First, my credentials. Well, like others on this site, I'm a compulsive writer. My media are short stories and poetry, which means the likelihood of my ever getting enough money from my art to give up the day job and concentrate solely on my writing is virtually nil. I've got some publication credits to my name in the small press, though, and have been a prize winner a few times in the last couple of years in the "pay-to-play" arena. This year, for the first time, I'm doing a stint as a competition judge, which gives me a chance to look at the field as both poacher and gamekeeper. The following comments are drawn from my experience as both contestant and judge.

First of all, why do creative writing competitions matter? The bottom line is that they matter because they're the lifeblood of many of the writers' circles and independent literary publications without whom a lot of up-and-coming writers wouldn't have an outlet for their creativity. Reputable creative writing competitions aren't there to make a profit. Once prize money has been paid out, and (usually) the magazine or anthology published, any surplus funds are ploughed back into the organisation. For a writers' circle this means the chance to run workshops, invite guest speakers and produce their own publications. For the small presses, it can make the difference between financial viability or closure. Supporting a reputable creative writing competition is supporting the literary scene, locally and nationally.

People enter creative writing competitions because they want to win. Fair enough. But for most writers who are developing their art, there's another important reason to enter: the CV. We've all heard the cries of "Get an agent" when established writers are asked to offer their wisdom to those following in their footsteps; but most agents won't look twice at you unless you can offer them a concrete reason to do so. Which sounds more impressive: "My Mum really likes my short stories", or "I've been First Prize Winner in the 2005 Smethwick International Short Story Competition"? (apologies to any storytellers in Smethwick for the fictional example, but you see what I mean?). Along with publication in the small press, competition success is a demonstration to a would-be publisher or agent that you are serious about your writing and that it commands at least a small degree of critical respect. The more competition success, the more impressive your CV. Be warned that even this kind of success (unless it's Bridport) is not going to guarantee you anything; but it can make the difference between your manuscript getting a second look and it going straight in the recycling bin.

A second good reason to enter competitions is because it instils discipline. On the principle that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, it's never enough simply to bash out a great idea for a story or poem, send it off and hope it will do the job. As a competition judge I've seen a lot of manuscripts where the ideas might be good, but the execution is shoddy beyond belief. Repeated spelling mistakes or misplaced apostrophes, plots which fail to stay true to themselves or which get rewritten halfway through, rhyming poems with careless or inappropriate verse structures, and typographical errors are the sort of thing most writers would be embarrassed to let a potential publisher or agent see. But it's amazing how easily they can creep in. To put it bluntly, they can ruin a manuscript. Entering competitions is good discipline because it gets writers into the habit of re-reading, reviewing and editing their work so that it's ready for submission. If you get used to preparing your manuscripts properly for the Smethwick International Short Story Competition every year, by the time you're ready to send a manuscript or an anthology to a serious publishing house or an agent, the process of manuscript preparation will be second nature.

Now to the downside of pay-to-play competitions. And there are a few. The most obvious one is that you have to part with money to do it. This is all very well for the idle rich, but for the genuine artist, scribbling away in a garret and living on baked potatoes and soup, it's a problem.

Sadly, for all the reasons mentioned above, the "pay" element is a necessary evil of these things. For the majority of us who are on a budget, that means we have to make our money work for us. Be selective in targeting the competitions where your work stands the best chance. Be realistic: the entry fees for the Bridport Prize are large (comparably), and unless you have some sort of objective reason to think you're in with a good chance of winning the Bridport Prize, or phenomenal amounts of self-belief, it's probably not worth throwing your money that way the first time you enter a competition.

Competitions run by the local writers' circles or the small presses tend to have less of a high profile, and lower entry fees, than the major literary prizes. Not only does it cost you less to enter, but you stand a more realistic chance of reaching the shortlist. The small competitions may not be as prestigious as Bridport, but they're still an addition to your CV if you make the shortlist. By doing a few of these, you'll be preparing yourself for bigger and better things as your experience and confidence increases. There are even a few competitions out there which are free to enter. Prizes are often modest (one to which I regularly contribute offers a £20 book token every couple of months), but they're still Actual Prizes, and points for your CV.

Don't enter every competition that comes along; choose your target carefully, and the more you can research it, to find the material that best fits, the better position you'll be in. Not every pay-to-play competition is a reputable one; there are a few scams out there, and it takes a little practice to spot them (a lack of past history and an exorbitant prize pot are usually dead giveaways). The most well established competitions now have reasonable Internet presence and listings in credible publications like the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook. Websites which have fairly comprehensive competition listings include The Poetry Kit (www.poetrykit.org) and the National Association of Writers' Groups (www.nawg.co.uk). One of my main ports of call is the competitions website run by published author and competition addict Michael Shenton at www.prizemagic.co.uk - he provides a little bit of commentary with each competition listing, which can be very useful if you're thinking of entering a competition for the first time.

The best way to make your money work for you is never ever to send in shoddy work. Otherwise you'll be lucky if it gets read at all - it will be money down the drain.

Actually seeing the winners' lists can be part of the downside too. There are writers in the UK who genuinely seem to enter every competition there is, and to walk off with a lot of the prizes. It's amazing how many times a quick Google search can reveal that this year's Smethwick Prize winner is an established author with 50 short stories already published. Sadly, that's the luck of the draw. There are some really competent writers out there on the competition circuit, and it's worth knowing who they are and what they write so that you can see who you're up against. Take this as a challenge, not as a discouragement; see if you can do better than them!

Finally, don't be put off if you seem to get nowhere the first few times. Competition judging is at least as subjective as it is objective. Winners' lists say as much about what the judge enjoys in a poem or short story as they do about the care the winners have put into their work. Don't dismiss the judge's decisions out of hand - shoddy work, or plots with huge holes in them, just don't win competitions! - but be encouraged that for every judge out there who doesn't respond to your work, there'll be another who will. And while you're waiting to succeed, be comforted by the fact that you're gaining experience, honing your craft, and helping to support the literary arts at the same time. Hard work and talent do pay off, and sometimes they pay out too.