Essay contests can be a great way to earn scholarships and other fun rewards for your efforts! Even if you do not consider yourself gifted at writing, you can still find ways to achieve your goals and win that essay contest. You might even decide on purchasing essays, as this can improve the quality of your contest submission! Regardless of your essay topic, here are five tips to help you win the contest and earn your reward.
Pick Your Essay Contest and Read the Rules
The first step to winning an essay contest is to make sure you choose the correct essay contest to enter. This can depend on your experience, expertise, or even a topic you feel more comfortable writing about. Depending on the contest, you can choose your topic and make it something you are comfortable writing about.
For instance, you might feel more comfortable writing about a personal experience from your childhood and how it shaped you rather than writing about a research topic that would require more effort on your part. No matter the topic that you choose, you have to make sure you are comfortable with it and feel confident producing a great piece of writing on the topic!
Once you have picked your essay contest, you need to make sure that you read the rules. If you miss one detail, this can make a significant difference in whether you win the contest. You must make sure that you adhere to everything they mentioned, including the start and closing dates.
Here are some other considerations you consider making sure that you follow the rules and have a chance to win the essay contest properly:
- How often you can enter
- The word or character count
- The criteria the judges are looking for
- The starting and ending date
- Where to submit your content to
- What topics are allowed for submission
If you make sure that you follow the rules and that you note the starting date for the contest, you’ll be able to make a difference in your chances of winning truly.
Pick the Right Essay Idea
As mentioned, once you choose the correct essay contest, you need to make sure that you select the right essay idea. There are often several different choices for you to choose from when you enter an essay contest. Part of the joy of entering its essay contests is that you get to write about what you feel most comfortable about.
The best way to prepare for the essay contest is to brainstorm the ideas that you feel more comfortable writing about and ones that align with the rules and regulations of this essay contest.
Brainstorming can help you choose the best ideas and weed out the weaker ones. This is truly a great decision and one of the many ways people can polish their ideas before they even put their pen to the paper to write the finished product.
Get Your Reader’s Attention and Make It Interesting
Once you have picked the right idea for your essay, you need to make sure that your article is exciting and gets the reader’s attention from the start. The best way to do this is to get a powerful hook for your essay. From the very beginning, you can hook your reader in with emotional, descriptive, or even whimsical visions of what your idea topic is.
Try to think of your essay as a good book. You want to make sure that the readers enjoy it, and from the very start, you want to give them a reason to continue and finish your essay. It will also really give off the right impression to the judges, which will be vital if you want to win this essay contest.
Revise, Edit, and Enlist Outside Help
You should never turn in the first draft of your essay for the contest, but you should always focus on editing and revising beforehand. Many polished and recognizably excellent writers have always said the same thing: your first draft will never be the best, which is why you always give every draft at least one or two rounds of edits.
This will help you polish off your topic, make a great impression, and ensure that your essay is truly seamless. If you find yourself in a bit of a struggle with editing, try enlisting the help of a friend or family member. These individuals can help read over and see if your essay makes sense and help you with generic grammar, spelling, or even content concerns.
Find Outside Help for Your Essay Editing
If you really would like to, you can also seek out an academic professional, such as a teacher or professor of yours. Either way, getting another pair of eyes to look at your essay is another excellent decision that you can make to ensure that your essay will be the best it can be!
One of the best ways to do this is to find a service for purchasing essays. This is a great solution, and you can get some help from a professional writer with editing your paper. So while you might not need an entire essay produced by another academic, you can take advantage of their editing services to perfect your contest entry!
Submit Your Essay Before the Deadline
The final tip is to be sure to submit your essay before the deadline. Otherwise, you won’t even have a chance to win! This is why finding out the rules and regulations beforehand is a great solution, because then you can be prepared for anything that arises.
This will help you significantly make sure that you have a chance to win this contest and that your essay is genuinely ready, and you have enough time to prepare. Some essay contests last only a matter of weeks, while others last months.
So if you start very early with preparation and turn in early, you’ll be able to rest easy. In addition, you won’t have to worry about hurrying at the last minute to ensure that you get any extra entries that you might want if your contest allows it.
Conclusion
Winning an essay contest is not too difficult, but you need to make sure you have the right topic and that you’re fully prepared for anything that might arise before submitting your entry. With these five tips, you can really increase your chances and hopefully win a scholarship or two before you embark on your college journey or even win a monetary award!