@LeNaAdine Hi! Thank you so much. I'm glad I could voice some thoughts and grievances of others regarding the Wattys this year!
I fear the truth behind their reasoning might be that they want to reduce workload, and it's easier to program Wattpad to register eligibility in terms of possible translations, too, instead of having people look into the matters themselves. So, if the system notices something like that, people don't get the chance to enter in the first place, as those who don't fulfill the word count wouldn't. Ofc I could be totally wrong.
At least their responses showed a shocking bias against translation and second-language speakers, and that's a shame. Either way, this seems deeply unfair and not useful to prevent cheating at all, but only targets those transparent and honest about their work.
In any case, don't worry! As far as I can judge, your English is completely fine (I learned it from quite a young age, but I am not as qualified as a native). And even using some kind of help here and there wouldn't take away from it. Who doesn't use programs that help detect mistakes, like Word? Or even in their mother tongue, look up synonyms/exact definitions of words/whatever to polish writing? I am a first-language German speaker (like you, as it seems), and currently am working on my master's degree in German - still, I make typos I miss, sometimes learn a new word, or have to verify something using the "Regelwerk der deutschen Rechtschreibung", and I dare say... most of my fellow master students do. That's a part of learning and improving, and we can do that even in our mother tongue :)
