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Peter. Follow Alan's advice—an overcast day is ideal because the light will be flat. And it depends whether you are using a 'device' e.g. camera-phone/iPad or a 'proper' camera. If the former, I have found the main problem to be getting the picture straight because the lenses in such devices are such short focus that a very small movement results in a dramatic change. If you're using a camera this should be less of a problem.
As for the 'post-production' matters, cropping out unwanted background as Alan says and, I would say, basic tonal adjustment, which really is not as difficult as it might sound. I would bet some money (but not a lot) that your past disappointment is due to the picture being what is called 'flat', meaning lacking in contrast. It's almost impossible to get a picture that needs no tonal adjustment and it will usually need the contrast lifting slightly. You can do this with great control if you have access to Photoshop of course but there are free-to-use editing programmes available (I'm dredging my memory without checking now, but I think the most popular and accredited is called GIMP). And you don't need to get involved in learning complicated software because all digital imaging works in much the same way and for what you need I promise you, it really is not difficult.
It's a question that comes up here frequently and I have more than once thought of putting something basic advice together on the blog page. It's a cold and very frosty day today; I'm not venturing outside; I have little better to do so I might well do that when I finish this.
As regards the Patchings competition I have alway been a little disappointed with the winners. Not because I thought they were poor but so many of the entries are what I would call 'safe' and the winners seem to be chosen entirely on technique and extremely safe. But I confess that because of this I haven't taken any notice for a couple of years at least. Perhaps things have changed although I doubt it.