by accident.

The reader vote

The community also gets a say. Readers discover entries, read them, and vote for the ones that move them. This is where your existing audience — and your ability to rally new readers — genuinely matters.

A word on honesty, because it counts: rally readers to vote, but never buy or fake votes. Ask real people who've genuinely read your story to support it. A pile of hollow votes fools no one for long and can get an entry disqualified — and worse, it robs you of the honest feedback that actually makes you better. Win clean or don't win at all.

Step four: craft an entry that actually wins

Rules and votes aside, this is still a writing competition. The story has to sing. Here's where to spend your energy.

Nail the opening

Judges and readers decide fast. A limp first paragraph is a closed tab. Your first page should raise a question the reader needs answered — drop them into a moment, not a lecture. If Amara opens with her heroine already mid-crisis on a bus out of Kumasi, we lean in. If she opens with three paragraphs of weather, we leave. For a deeper dive, steal every trick you can from first chapter that hooks — this one skill wins more contests than any other.

Fit the theme — genuinely

Panels can smell a story that was written for something else and shoved into the prompt at the last minute. If the theme is "second chances," don't just mention the phrase once and move on. Let it shape a character's choice, the ending, the whole spine. Fit isn't decoration; it's structure.

Polish like your name is on it

Because it is. A few passes make all the difference:

• Read it aloud. Your ear catches clunky sentences your eye skips.
• Cut the throat-clearing. Delete the first paragraph if the real story starts in the second.
• Watch your word count. Under the floor can look thin; over the ceiling can get you cut on a technicality. Respect both.
• Fix the small stuff. Typos and broken grammar tell a judge you didn't care. Caring is free.

A gentle craft suggestion, not a rule: if you're building a longer entry, aim for something like 1,000 words a day so you finish with time to edit rather than scrambling at midnight before the deadline. Editing is where good stories become winning ones.

Build momentum beyond the contest

The readers you attract during a competition are worth keeping. Post consistently, reply to comments, and treat every new follower like they matter — because they do. That same audience is what helps you climb the rankings long after the trophy's been handed out, which keeps your books discoverable and your wallet growing.

A quick pre-submission checklist

Before you hit publish on that final chapter, run down this list:

1. Does my opening hook in the first few lines?
2. Have I genuinely delivered on the theme?
3. Am I inside the word-count floor and ceiling?
4. Have I proofread — out loud — at least once?
5. Is my book correctly registered to the competition?
6. Have I asked real readers to read and vote honestly?

Six yeses and you're ready.

You don't need permission to be a writer worth reading — you need a deadline, a story that means something, and the nerve to enter. Zainab in Nairobi and Kwame in Accra are already sharpening their openings. So go browse competitions, find the one with your name on it, and rep your school like the champion you're about to become. The blank page is waiting, and this time you're going to fill it.