Writing has always been one of my passions and it is something that I plan to focus on when in college. That being said, I have no major awards for creative writing. My family cannot afford the fees for entering a lot of competitions, which has been a major factor. In addition to that, I’ve always felt kind of uncomfortable submitting creative writing pieces to be judged and compared to other people’s work because I feel like it’s difficult/not right to rank the quality of creativity of a piece bc that really differs between who reads it. That being said, I’ve just recently realized that my moral qualms about these competitions has probably negatively affected my application in that I don’t have a lot to show for achievements when it comes to writing. I have started my own satirical magazine and I was selected to be a columnist at a local newspaper my senior year- yet I have no awards. Is this going to be a major red flag on my application? Thanks so much!
No, it sounds like you’ve proven your writing drive and accomplishments without awards through the magazine and newspaper. No “major red flags” in this post.
^ Agreed!
However, this:
…may be something you need to get over if you ever want to publish your writing anywhere. Speaking as a writer to a writer.
Hello, fellow writer here!! You and i are in the exact same boat. I havent won any awards either, and ive only submitted to 3 in my whole life. Yet, ive still found ways to succeed. Im club officer of my schools creative writing club, and editor in chief of our schools literary magazine.
I dont think you have to worry abour having no awards–im not really worried about it. The fact that you were selected to be a colmunist at your local newspaper is a great accomplishment of its own.
Just make sure you write abour your passion of writing in your essays to get your point across. Thats what im doing!
Good luck!!
@bodangles Sorry I think I misworded what I was trying to communicate; I’m not afraid of rejection per-say but I just see writing contests as kind of arbitrary. I remember I wrote a creative piece for my English class that was my own interpretation/spin-off of Hell, loosely based off of Sartre’s “No Exit”. I didn’t think it was amazing or anything, but my English teacher really liked it and encouraged me to do some small editing and submit it to a creative writing contest! In the end, I was really proud of the piece and submitted it to a local writing contest in the HS where the theme was “Imagine” or “Dream”, I can’t remember. I ended up losing to something about clouds and was told by one of the judges that whatever I wrote was “really good, but too dark”. Regardless of whether or not the other story was better, which it probably was, ever since then I’ve just been kind of discouraged and refrained from really submitting anything, haha.
You will be judged based on what you do not what you did not do
Can I offer you another perspective from someone who has won a couple of awards - minor, but national - for writing?
Every time I’ve oh-so-casually dropped my award-winning status into a conversation (usually in response to “hey, did that writing thing ever go anywhere for you?”) all I’ve received is blank looks. Sometimes they ask me to explain just what the prize was for, and from whom, with the same indulgence they’d show a child giddy about some imaginary game. More often than not, I get the tight smile reserved for occasions when you’re slightly embarrassed on someone else’s behalf.
Unless you’re talking about the Pulitzer or something…nobody cares. Most people - even the literate, educated types that make up University Admissions Committees - have never heard of whatever award you may or may not win. Go ask a dozen people on the street to name a single winner of an Edgar or Rita award, or what the Pushcart or Booker prize is. Reel in amazement as they tentatively suggest “hockey?”
Your writing is about a relationship you’re trying to establish with your audience. If you think it helps your application, then let the writing do that for you. Unless you’ve got a NYT bestseller, no award is going to impress anyone much anyway.
Being selected as a columnist at a local newspaper is a very good achievement so I wouldn’t worry about awards. But just for anyone reading this, it only costs $5 to enter a piece in the Scholastic competition, which should be affordable to most people.