[Updated 4/2] There’s something very satisfying about flash fiction – really good flash can give you a glimpse of a whole world in miniature and leave you thinking about it long after reading. If this is an area you excel in, there are plenty of opportunities for you to send out your work. Here’s a list of the UK and Irish competitions currently accepting entries, with a lot more opening later in the year. As always, I’ll update the blog post when further details become available. Best of luck, tiny world builders!
- Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2023
- Closing date: January 31 (biannual, second comp of the year closes August 31)
- Prizes: 1st place £1,000, 2nd place £200, 3rd place £100. Shortlisted entrants will be offered publication in the end of year anthology
- Judges: will be announced once the competition closes
- Word limit: 1,000 words, no min
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: £6 for one flash, £10 for two, £14 for three. Some free places available, on application. Open internationally
- Bath Flash Fiction Award
- Closing date: February 5 (this is a rolling competition with three rounds per year)
- Prizes: 1st place £1,000, 2nd place £300, 3rd place £100. Two Commended prizes of £30. Fifty authors will be offered publication in the print anthology, with all authors receiving a copy
- Judge: for this round, writer Sudha Balagopal
- Word limit: 300 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: £9 for one entry, £15 for two, £18 for three. Open internationally
- National Flash Fiction Day (NFFD) Microfiction Competition
- Closing date: February 15
- Prizes: 1st place £150, 2nd place £100, 3rd place £50. There will be seven awards of £20 for highly commended pieces. The winning and shortlisted authors will be published in the National Flash Fiction Day 2023 anthology, and receive a print copy of the anthology
- Judges: writers Tim Craig, Amanda Huggins, Fiona Mackintosh and Johanna Robinson, more details about them here
- Word limit: 100 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: £2 for one entry, £3.75 for two, £5.25 for three, up to three entries permitted. Open internationally
- Free Flash Fiction Competition Fourteen
- Closing date: February 23 (10pm)
- Prizes: 1st place £150 and publication on the Free Flash Fiction website. Two Commended entries will win a copy of novella-in-flash One for the River by Tom O’Brien and publication, while two shortlisted entries will also be published on the website
- Judge: writer Maria Thomas
- Word limit: 100-300 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: £2 per entry if paying by UK bank transfer, £3.50 if paying by Paypal/Stripe (ie. international), multiple entries permitted. Open international
- The Crazy Cats Flash Fiction Competition
- Closing date: February 27
- Prizes: 1st place £50, 2nd place £25, 3rd place £15
- Judge: doesn’t say
- Word limit: 74-400 words
- Theme: none (ie. doesn’t have to be about cats)
- Entry fee: £5 per entry. Appears to be open to crazy cats worldwide
- The Welkin Writing Prize
- Closing date: February 28
- Prizes: 1st place £250 and annual membership of online writing community Writers’ HQ worth £190, 2nd place £120 and an AdHoc Fiction book voucher worth £25, 3rd place £60 and a copy of Deflection by Roberta Beary. There are various other smaller prizes to be had, check website for details
- Judge: writer and creative writing teacher Matt Kendrick
- Word limit: 400 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: free to enter, one entry only. Open internationally
- Fish Flash Fiction Prize 2022
- Closing date: February 28
- Prizes: 1st place €1,000, 2nd place €300 plus an online writing course with Fish Publishing, 3rd place €300. The top ten stories will be published in the Fish Anthology 2022
- Judge: writer Kit de Waal
- Word limit: 300 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: €14 for one flash, €9 for any subsequent entries. Open internationally
- Wild Atlantic Writing Flash Fiction Award
- Closing date: March 31
- Prizes: 1st place €500 in cash or a voucher worth €1,000 redeemable towards any Ireland Writing Retreat of your choice this year or next. With the writer’s permission, the top ten stories will be published on the Ireland Writing Retreat website
- Judge: doesn’t say
- Word limit: 500 words
- Theme: ‘Hope’
- Entry fee: €10 per entry, multiple entries permitted. Open internationally
- Flash 500 Flash Fiction Competition
- Closing date: March 31 (but it’s a quarterly competion with future closing dates June 30, September 30, December 31)
