Guest Author - Jordan McCollum

How to Tell if a Poetry Contest is Legitimate
There are so many poetry scams and scam contests out there, and you want to avoid them. Here are ten ways to tell if the contest you’re entering is a scam.

1. Search for the name of the contest with “scam”,. Perform an Internet search for the contest along with the word “scam,” to see if anyone has reported or complained about the contest.


2. Look at who sponsored contest. Was it a literary magazine, a glossy magazine, a carpet company? Does that entity have a legitimate interest in serious poetry?


3. Look at copyright issues. Read the rules carefully to see what rights you keep when you submit your work. If a contest reserves all rights for your work, you may want to avoid it. My personal favorite type of copyright sharing is that they receive a nonexclusive continuing right to publish, and/or first publication rights, while you retain all other rights. Even better—they only get those rights if you win. Otherwise, you retain all rights.


4. Read last year’s winning entries. Honestly evaluate them: is your poetry good enough to compete? If your poetry is so ridiculously better that you simply must laugh, then save your poetry for a more challenging contest.


5. Find out what, if anything, has happened with last year’s winners’ careers. Were the winning entries published and republished? Were any of the winners subsequently published again? Where are all the “non-winning” entries and entrants? Did the contest publish all the entries?


6. Look at the contest rules and guidelines. Even if the contest isn’t a scam, you want to make sure that you meet the eligibility requirements—including rules about the length, subject and form of your poem.


7. Look at the judges: read biographies and works if possible. Research them online—has anyone heard of them? Are they really involved, or is the contest just using their names to get people to trust them?


8. Evaluate the prizes—cash, publication, prizes? Don’t enter a contest for a college scholarship if you have a PhD. However, even if the prize isn’t something you want or can use, if there’s an offer of prominent publication, it could be worth it.


9. What does it cost?. Note that many legitimate contests do charge an entry fee; that criterion alone cannot indicate whether the contest is legitimate. However, look at whether you have to pay to win. Is there a fee to be published? Have other previous entrants had multiple “offers” of pricey little add-ons that really add up?


10. Is it affiliated with a magazine that might publish your work? If so, you might consider sending your poetry in for publication instead. That way, they’ll pay you.


11. Find someone who participated previously. Ask them about their experience. Was it worth it?

Good luck avoiding scams as you enter your works in legitimate contests!