Anonymous left the following question on this post.

You said that you were judging a contest? What criteria do you use to decide to give a person a high score?

I’m about to judge another contest, and I recalled that I never answered this question. I usually give a person a high score when I’m mesmerized by the entry so much, that I feel like I’m reading a book instead of a contest entry. When I judge contests, I notice that a great majority of the entries read as if it’s somebody “trying” to write a book. When I lose myself in the reading of the words, wanting the story to go on past the pages provided by the entrant, that’s when I know they’ve done a good job. Usually, when I give somebody a high score, I feel as if the entry belongs on a bookshelf, so that others can enjoy it.

I rarely give high scores on contest entries – usually the stories need a lot of work before they’re up to publication standards…at least they do in my opinion!

Hope my explanation helps!

Do you have any questions about contests or how to commercially publish your novel? Feel free to email me or leave a comment with your question and I’ll answer it sometime in the future!

~Cecelia Dowdy~