Can you believe it’s May already? With the weather getting warmer and a variety of fresh foods in season, we’ve decided to celebrate with a new contest: the HubPages Cookbook Contest!
This June contest will revolve around use of our new Recipe Capsules which include dedicated capsules for recipe ratings, yields and cook time, ingredients, instructions, and nutrition. The Recipe Capsules help to make your Hubs easier to read, plus more attractive search engines (we posted a special blog post with more thorough explanation of how that works)
To enter, all you have to do is publish a recipe Hub using at least the Ratings Capsule (set for recipes) between June 1st at noon (Pacific Time) and June 28th at 11:59 am. By entering, you’ll have a chance to win one (or more!) of 62 prizes worth $3,600.
14 prizes will be awarded each week during the contest, and six prizes will be awarded at the end:
- $1400 in $50 Daily Drawing Prizes awarded to one randomly-selected recipe entry every day of the contest
- $1400 in $50 Weekly Prizes awarded to the seven best recipe Hubs each week
- $100 Best Dessert Recipe Prize for the best dessert recipe Hub
- $100 Best Drink Recipe Prize for the best drink recipe Hub
- $100 Best Family Recipe Prize for the best family meal recipe Hub
- $100 Best Healthy Recipe Prize for the best healthy recipe Hub
- $100 Best Budget-Friendly Recipe Prize for the best budget-friendly recipe Hub
- $300 Grand Prize for the best overall recipe Hub
To qualify for these prizes…
- Hub entries must contain at least the Ratings Capsule set for recipes (see our Learning Center guide on the Ratings Capsule)
- Hub entries must have at least one image
- All images must be legally used (see our Learning Center guide on legal image use)
- Entries must be published for the first time on that given contest day
- Hub entries must be a minimum of 500 words
- Hub entries must be entirely original to HubPages
While there is a good chance that you might win one of our 28 Daily Drawing prizes randomly, you’ll be able to boost your chances of winning a Weekly or Final Prize if you consider our judging criteria while crafting your entries. Our judges – experts in the culinary writing field – will be looking carefully for:
- How well the Recipe Capsules are used (see our Learning Center guide to Recipe Capsules)
- The usefulness of the recipe (summarized steps followed up by detailed instructions with step-by-step photos, variations, demonstrations) (see our Learning Center guide to writing successful Recipe Hubs)
- The overall value of the recipe (additional background or history associated with the dish or recipe, use of the Recipe Capsules to share detailed nutritional information and ingredient information, etc.)
- The presence and quality of original photos and/or video
- Whether the entry is on a long-tail, niche recipe that has not been extensively covered online
- Whether the entry has a search-friendly title (mirrors common search terms)
- Excellent writing (proper use of grammar, capitalization, etc.)
- Uniqueness of the entry (that it is not copied or paraphrased from elsewhere online, full of details, examples, names, and figures)
- Attractive formatting (avoidance of excessive link, eBay, or Amazon capsule clutter, excessive bolding or italics, and all-caps)
- Judicious use of other relevant Capsules
We’ll be announcing our special judges as the contest launch approaches. In the meantime, get cooking! You can always start drafts of your entries now and publish them throughout the month of June.
