I’ve been a judge for a number of different writing contests for young writers and for adults. I’ve even been the prize in a mentorship contest. As a judge, however, each competition is different in what it will ask of you personally—how much time, thought, and perhaps even research you will have to put into it. Some contests are less organized than others. Some are very well organized, such as the Royal Palm Literary Awards (RPLA). Some require in-person, or zoom, meetings for discussion by the judges.
You may think that as a judge you are altruistically giving of yourself to help other writers or organizations. This is a good thing—don’t knock that! But I’m here to tell you that when you judge literary competitions you are also getting a great deal out of it. For one thing it will give you a feel for how your writing stacks up. And I’ve found that if a contest uses specific criteria by which a piece of writing is to be judged I am refreshing myself about the tools of my craft.
How it can work
For most contests entries are anonymous. And, often judging is done via a number system to “grade” the writing. This is helpful because one judge’s opinion is usually not enough to shoot down an entry. There are most often multiple judges for one piece and the scores are totaled or winnowed down and then, sometimes, sent on to a final judge. In some cases, such as large national contests, committees are selected nation-wide. Then the committee must read a number of books and come to an agreed upon winner and any runners-up. For example, with the Newbery or Caldecott awards.
What you get out of it
I get the most out of judging a contest with specific guidelines. This is when I must think about characterization, voice, pacing, dialogue, or the conventions of a specific genre. The Royal Palm Literary Awards sponsored by Florida Writers Association (FWA) provides a very detailed rubric that must be filled out for each entry judged. Not only is it a guide to scoring—it is a reminder, that oh, yes, mechanics are important, following submission guidelines as well. And is the title carrying the load it should? Does it give away too much? It is too obscure? Each item in the rubric reinforces my thinking about my writing.
For example, take the whole issue of settings. Are they clear? Do they reinforce the emotional journey in the story? Do they act as characters? Should they? When I think about setting in someone else’s work, I have to dive into several aspects of setting. And I need to set aside any bias I have about how setting should be used. Sometimes I end up thinking about what I’ve judged for days afterward—in a good way. It is not dissimilar to critiquing a piece of writing in a writing group—except that what needs to be addressed by a judge is spelled out. Nothing vague like, “I liked it” or “It didn’t work for me.”
In addition to helping me with my own writing, judging helps me with my contest entries—here for RPLA, and in other contests I enter around the country.
A little survey
To find out if other judges feel they benefit from judging as I do I put the question out on my social media to writer friends/followers. Some of the responses I got were:
- “ … it gives me sparks. Strengthens my grammar. Makes my plot stronger when I
- see organization in others.”
- “… it continues to help me personally in building discipline. I now think about the category aspects when trying to ground my own writing.”
- “I learn what editors are publishing; I learn more about the current market. What’s working, not working. I apply all that I learn to my current works.”
- “I find reading their [young writers] words and stories teaches me about how they are viewing the world, and, in turn, I can write for them more effectively.”
- “… there are always stories that almost lift themselves out of the pile, and being part of their discovery is as close to magic as I think we can get.”
- “When you read hundreds of entries, you begin to understand an editor’s POV and how quickly they may decide whether a manuscript is promising or not. A great reminder that writers have an instant to grab an editor’s heart and attention.”
- “ … helped me define what matters to me most in poetry and fiction.”
- “I think it gives you a look at the market you don’t get otherwise.”
- “I think it’s a real privilege and honor to judge other people’s work and see how they elevate language and the art of writing.”
Wonderful responses with which I agree wholeheartedly! So, what are you waiting for? I know Florida Writers Association, or another group that you are a member of, would love to hear from you about judging.
Fred M Gray
Thank you, Shutta,
Your article was highly informative and enlightening.
I have a question: do the judges read the whole book or just thirty pages? Or do they read only synopsis?
Best wishes,
Fred
Shutta Crum
Fred; Different contests have different rules. The RPLA has initial judges reading just the first 30 pages. (See RPLA rules: https://fwa.memberclicks.net/assets/RPLA/2025_Adult_RPLA_Entry_Guidelines.pdf .) If that ranks high, it goes to final judges to read the whole thing. For other contests it may be even less pages before an entry is rejected or sent on to a final judge.
Having said that, it is important to remember that if your work does not grab a reader in the first few pages–you’ve lost that reader. So those first pages are extremely important. I know we slave over a rising action, a climax, and just the right denouement. But none of that means anything if your reader puts down the book/work after a few pages because he/she/they just couldn’t get into it. So does it matter whether its 10 pages or 30 on the first read–no. As some of said, you need to grab that reader immediately on the first couple of pages. (Shorter, if writing for young readers!)
Shutta