Writing and competing

I love writing. I guess I'm quite good at it. Those few people who have read parts of my texts have said that I'm really good. I don't know if I trust those people, though.
But I suck at competing. Especially much I suck at writing competitions. I have participated to writing competitions many times and never won anything. This kind of gives the impression that I can't write. But I don't mind, I know the reasons why I fail every competition:

1. The subjects. Some of the competitions are kind of essay writing. Once the subject was "Why I love/hate America". Another was "Suomi - melkein sata (Finland - almost hundred)". This was because Finland has her 100th Independence day soon. I can't write about subjects like that.There's nothing interesting in subjects like that.
There was a short story competition in a Finnish girls' magazine (Demi). The subject was "Häntä en unohda koskaan (I'll never forget him/her)". It was obviously a love-theme, so I didn't even try. If the theme is about love or happiness or being positive and crap like that, I have no chance. In the Demi competitions, they most certainly expect stories about making miracles and loving everyone around you. After all, it's a magazine for teen aged girls (Just to make it clear, I don't read that magazine... anymore). I like horror books and dystopias. It's impossible for me to write a love story. This year the subject is "Rajat rikki! (Break the boundaries!)", and it's supposed to be about courage or something. I'll give it a try this time.

2. The content they expect. I'm not exactly sure what they expect in writing competitions, but it's probably not what I usually write. I might be too sarcastic without even realizing it. I've been told that my texts are sarcastic when I hadn't even noticed it myself. I don't think they appreciate it in writing competitions. Or maybe they don't see the sarcasm and think I'm just stupid.
You can't write about courage or being different or loving everyone without using clichés. In the breaking boundaries theme, there's obviously going to be stories where the loser becomes the hero or someone overcomes themselves and gets a new friend. Ugh. I won't even say anything more about this.

Maybe some day they put up a competition with the theme "Ironic Horror", and I'll have a chance to win.