Writers, do you want to win that writing contest? Want to land that publishing contract? Sign up for Write to Win!, a one-day boot camp to improve your fiction or creative non-fiction contest entry. Writescape’s Ruth E. Walker and Dorothea Helms (aka The Writing Fairy) share their tried-and-true tips and techniques for boosting your submission’s chances.

And these experienced facilitators know what they’re talking about. Canadian Living gave Ruth’s first fiction submission first prize in their 1996 short story contest. Since then, her fiction, poetry and non-fiction has been published in Canada, the UK and the US. The Professional Writers’ Association of Canada named Dorothea the inaugural winner of the Barbara Novak Award for Excellence in Humour and/or Personal Essay Writing in 2005, just one of many awards and accolades she’s gathered.

And, bonus!—these seasoned contest-winners have not only won writing competitions, they have also judged and even administered contests. They’ll show you how to avoid the common mistakes that can knock your entry out of the running—sometimes even before it is read.

Bring the first page of work you hope to submit to an upcoming competition. Through a combination of lecture, demonstration and exercises, you’ll tune up your entry. Then, you’ll put it to the Write to Win! test—will it make it past the first reading?

Preregistration is required.