This week: A Skewed View of the Official Contests Edited by: 🐕GeminiGem🎁  
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Hey! I am 🐕GeminiGem🎁 , one of the regular editors of the Contest & Activities Newsletter. |
A Skewed View of the Official Contests
know you've seen 'em. Those official Writing.Com contests, that is. You know, the ones with the ridiculously large prizes? You may have entered one once, maybe you have entered with some regularity, or maybe you haven't gotten around to it (but I know you totally meant to). Here's a slightly haywire accounting of the process.
First, here are the official contests, in no particular order. Okay, fine. Whatever. They're in alphabetical order.
You may or may not know this, but we all owe kudos to Jeff  for coordinating these contests. He is the guy who puts everything together like it's no big thang. How does he do it? No idea. Wild rumors are circulating among the moderators (mostly started by me) on what may be involved.
Here are the working theories:
1) He makes decisions using a haunted ring toss with The Great Ring of Power while blindfolded with thrifted elbow-length formal evening gloves,
2) He draws ideas out of an old, suspiciously stained Dodgers cap previously owned by Larry the Garden Gnome with a sketchy past and a penchant for betting on illegal weiner-dog races,
3) He consults Tarot cards behind a Dollar Tree store with the ghost of an Asian-Canadian Gypsy woman named Knot Mee, Jr., who freelances for the online publication DIY Black Magic.
He has historically been quite tight-lipped about the whole process. There are a few things I can share with you, however.
It takes three mod/senior mods to judge each contest round. Each judge reads, judges, and ranks ALL the entries for their assigned contest round. There could be as few as ten or as many as 20-25 entries. Each entry gets a review from each judge. That can be a whole lotta reviewing in a few short weeks. And now you officially know why it takes so dang long to hear about the contest winners.
But wait, there's more!
After the mods submit the rankings on the entries, Jeff uses a mathematical formula to decide who takes first, second, and third places in the contest. Okay, fine, he utilizes numerology, but you didn't hear that from me.
After the winners are determined and announced, first place gets ONE MILLION gift points, second place gets 500,000 GPs, and third place gets 250,000 GPs. All three winners also get an exclusive merit badge, both the virtual and physical versions.
The mods take this task very seriously. At the very least, we are required to use our serious faces while we work on the judging process. I've never discovered how Jeff knows if the mods are compliant with this rule, and I'm not sure I want to know. I'm hoping that he uses the temperamental shaving mirror that doubles as a scrying glass found at a Tijuana flea market during his last jaunt down to Mexico. Just in case, though, I am going to cover my laptop camera with a Band-Aid. I'm for following the rules and all, but electronic spying would just be too weird.
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Official WdC Contest running in August 2025:
Some other contests, challenges, and activities to check out:
Find all of these and many more:
| | Contest Clues (E)
List of WdC Writing Contests, Challenges, Activities. Clues To What's Open, What's Closed!
#2221492 by 🐕GeminiGem🎁 |
For support of our contests & activities:
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
Feedback from my last Contest & Activities Newsletter "Getting My Act Together"
from Dawn Embers 
Thank you for the reminder on the place to get help for contests. Though I would say the biggest issue I have is just getting entries. That is a challenge nearly all of the time. Trying to figure out ways to mix things up to get people submitting stories.
I absolutely agree that finding entrants is one of the biggest challenges. That is why one of the things a contest/activity owner can request is help with advertising and getting the word out. |
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Contests & Activities: August 06, 2025 Issue [#13281]
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