Won a literary prize at my university. Is it a big deal?

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zdrav25

New member
The creative writing department at my university gives out 4 prizes for fiction a year, and I was one of the winners last year. The prize was $1000. Do you think that this is any indication that I might have what it takes to become a real writer?

FYI, I go to an Ivy League school if that should make a difference.
 
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cathrl69

Member
Anyone who writes is "a real writer". Do you mean a published author?

There's really no way to tell, because you don't say what the prize was for. If it was for the closest possible copy to Dickens' writing style, then it means nothing - people don't buy new books written like that. If it was for a 200 word existentialist monologue...again, not much market for it.

If it was for something vaguely commercial, then it's a good sign - but still, 4 prizes just at your university just this year. How many Ivy League universities in the US - a dozen? Plus equivalents in other countries, and good writers who weren't good enough all round to get into an Ivy League...and that's just the people who are exactly the same age as you.

Congratulations on your prize. It will look great on any submissions you make in the future. But you need not to assume that you have it made.
 
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Brieee

New member
CRAP YEAH! That is so cool that that happened to you. If i were you I would definitely write something and get an agent to try and publish it. :3
 
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