What Is an Essay Contest and How Does It Work?
An essay contest asks entrants to write on a topic you set. You then judge the entries, usually on originality, clarity and how well they answer the prompt, and pick your winners. Schools, scholarship funds, nonprofits and brands all run them.
- Open the How to Enter tab and click Add a Way to Enter.
- Choose how entrants submit:
- Upload Action if you want a file. Set Allowed Upload Types and a File size (MB) limit. Upload is on the Business Plan and above.
- Answer a Question for shorter pieces typed straight into the widget. Switch on Validate Answers to set a Max word count.
- Put your prompt, word limit and deadline in the action's Instructions.
- Under Advanced, switch on Mandatory so nobody enters without an essay.
The Upload Action blocks the same file being uploaded twice, so one essay can't be entered more than once.
A random draw doesn't suit a judged contest. Read the submissions, then select your winners manually on the Winners tab. Say in your Terms & Conditions how entries will be judged.
The template above sets this up for you, so you only need to add your prompt and prize.
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How Do I Run a Free Crypto Airdrop With Gleam?
Add a mandatory Crypto Wallet action to collect addresses, add your community actions, then send tokens from the entry data once the Competition ends.