Again, we were thrilled to receive so many entries from around the globe – about a hundred more than the June round – seven hundred and forty eight – submitted from twenty eight different countries:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Qatar, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States
We know writers love a deadline and there was a rush of entries in the last two weeks. However, submissions kept our readers busy throughout the four months of the contest. They had a fascinating time discussing all the variety of styles and approaches to flash fiction and eventually found a way of compiling the long list of fifty to send to Robert Vaughan. A difficult task, with so many good pieces to choose from. The winning and commended stories are by authors living in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand – five emotionally resonant stories, with strong themes, written beautifully.
A special thanks to Robert Vaughan, our first judge from the United States, who put so much energy behind promoting the contest via twitter and face book. We’re grateful to him for spending several days living and breathing with the fifty stories on the long list and then selecting a short list of twenty, three winners and two commended pieces in our fast turn-around time. Read his comments on this experience here.
The next round of Bath Flash Fiction Award opens on Tuesday 1st November and ends midnight GMT Sunday 12th February, 2017. The judge is Kathy Fish, also from the United States. Kathy, interviewed here, is a renowned flash fiction writer, writing tutor and frequent flash fiction judge. Among many other publications, she co-authored the must-read collection, Rift – with Robert Vaughan, reviewed here.
Our single-flash fiction award is, as usual, for stories of 300 words and under. But if you want to try a longer form of flash, enter the new novella-in-flash award judged by US flash fiction writer, poet, teacher and editor Meg Pokrass. Read our interview about the form with Meg here. The novella award is open now and closes 31st January, 2017.
A big thank you to everyone who entered and continues to support our literary adventure. We love flash fiction and are proud to have you all on board.
Jude Higgins
Founder Bath Flash Fiction Award
