@shortstorycomps.bsky.social
Posts and reposts about short story / flash / micro competitions in the UK and beyond.
I won a national writing competition.
You had to send in the first 250 words of one story.
I sent in 6 - 5 under pseudonyms.
When the editor of the newspaper phoned to congratulate me I had to let her speak for a bit before I knew which story had won.
What webs we weave.
Includes writing contest hints and tips...
05.10.2025 15:03 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The Contest Calculator from Chill Subs is a genuinely useful tool to assess whether the story competitions you're entering are legit and transparently run: www.thecontestcalculator.com
05.09.2025 19:57 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Are writing contests worthwhile? Are they worth the entry fee? Do they help you get published? Are they a scam?
Chill Subs (think "Relaxed Submissions") has delved into this issue and created the Contest Calculator.
www.thecontestcalculator.com
check out the Contest Calculator from @chillsubs.bsky.social -- a very cool idea that will become exponentially more useful as we all add contests to it.
once again Chill Subs demonstrates its commitment to writers with another free tool.
preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webvi...
Debut author Colwill Brown wins BBC short story award for ‘heartbreaking’ tale – read an extract here
01.10.2025 02:25 — 👍 35 🔁 9 💬 2 📌 1
We are thrilled to announce our long-list for the Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2025!
Congratulations to all of the authors who reached the list and for all those who entered this round!
oxfordflashfictionprize.com/news/
We are thrilled to announce our wonderful judges María Fernanda Ampuero and Shome Dasgupta (@laughingyeti.bsky.social)!
Find out more about them here:
oxfordflashfictionprize.com/judges-2025/
Photos of the winners of the Schiff Awards under the heading "2025 Robert and Adele Schiff Award Winners." Each photo gets its own post page, to follow.
White text on a brick-red background: "Robert Sorrell Bynum, fiction, Robert and Adele Schiff Award winner." Photo is A white man with brown hair to his shoulders and tortoiseshell-frame glasses. He's wearing a black jean jacket over a puffer jacket and shirt, and he's standing on a beach in front of a body of water.
White text on a brick-red blackground: "Jessica Cuello, nonfiction, Robert and Adele Schiff Award winner." Photo is a black-and-white photo of a white woman with curly hair. she is wearing a dark sweater and light-colored shirt and sitting oustide.
White text on a black background: "A.D. Lauren-Abunassar, poetry, Robert and Adele Schiff Award winner." Photo is A Palestinian American woman with brown hair and hazel eyes. She's wearing a dark shirt, dangling earrings, and a necklace chain, and standing in front of a white window shade.
The 2025 winners of the Robert and Adele Schiff Awards are:
Robert Sorrell Bynum (fiction) for "Like a Star"
@jessicacuello.bsky.social (literary nonfiction) for "Your Life for Another"
A. D. Lauren-Abunassar (poetry) for "Three Bombardments"
See our site for more! Link in first comment.
FLASH WRITERS! I'm judging the Allingham Flash Fiction Comp and it's been extended!
The deadline extended to Sunday, 12 Oct at 23:59 / 11:59 pm. Applies to both on-line and postal submissions. All other competition rules and guidelines remain in effect; see www.allinghamfestival.com/fiction-poet...
Six weeks remain to send us your best short story! Read all details here: pitheadchapel.com/larrybrown/
26.09.2025 21:05 — 👍 16 🔁 8 💬 0 📌 0
Graphic shows two trick-or-treaters with grinning jack-o-lantern heads. The teeth are all sharp and the eyes look wicked. They're holding bags that say "Trick or Treat." Behind them is what looks like an abandon house or farm with a vertical sign reading, "Welcome." Text reads: "Halloween Origins: Flash Fiction Contest. Closes Midnight, Sept 30th."
Just one more week to get those micro-fiction Halloween tales submitted to our contest.
You don't want to be left in the dark all alone, do you?
Guidelines and submission portal here: tinyurl.com/TTTHalloween...
It’s fall, and you know what that means? 🍁 Changing leaves, sweater season, and—most importantly—our 3rd Jerboa Lit 500 flash fiction contest!
If you haven't already, we'd love to have you join us! You can sign up at www.jerboalit.com/registration for all the fun. October 3-5! 48 hours, 500 words!
Our 2025 Short Fiction Contest is open for submissions. All genres will be considered, because a good story is a good story. #5amWritersClub #WritingCommunity #LitMag #Horror #ScienceFiction #Fantasy #Mystery #Romance #Romantasy #Dystopian
24.09.2025 10:25 — 👍 6 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
Screenshot of the contest webpage with the timeline and prize information
Short Edition is running #shortstory contest "Money Chronicles"
short-edition.com/en/contest/p...
"Send us your fiction or creative nonfiction short stories featuring characters whose relationship to money may be on the verge of unexpected or needed change."
#WriteSky
#writingcommunity
🎉 Congrats to Elijah J. Mears, whose flash fiction, "Scar Tissue" is a 3rd place winner in our Weird West Quick Draw contest.
