Thanks to everyone from around the world who entered our 21st Award. We received 1081 entries from 34 countries listed below.

Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam.

As usual, the last few weeks and the last weekend in particular saw a great flood of submissions. And we appreciate everyone who entered at any time during the contest and the final day writers who received a (virtual) Last Minute Club badge (this time in pink and silver pastel party colours). we hold a guess-the-colour-of-the-badge contest on Twitter the day before the badge is revealed. One person guessed the right shade of pink, and the other, chose a silvery grey. So they both received a book anthology prize.

There were very many excellent stories of 300 words or less among the submissions and it’s always hard to find the fifty stories for the final longlist. Thanks to the reading team for their work on making these choices. We like to include a mix of different styles and subject matters and if there are a lot on the same sorts of themes, it is even harder to choose. Everyone who reached the longlist has been offered publication in our seventh anthology which will be published at the end of this year after the October Award is completed. Many writers from this round have already said yes to publication and again it will be a fantastic read. Snow Crow, our 6th anthology, was shortlisted in the 2022 Saboteur Awards Best Anthology category and we thank everyone from the flash fiction community and elsewhere who voted for it.

Our big thanks to Tommy Dean, writer, editor and teacher from the US for selecting the short list and winners for the 21st Award in our very fast turnaround time.
We mentioned different styles and themes above, and it is so interesting that Tommy commented on the different ways the winners had approached their stories. Do read his report about what he loved about the winning stories here.

This time, four different countries were represented among the winners. Many congratulations to all authors. Their stories are linked to their names here. The first prize winner Rachel Blake from the US wrote ‘Sequelae’, second prize winner Madeline Bryne from Australia wrote ‘Between’, third prize winner Abigail Williams from the UK wrote ‘Don’t mistake me for your crabapple’, Sudha Balagopal from the US wrote ‘On our daughter’s wedding day’ and Olwen Wilson from Canada wrote ‘The Shape of the Situation in Apartment 23C on a Sunday in September.‘

Our next award opens on July 1st and is judged by Emily Devane from the UK who, among other awards, won the Bath Flash Fiction Award in February, 2017..Our interview with her will be on the website tomorrow. The 22nd Award closes on Sunday 9th October. We’re looking forward to reading more wonderful stories. We love flash fiction!

Jude Higgins
June 2022