The Contest Challenge

YOUR FIRST CONTEST?!? HOW EXCITING!!!

You posted everything correctly. However, you entered a contest that I suspect is currently closed. You are free to make up months by entering the contest you were supposed to enter then, but you do have to enter OPEN contests. And use the current prompt, BTW, just so you don't make that mistake later.

So, you can tell if a contest is probably open in a few ways. 1. It's called Xmas in July, so that's the 1st clue that it's probably not open in September. 2. Check the forum. You can see the dates people last posted. Especially pay attention to the owner. Did they post winners and there are no future posts? Remember that things like Donation and Question don't count as the contest being open. Also, just because 1 person posted an entry, don't guarantee they are open, you know, in case that 1 person was a newbie like you. 3. The title and/or description will sometimes tell you if it's open or closed. I do that with my contest as below.

FORUM

The Whatever Contest -- Closed for Now  (13+) This irregular contest will change each round. Nature poem? Horror story? Whatever. #2232242 by Schnujo's Giving Away GPs

4. Check the most recent updates date in the lower right corner of the top section. There are 2 dates. The top one is when it was created and the bottom one is when changes were last made. That could be someone posting a donation in the forum or the owner editing the page, so it's not a guaranteed way to know if it's open. But it can help you decide. 5. The deadline listed in the forum. You'll nearly always find a deadline. Some are easier to find than others. But also, if the contest was last open 3 years ago and you just happen to be looking at it in the last month it was open, it might say the deadline is September 30 so you think it's open, but really, it's September 30, 2020. That's why I TRY to encourage folks to put a year, but you know... 6. If the owner is actively advertising it, it's open. This is another good reason to be on the Community Newsfeed. You can also check their Notebook to see when they last advertised it. But note that if it's on the official WdC list of contests under the Community tab, that doesn't guarantee it's open. That sort of depends on how many people have requested to advertise their own items as to how soon a closed contest is knocked off the page.

Anyway, those are some ways to tell if a contest is open or closed. If all else fails, email the owner.

Well, the contest is closed, but you're not only a newbie, but also new to this challenge. I want the contests to be challenging, not the process of entering the challenge. But your post looks good and I see you figured out how to find the previous contests you're supposed to enter. For some reason, those things really trip people up. They'll just pick random contests or post the link to the contest or to their item, not to the forum post proving they entered. I once had someone literally post an entire year's worth of entries--12 in a row, month after month after month--ALL wrong. Each month, I tried to explain how to post correctly. Each month they managed to post wrong AGAIN, despite my explanations, pointing to examples in the forum and posted just above the forum, etc. So, you did the hard part correctly. GOOD JOB! Now, just make sure the contest is open and you're better off than 99% of new participants.

Anyway, I counted this one since you're just starting out. Keep up the great work! I look forward to seeing more entries from you! I would wish you luck in the contest, but...I sort of don't see the point. How about--Better luck next time!

July 2023 completed (because I'm nice like that ). Keep going!