Whiskey and solitude on the West Texas plains bring out more than just old wounds for cowboys Miguel and John.
Read Elijah's winning story:
reachyourapex.com/scar-tissue
And today The Leicester Writes Short Story Prize Ceremony featuring Matt Cook, The Curve Theatre, Janine from Eastenders, a swingers club, and short story shenanigans.
open.substack.com/pub/drewgumm...
Image shows contest information, three copies of past contest issues, the PF and McNally Robinson Booksellers logo and an illustration of a typewriter with leaves coming out the back. Text: McNally Robinson Booksellers & Prairie Fire Writing Contests 2025 Annual Writing Contests $3750 in cash prizes! One cash prize of $1250 in each category. MRB Poetry Contest (up to three poems per entry, max. 150 lines total) Judge: Tolu Oloruntoba MRB Short Fiction Contest (one piece per entry, max 5000 words) Judge: Shashi Bhat MRB Creative Non-Fiction Contest (one piece per entry, max 5000 words) Judge: Basma Kavanagh Deadline: Nov. 30, 2025 Fee: $34 per entry, which includes a one-year subscription to Prairie Fire. Complete guidelines at prairiefire.ca. For inquiries: prfire@prairiefire.ca
It's contest season! Our annual writing contests are on NOW until November 30th!
Prairiefire.ca/conte...
Our special guest judge @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social said ‘When you judge a competition you nearly always say it was hard to choose but in the end one or two jumped out. In this case, so many jumped out: it was story whack-a-mole inside my head.’ lrb.me/kg3
23.09.2025 08:56 — 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
An image which reads: 2025 WINNERS YA/MG Little Mice by Tara Crowe 1st runner up: The Grove of Impossible Things by Rob Yardumian 2nd runner up: Leo and the Chess Game of Ashoka by Jaya Agrawal Adult A Summer for Moths by Henry Rivers 1st runner up: Broken Binaries by Redfern Barrett 2nd runner up: A Story for Shiloh by Benjamin Whitis
I'm delighted to announce that I'm 1st runner up for the 2025 Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize! 🏆🎉
It's a huge honour to be placed so highly among such fierce competition.
Hurray!
Very glad to have judged this year's RTE Short Story Competition, alongside Jan Carson and Tristan Rosenstock: the shortlist is now published. Great writing this year.
The winners are announced on 24 October.
@rteradio1.bsky.social @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social
FFF Competition Thirty
flash fiction 100/300 Words
1 W £165.00
2 HC £77.00
3 SL £66.00
Judge: Nish X. Hegde
£4.40 fee per entry/story via PayPal or Stripe
£2.95 fee per entry/story via BACS -
ends 23/10/25
Details...
#writingcompetitions #flashfiction
freeflashfiction.com/current-comp...
Our September newsletter is out! We found nearly three dozen excellent free poetry and prose contests with deadlines between today and October 31.
https://createsend.com/t/d-FEA51963C3F672602540EF23F30FEDED
Deadline Nov 2: CRAFT’s Flash Prose Prize
Submit unpublished fiction and creative nonfiction up to 1,000 words. Three winners will receive $1,000 each, publication, and a bundle of the Rose Metal Press Field Guides. Fee: $20 for 1-2 pieces.
https://www.craftliterary.com/craft-flash-prose-prize-2025/
Our June contest “Illumination” was a bright spot for Flash 405, with @lumchanmfa.bsky.social as our guest judge.
Congratulations to our winners: @pintsncupcakes.bsky.social, Meg Taylor, @francesgapper.bsky.social, Alice Hatcher, Liana Meffert! Read their flash here: tinyurl.com/Illumination405.
Huge congratulations to all the prize winners of the 2025 Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition. First prize went to Tim Collyer. Full list of winners are available on our website: munsterlit.ie/o-faolain-sh...
#writing #shortstory #competitions
Writers - enter the 2025 New Flash Fiction Prize!
Max 500 words
Fee $10
Closes 15 Oct
Judge: @gfaulknerwriter.bsky.social
"The ability to evoke. The ability to use the shadings of words, the nuances of language. The mot juste... You have to stick the landing.”
newflashfiction.com/get-ready-fo...
Hugely honoured to be in such good company here...
18.09.2025 07:13 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
You know what? I bet you'd win our flash fiction contest if you entered it. I've just got a feeling about you, kiddo. I see £25 (or equivalent) prize money + publication in our winter issue in your future. 🔮👀
penstricken.com/competitions
#fiction #writersky #writingcontest
Graphic of a spooky scarecrow with a jack-o-lantern head lit from within and sharp teeth and a hat. It's in a field. Text reads: "Halloween Origins. Flash fiction contest. now open."
Put on your fastest fingers and crank your brain to 11: our surprise flash fiction contest is now open! 🧠
🤏Be quick: the maximum word count is 250.
🕛And then be even quicker: gates close at midnight CST September 30.
🎃 Theme: New origins of Halloween traditions.
💰 Prize: $50
talestoterrify.moksha.io
