Winning answer had to involve English (5)
I believe the answer is:
ahead
'winning' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'answer had to involve english' is the wordplay.
'answer' becomes 'a' (abbreviation eg in Q and A).
'to involve' indicates putting letters inside.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'had' enclosing 'e' is 'head'.
'a'+'head'='AHEAD'
(Other definitions for ahead that I've seen before include "advanced" , "In the future" , "likely to win?" , "In front as in race" , "in van" .)