Thank you to everyone who entered the February 2017 round of Bath Flash Fiction, those who’ve entered before and those new to the contest. This time we received seven hundred and thirty-two entries from thirty different countries:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States
As usual it was a thrilling finale with plenty of people not submitting until the final hours, or even minutes. The winning and commended writers come from the UK, Ireland and the USA. Our team really enjoyed reading all the entries.
Special thanks go to Kathy Fish, who selected the shortlist of twenty and the winners from a longlist of fifty. In her report she explains how hard it was choosing the winners from a very strong field. We also appreciate her promoting the competition via twitter and for acknowledging the efficient way we organise the contest with its quick turnaround and support for writers. We agree with her that there is a great spirit of cameraderie among our flash fiction writing community on social media and we love to promote and encourage everyone who gives our competition a go. Already, most of the fifty authors on the long list have said ‘yes’ to publication in our year end anthology, so you’ll be able to read a marvellous selection of flash fiction when the second volume of Bath Flash Fiction is published.
The next Bath Flash Fiction Award round opens on March 1st and closes on June 11th. Meg Pokrass, who judges our novella-in-flash contest, is also judging this round of the single flash contest. Final results will be announced at the Flash Fiction Festival in Bath, 24th and 25th June, which will make the announcements extra exciting. There’s a great line-up of leading flash fiction practitioners coming to the festival and everyone is welcome, beginners and experienced writers, from the UK and elsewhere. Do come!
In the meantime, we’d love to see your creations for our next round. And a huge thanks to you all for your continuing enthusiasm, community spirit and support.
Jude Higgins
Founder Bath Flash Fiction Award
