What are judges looking for when reading through short story contest entries?
How can you receive the highest possible score and get a chance to mount the podium come winner announcements?
Read on and find out!
In this post I address the judging criteria used in most short story contests, as reiterated to me during a recent workshop I attended. I've been a judge for a short story competition, The Writer's Games, and have put these judging criteria to good use. Follow these guidelines for a chance to catapult your entry to the top!
There are eight technical/mechanical criteria that judges look at when scoring short story entries, with each category receiving a score from 1-10, 10 being the highest. Judges start at 7, and dock or add points with every positive or negative attribute.
Let's look at the eight categories:
Formatting
Language
Form/Pacing
Theme/Story
Opening Hook
Character/Subject
Voice/Dialogue
Originality
Let's break each down, examining what they are and why they're important.
Formatting
This is the most important of all the criteria—if you don't have your manuscript formatted to the contest's specifications, most likely, your entry won't even be read.
Formatting may mean font, spacing, whether or not to title your entry, but it usually includes punctuation, spelling, grammar, and syntax. If there are a lot of spelling errors in your story or your syntax is inconsistent, your original score of 7 will be significantly lowered. Remember to spell check and to have friends read and edit your entry.
Language
Word choice and vocabulary are scrutinized under this category. Judges are looking for colorful and evocative word choice, as well as vocabulary that is appropriate to the subjects, style, and characters of your story.
Form/Pacing
This is in regard to the sentence length and paragraph breaks, as well as the pacing of your story. Your story should flow from sentence to sentence, scene to scene, never stagnate or plod. Use your sentence lengths to increase the pace by adding shorter, staccato sentences. Slow the pace down by using longer, more descriptive sentences. Always keep your pace and sentence length cohesive with your story and plot.
Theme/Story
Do you highlight your chosen theme in interesting and intriguing ways? Do you even have a theme? Theme could simply mean the category of your story, ie., mystery, thriller, romance, etc. If you submit a story under a theme header, make sure you submit it correctly. If you submit a story that is mostly romance into a thriller category, your points for "theme" will drop.
Opening Hook
Your opening sentence is hugely important! It can mean the difference between a judge skimming through your story or jumping right in; hook a reader from the get-go, and that reader will enter your story's world willingly and enthusiastically. If you don't (and I've experienced this firsthand) judges have a tendency to float through your story, without interest or curiosity. Capture your reader's attention and don't let go—while clearly defining the focus of your story, with a great opening sentence. Revise, revise, revise until that sentence is perfect; it's your story's first impression—make it a good one!
Characters/Subject
Readers want to become invested in characters. In order to make it easy for judges to do so, make sure your characters are credible, well-developed, and appropriate to your genre. If you're writing a western, make sure your characters speak and act like they're in a western. Don't make bad guys simply bad, make them justifiably evil. The same goes for your hero: make them believable, give them flaws. Even in a short story format, it's possible—and necessary—to inject a lot of "character" into your characters.
Voice/Dialogue
Judges want the voice of the narrator/author and the characters to be clear, unique, and appropriate to the genre. The point of view must be clear—no head hopping—and consistent. Make your dialogue pop; keep it short and to the point, as much like real-life dialogue as you can. People don't normally pontificate or say just the right things all of the time; keep it real and it will make for seamless reading.
Originality
Don't write a story that's been done to death. Judges want fresh, unique takes on life, both real and imaginary. Everybody sees life differently, capitalize on that by making your writing style original, unique to you. Find your voice and put your stamp on it. Or, write a story that hasn't been written before, in a world that has yet to be explored. Whatever you do, make it interesting and unique.
There you have it, the eight criteria that judges look at when judging short story competitions. These also apply to readers for literary journals, so follow these guidelines for pieces you send into publications, and you'll have a better shot of your story being accepted.
Comment below and receive a free short story evaluation! As a holiday gift, the first two people to comment to this post will be granted the opportunity to have a short story of their choice evaluated by me, following the judging criteria covered in this post.
Simply post a comment, or DM me through Instagram and refer to this blog post, and receive your free evaluation!
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