How to Create an Essay Contest Online

Online essay contests allow publishers to call on writers from all over the world to write on a topic of the publisher's choosing. Each essay contest is unique in that it asks a writer to write on a specific topic, following a set of guidelines for the entry. Online essay contests are significant because they gain exposure for the sponsoring organization and provide an outlet for writers looking to get published or make money. Creating an online essay contest can be accomplished in a few simple steps.

Instructions

Instructions

1. Brainstorm a list of potential topics for your essay contest. Go through your list of potential topics and narrow the topics down to the one or two that you're most interested in. Determine how many words--maximum and minimum--that you want the entries to include.

2. Determine who will be sponsoring the online essay contest. Decide on where to host the online essay contest. Choose your personal or organization website if you're hosting the contest. Contact a web designer to create a website for your contest if you don't own one.

3. Obtain funding for your essay contest. Use your own personal funding, or funding from the organization with whom you are affiliated. Determine the amount of prizes, and how much each prize is worth. Writers will be more inclined to participate if they know the chance of reward and amount of reward is significant. Consider charging an entry fee to cover costs of the essay contest and how such fees will be collected.

4. Write the official rules for your essay contest. Review rules of other essay contests from other organizations to see what rules are typical. Write the rules on eligibility, how you'll accept submissions, the submission deadline, who will judge the contest, and when winners will be chosen. Include any other rules, such as payment delivery terms or publication rights, that are important to your essay contest.

5. Ask your webmaster to post the essay contest on the host website. Ask the webmaster to develop an online form to accept submissions online. Collect online submissions, and print them for your convenience. Store the online submissions in a separate folder housed in a safe location. Ask your webmaster to disable the entry form at the end of the submission window.

6. Review the submissions, or pass the submissions on to judges to be reviewed. Publish a list of winners on your website after the judging is completed. Send payment to the winning writers. Publish the essays on your website, if that is included in the terms of the contest.

References

• Sample Writing Contest Rules