We love flash. Yes we do. A lot. That’s why we run Flash Face Off, the weekly writing challenge and ultimate fiction writing incubator. Anyhoo, here’s a list of places you can send your lovely, lovely flash.
Failing Writers Flash Fiction Competition – sponsored by Scrivener
The theme is “birthday” Judge: David Gaffney. The first 150 entrants get a complimentary audiobook from ethical audiobook-meisters: Libro.fm For full instructions and the phrase you MUST INCLUDE in your story, you'll need to listen to Series 6, Episode 15 of the Failing Writers Podcast, (Monday 14th Sept)
Fiction Flash Any genre
Vestal Review
Vestal Review is a magazine for flash fiction. We realize that a flash story has different definitions, and all of them have merit. For us, a flash story is no longer than 500 words, and it moves from point A to point B. If it’s longer than 500 words or is too static, it’s not for us. We are interested only in work written by humans.
Fiction Flash Any genre
Fractured & Fused Prize
We want stories where things break, where characters get into trouble and make mistakes, and only a reckoning reveals their true natures. We want big stakes and small conflicts that shake characters to their core. If it’s broken, find a narrative that fuses it back together; if it’s perfect, find the fissures and show us the cracks. We want to see opposites; we want tension to come from uneven power dynamics, with characters fighting for what they deserve, what they want, what they dream about, and what they’d do anything to have! Get messy with character, structure, language, and plot. Fractured and Fused, but for the better.
Fiction Flash Any genre
Fish Flash Fiction Prize
The Fish Flash Fiction Prize is an opportunity to attempt one of the most interesting and rewarding tasks – to create, in a tiny fragment, a completely resolved and compelling story in 300 words or less. The Flash Fiction Stories are wonderfully entertaining to read and challenging to write, but we love them and so do the readers of the Fish Anthology. This is a chance to get a story, however small, into the next Fish Anthology.
Fiction Flash Any genre
The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2027
The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction (The Smokey) is now an annual competition that celebrates and compensates excellence in flash. The grand prize winner of The Smokey is automatically nominated for Best Small Fictions, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, Best of the Net, and any other prize deemed appropriate.
Fiction Flash Any genre
Bridport Prize (Flash Fiction category)
It may be the sprint of creative writing but that doesn’t mean you can rush the creative process. Take us somewhere fast then let your story marinate in the reader’s mind. Make every one of your 250 words count. There is no minimum number of words, just like there is no limit to your imagination. They say lightning doesn’t strike twice but we want to feel the electricity in your story right from the beginning through to the very end.
Fiction Flash Any genre
Fictive Dream
If you write fiction with a contemporary feel that gives an insight into the human condition, then we’d like to hear from you. We have eclectic tastes and we don’t shy away from difficult subject matter. We’re interested in stories with a distinctive voice, clarity of thought and precision of language. They may be on any subject. They may be challenging, unsettling, playful, exhilarating or cryptic. Above all, they must be well-crafted and compelling.
Fiction Flash Any genre
Wigleaf
We feature stories under 1000 words. We're open during the final seven days of each academic month, with the exceptions of November and December. So: the final weeks of August, September, October, January, February, and March. In November, we're open from the 8th through the 14th. We're not open in December. If we hit our cap with Submittable, submissions will close before the end of the submission period.
Fiction Flash Any genre
Flash 500 Flash Fiction Competition
When it comes to prizes, it often seems as though flash fiction is the poor relation of writing competitions. This, however, is a flash fiction competition where the prize money truly reflects the skill required to encapsulate an entire story in just 500 words.
Fiction Flash Any genre
Bath Flash Fiction Award
Quarterly flash fiction award with significant cash prizes. Entrants have the opportunity to appear in print and digital anthology collections, and also as single author novellas-in-flash.
Fiction Flash Any genre
