Most writing contests found online are attempts to extract money from writers.
Pay $25 to enter this contest.
Give us your firstborn.
Carve out a small part of your soul.
Bad idea.
So when I find a legitimate contest with actual cash prizes and no entrance fee, I get excited. This appears to be one:
It reads:
_____________________________________
Dear Aliens
A Writing Contest for Humans
WE NEED YOUR HELP.
The aliens are coming. Or at least they told us they were.
They asked us for just one item: a written document from humanity.
This is the only thing they will read before they arrive.
We have no idea what the document should be, so we’re asking you.
Should we share a history of humanity? An introduction to your family? A science fiction story? A description of a sunset? A narrative from your life? A joke?
We’re not sure (yet), but we’d like your help. We’re giving $2,000 USD to the best submission.
Second- and third-place get $250 each.
We’re going old school here. You’ll have to physically mail in your writing, and it needs to reach us before May 15, 2026.
Up for saving humanity? Enter your email, and we will send you the instructions.
_____________________________________
I’ve done some digging and worked with AI to assess the contest’s veracity.
It looks good.
I won’t be entering because my writing time is better spent elsewhere, but if you, your child, your parent, or your colleague has the dream of writing and making money someday, this might be an opportunity to try to make it happen.
Getting paid to make stuff up in your head is pretty remarkable.
My first paid writing gig was writing term papers for classmates in 1988 and 1989.
I earned enough to buy my first car.
In 1997, I earned $50 for the placement of a poem in the now-defunct “Beginnings” magazine.
I still have copies of that magazine today.
Next, I was paid to write reviews for Epinions.com in 1999. Launched during the dotcom bubble, the site paid $50 for an accepted review. I wrote about a dozen in all and earned more than $500 in profits.
In September 2004, I wrote a piece titled “Two Divorces Too Many” for the Hartford Courant. I was paid $200. It was soon syndicated and ran in about two dozen newspapers around the country.
I made no additional income from the syndication.
Then I earned my first real paycheck when I sold “Something Missing” to Doubleday in 2009. That sale paid off our wedding debt and gave us the down payment on the home where we still live.
My career as an author had begun. I’ve since published six novels, three books of nonfiction, and, in January of 2027, my first middle-grade novel.
But remember, it started with being paid $50 to write term papers for classmates.
Writing reviews for a website.
Winning a poetry contest.
Submitting an essay to a local newspaper.
In between those tiny pay days, writing every day without ever missing a day:
Blogging. Essays. Zines. Letters. School assignments. Poems. Emails. Unpublished manuscripts. Half-written novels. Unpublished memoirs. Newsletters.
Anything where I could connect sentences to make meaning.
So maybe you can, too.
Maybe this contest could be your start.
Maybe this could be your first payday, or your first shot at a payday.
If so, good luck.
