Why do we enter contests? In most cases it is for substantial financial gain. The Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, for one, promises rewards and emotion-laden publicly televised winners.
When it comes to literary contests, that is not the case. In fact, most literary contests on average offer small financial compensation and recognition only within a small community of the artistically interested.
Therefore, if you are graced with the epithet ‘Honorable Mention’, consider yourself a winner. Consider the phrase itself. Out of the countless contest entrants, you deserved a Mention. And not only that but an Honorable one.
You may not receive a plaque or certificate as the winners. You will more than likely receive nothing in terms of financial compensation. But your work was of an ilk deserving of some kind of recognition.
In the gigantic world of publishing, traditional and electronic, the vast array of literary agents and editors, the enormous worldwide counting of scribes both of fiction and non-fiction and poetry and essay and memoir, consider yourself worthy if you receive an Honorable Mention.
You may not be standing on the podium but you have elevated yourself above the crowd.
Honorable Mention
January 5, 2011 at 11:24 am (Writing)
Tags: fiction, literary contests, memoir, non-fiction, poetry, Writing
