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On the former Twitter, recently, we said our short-short fiction press, Ad Hoc Fiction, had published thirty Novellas-in-Flash since the first NIF award opened in 2017. In fact, Ad Hoc has published an astonishing 45 NIF’s. A huge variety, showcasing this exciting genre. The covers are all displayed in the gallery above.For the first two yearly awards, the three winners were published in three-novella anthologies. We then began to publish the novellas indiviudally and for two consecutive years published the entire short list of ten novellas. In addition, separate from the yearly Awards, Ad Hoc Fiction has published three other novellas in flash. We are a very small team (two of us) so we think this is an achievement to be proud of.

We are also thrilled that How to Make a Window Snake by Charmaine Wiklerson won the novellas category in the Saoteur Awards in 2018 and since then, several of the novellas have been shortlisted in the same Saboteur category including Hairy on the Inside by Tracy Fells, which was also shortlisted for the International Rubery Award in 2022. This year, Season of Bright Sorrow by David Swann, the first prize novella from 2021, won Book of the Year in the International Rubery Award.

Because of the amount of work in laying up and designing other books, we didn’t think we’d be running a further novella-in-flash competition. The work load was just too great. But by popular request, the contest is running again with the same judge as last year, John Brantingham

To fit in with a very busy year of publishing books in 2024, we have had to shift the deadline to September 30th this year. Results will be out in early January 2024. This means that the books can be laid up and published by Ad Hoc Fiction at a less busy time of year. Sometimes, writers can write a novella in flash in a short window. Ingrid Jendzrejewski, who was a runner up in the inagural award, explains how she worked to a tight schedule around the deadline. You may also have a novella that with a bit of tweaking could be ready to go. The top three will be published. The winner receives £300 plus publication and five free copies and two runners-up receive £100 each, publication and five free copies. Your novella needs to be a minimum of 6000 words and a maximum of 18000.

We’re very pleased that the 2023 winners, Jan Kaneen, first prize for her novella in flash, The Learning Curve,, Anna M Wang, runner up for her novella-in-flash, Prodigal and Fiona McKay, runner- up for her novella-in-flash, The Top Road all came to the flash fiction festival in July, where they had a mini launch of the novellas with judge John Brantingham introducing. Congratulations to all!