how many have won contests at helium?

I won second place in my first contest (back at the end of August). Since then I have lost two (I have only participated in the three). Writing more does seem to help, the two I lost I only wrote a handful of articles where the one I won I wrote 23 articles. It isn't easy, that's for sure. I read up on it awhile back, there are a lot of veteran Helium writers who write about this sort of thing right there on Helium. Some suggestions were to wait till the last day to post. Write in a separate location. Respond to as many articles as you can. Write what you are passionate about and know (the contest I wrote on was on hearing loss and deafness, I am an avid student of the topic). Research seems to help (after all the more you know the more you will have to say). The message boards on Helium are great places to ask questions, most people are really nice. You can always go there!

I've won quite a number of times before, but I have no special secret because at the end of the day, it all relies on how the raters rate you. But to make your article better, follow the writing guidelines of a minimum of 400 words and ensure proper spacing and punctuations. I normally write longer because most of the time lazy raters just rate the longer article better so longer articles stand a better chance. However, do not write too long because raters are also sometimes too busy to read long articles, and they may rate articles that are too long down. All in all, write between 400 and 1000 words and you should be OK. =)

I've submitted a few writing pieces, but i have not won anything, nor do I know anyone who has.