Six Reasons Why You Should Participate in The Write Challenge  by Prahalad Rajkumar

I love The Write Challenge. If I have written 100+ posts on os.me, it is all because of The Write Challenge competitions. The previous two editions of the challenge provided me with the impetus and inspiration to write more articles. They served as a conducive environment for me to write in bursts. I have chronicled my thoughts about the challenges here and here. But this post is not about why I love The Write Challenge – but to encourage you to participate in this challenge, especially if you were on the fence. Here are six reasons why you should participate in The Write Challenge

You Have to Write Just Five Articles.
The previous editions of the challenge rewarded prolific writing. The more articles you churned out, the better were your chances of winning. The winners of the earlier contests produced a super-human number of articles in five days – the winning count was 87 in the first edition and 78 in the second edition. These daunting numbers caused many of people not to participate, as they had no realistic chance to win.

The arena has changed this time! All you need to do is write five articles to have a chance to win the contest. Just five articles. No big deal. Not for you, in any case!
The Challenge is a Chance to Practice Writing.
How do you become a better writer? Various people give various suggestions. However, everyone gives one piece of advice without fail: Write more. Writing more allows you to hone your skills better. Every good writer gives this advice.

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot”, says Stephen King in his memoir On Writing. “Write”, says Neil Gaiman succinctly. Swamiji delivers the same advice in the Creative Writing course, quoting the writer (I believe this was Somerset Maugham) who said that he writes whenever he gets inspiration. And he gets inspired without fail at 9:00 am each day.

Knowing this is one piece of the puzzle. Putting this into action is a different piece altogether. This challenge offers you a great chance to practice your writing.
You Get to Produce Good Content
Some wonderful articles have been produced as a part of The Write Challenges. Here is a sampling of articles that I immensely enjoyed from the first edition of the challenge.

“But I don’t have any good content at the moment”, you say? Just get started. And persevere through moments of anguish. Your creative juices may well surprise you and you may produce a few masterpieces.
You get to Perform Random Acts of Kindness
Swamiji says:

I firmly believe that every time you write a positive comment or share your truth by publishing a post on os.me, you make this world a better place. Somewhere, in some corner of the world, your writing may have inspired someone.

By writing articles for The Write Challenge, you are potentially performing random acts of kindness through your words.
This is a Chance to Engage with the Community
People have become busy. Some who were active regularly on the platform have been silent. And there are a lot of new folks. This is a perfect chance to reconnect with old friends, make new friends, and celebrate the lovely community that is os.me. One that we are proud to be a member of.
Attractive Prizes!
I believe that participation is its own virtue, and that everyone who participates in the challenge is a winner. A winner of the highest order. Nevertheless, you get a chance to win a tangible prize as well. And given that the voting will be based on popular opinion alongside judgment from the editorial desk, you have a good chance of winning a prize. However, there is an important pre-requisite to winning: You have to participate.