Contest Submission

So I want to submit a story to a contest, so I think that means I can't publish it anywhere, even online, so I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me some really brutally honest and critical feedback? I really would like to do well, so I want some constructive criticism, but I can't just post it.

Thank you!

Well, as long as the rules clearly state that you cannot post your work online, then you cannot. Every contest will have rules, so I suggest you look over them, and even ask the judges if it's okay for you to post it online.

There are many reasons you wouldn't be able to publish it online. One is our reviews and feedback could be considered cheating, if it's a contest you must do on your own. Another is that the judges might assume that you copied the work off of someone else, therefore committing plagiarism. Do you see how ugly this could get?

I highly recommend you look over the rules once more, and explain this to your judges or whomever it is who knows most of the rules. I'd hate to see you get disqualified or something.

I'd love to help, if you can hopefully get permission to publish this online! Cheers.~

Well, it does say that I can't publish it anywhere else, but I meant maybe it could email a draft of it to someone if they'd be willing to review it for me anyway. I think the point of not publishing it is because if I win, they'll publish it in their magazine, but they can't do that if it's published somewhere else. But I'm nervous and would like some feedback.

Does that make sense?

PMing is fine. They'll likely google the work to make sure it's not up anywhere (because, as this article states, most websites do take your first publishing rights), but PMs don't show up on any index. Therefore, not cheating.

Are they really, really strict about it that they'd check if the story is posted in the internet somewhere? Harsh. Well, anyways, I think posting it here isn't cheating. I mean, you can post a rough draft here in YWS to be reviewed. Then after you got 'em reviews, read them, edit your work, copy it in your PC and delete the work you posted here! I mean, you'll submit your final work to the contest right? Well, you didn't exactly publish your final work here, just a rough draft. And then you'll delete it. So no evidence...

But seriously, it's your decision, I think that ^ is pretty risky, too, since the rules are very strict. The PM is really the way to go if you're not sure about it

Thanks guys!