Winning Writers Website Review

It's been a while since I have done one of these, but I was reading the recent Winning Writers newsletter and I knew that this solid contest resource was due for a review.


Winning Writers is a contest database type site. If you subscribe, which will give you a user name and password, you will get access to a ton of poetry and prose contests.  Many of them are free.

Here's the overview from their website:

Winning Writers finds and creates quality resources for poets and writers. It was founded by Jendi Reiter and Adam Cohen in 2001. We are located in Western Massachusetts. Winning Writers is proud to be one of "101 Best Writing Websites" (Writer's Digest, 2005-2013) and a recipient of the Truly Useful Site Award (Preditors & Editors, March 2006).

We sponsor four annual contests: the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee), the Sports Fiction & Essay Contest, the Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest and the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. You may read the winning entries from our past War Poetry Contest here. 

Sign up for our free email newsletter and receive monthly news about the best free literary contests and resources. Follow us on Twitter.

My favorite parts of Winning Writers

• The newsletter.  This thing is a beast. It contains upcoming contest deadlines, announcements of other members who have had recent contest or publishing success, and samples of former winning writings from contest sponsors.
• They provide recommendations with their contests.  They will label contests "recommended" or "neutral".  This is helpful if you are trying to prioritize your writing.
• The focus on free contests.  Not much to say here, other than this is one of my go to places when I look for a free contest.

My criticisms of Winning Writers

• The newsletter is a beast.  I know I listed this as a favorite, but that's because of the content.  You also get a lot of bulk in there.  There are lots of sponsor ads and large graphics. 
• They seem to be slightly more poetry oriented.  This may not be a bad thing if you are a poet.  If you are a prose writer, it reminds me of having to walk through the entire retail store just to find a pair of socks.

Overall, I think Winning Writers has a good thing going on.  If you want to get serious about writing contests, subscribing to Winning Writers is imperative.