- Prizes: 1st place £300, 2nd place £200, 3rd place £100
- Judge: for this round, writer and Retreat West founder Amanda Saint
- Word limit: 500 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: £5 for one flash, £8 for two, £11 for three, £14 for four. Optional critiques available for £15 per story. Open internationally
- I Am Writing Flash Fiction Competition
- Closing date: March 31
- Prizes: 1st place £150, 2nd place £75, 3rd place £25. This competition is part of the I Am Writing Festival, which takes place in Bristol, UK (May 19-20)
- Judge: author and journalist Fanny Blake
- Word limit: 300 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: £11 per entry, up to five entries permitted. Open internationally
- Ellipsis Flash Collection Competition 2023
- Closing date: March 31
- Prizes: 1st place publication of the collection/novella-in-flash with Ellipsis journal. The published author will receive 10 complimentary copies and a royalty payment of 25% of each publication sold
- Judge: doesn’t say
- Word limit: 8,000-17,000 words. Each flash should be no longer than 1,000 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: submit and pay for a digital copy of the winning collection in advance for £3. Submit and pay for a print copy of the winning collection in advance for £6.50. One collection only. Open internationally
- Unpublished Writers Magazine Stockholm Flash Fiction Competition
- Closing date: May 30
- Prize: 1st place £100
- Judge: doesn’t say
- Word limit: must be 500 words exactly
- Theme: no theme, but it must be set in Stockholm, Sweden
- Entry fee: £5 per entry. Open internationally
- The Bridport Prize for Flash Fiction
- Closing date: May 31
- Prizes: 1st place £1,000, an invitation to take part in the awards celebration, plus feedback from the judges and Bridport professional partners. 2nd place £500, 3rd place £250. Five Highly Commended stories will be awarded £100 each. All the winning and highly commended pieces will be published in the annual Bridport Prize anthology
- Judge: writer and creative writing teacher Christopher Allen. See what he’s looking for here
- Word limit: 250 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: £11 per entry, multiple entries permitted. Open internationally
- Write By The Sea Flash Fiction Competition
- Closing date: June 4
- Prizes: 1st place €500, a hand-crafted trophy and a weekend pass to the Write By The Sea festival 2023, Kylemore Quay, Wexford (September 22-24). The winner will also be invited to read at the festival, and their story will be published on the website. 2nd place €200, 3rd place €100
- Judges: doesn’t say
- Word limit: 700 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: €10 per entry (€25 for three in any of the four categories), multiple entries permitted. Open internationally
- WestWord Prize for Micro Fictions
- Closing date: June 25
- Prizes: 1st place £100, 2nd place £50, 3rd place £25. All winning, shortlisted and longlisted stories will be published in the online anthology WestWord, a new literary journal published by Retreat West
- Judges: WestWord editorial team
- Word limit: 150 words
- Theme: ‘Wild’
- Entry fee: £5 per entry, multiple entries permitted. There’s also an option to get feedback for £15 per entry. Open internationally
- WestWord Prize for Flash Fiction
- Closing date: June 25
- Prizes: 1st place £200, 2nd place £100, 3rd place £50. All winning, shortlisted and longlisted stories will be published in the online anthology WestWord, a new literary journal published by Retreat West
- Judges: WestWord editorial team
- Word limit: 200-750 words
- Theme: ‘Wild’
- Entry fee: £8 per entry, multiple entries permitted. There’s also an option to get feedback for £28 per entry. Open internationally
- Oxford Flash Fiction Prize
- Closing date: August 31 (opens for entries June 1)
- Prizes: 1st place £1,000, 2nd place £200, 3rd place £100. Shortlisted entrants will be offered publication in the end-of-year digital anthology
- Judges: TBA after closing date
- Word limit: 1,000 words
- Theme: none
- Entry fee: £6 for one entry, £10 for two, £14 for three. Open internationally
PS. If you’re new to writing and/or submitting, you might find a useful tip or two in my post 6 Things I’ve Learned About Entering Competitions
PPS. What’s that, you say? You wish you could buy me a coffee in return for all this invaluable information? Funnily enough, there’s a way to do that now on my very handy Ko-fi page – link here
Photos: Phil Muller/Pixabay; Bruno/Germany via Pixabay; Ian Lindsay/Pixabay
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