Contest and competition are two very common terms used to refer to an event where two or more individuals or groups take part to complete a task. This event may be for the purpose of training, or there may be an award or prize at the end of the event given to the winner of the contest or the competition. There are many who remain confused between a contest and a competition and even use these terms interchangeably which is incorrect. Despite ostensible similarities, there are differences that will be highlighted in this article.
Competition is a feeling of one up-man ship between individuals and teams, or even corporations, and finally, nations. If there are two tigers and a tigress, there is a competition between the two males to decide the winner who will have the opportunity to mate with the tigress. This has been described as survival of the fittest by Charles Darwin in his theory of evolution. If there are limited resources and need to be divided among individuals, there is always competition between individuals to have the biggest share of the pie. Thus, competition is a feeling that is intense and makes one strive to be better than the others. This is a feeling that can be seen at work even between siblings to have more attention from parents and even teachers at school. It is this competitive feeling that leads to jealousy and envy and finally disputes and even wars. All wars in the history of mankind have been a result of this feeling of competition.
