This round we received 1068 submissions in the Award, submitted from the countries listed below. A big thank you to everyone who entered. We appreciate the early birds, the middle way and the ones who enter last minute and, as a bit of fun, get our Last Minute Club Badge. We often see new places in the world on this list and it is exciting to think that people are writing such inventive tiny tales the world over and sending them in.

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

We loved the inventiveness of the stories entered. There were so many interesting angles on people’s lives, their fears, their mistakes, their emotional reslience or overwhelm. The stories made our readers cry, feel a deep sense of recognition, laugh, hold their breath and wonder.

A further big thanks to award winning prose and poetry writer and teacher, Sarah Freligh for reading and selecting the short list and the winners in our quick turn-around time. You can read her report here with its excellent observations and comments here.

This time first prize went to UK based Sara Hills ‘Like Dynamite’. This is Sara Hills’ second first prize win with us and she joins two others (William Davidson and Sharon Telfer) who have also won twice.
Second prize was awarded to Dawn Miller from Canada, for her story ‘Pack’.
Third prize to Erin Bondo from the UK for her story ‘Eloise Writes as the World Burns’.
Jay Mckenzie, a British writer currently residing in Korea, was highly commended for her story ‘Forgive me Martha’
and Tiffany Harris, from the US was highly commended for ‘How to Fold a World Map’.
All five stories are brilliant .
Huge congratulations to all! We’re looking forward to printing these winners, and all those from the long and short lists who have accepted publication,in our 2025 anthology,

Our 30th Award, judged by award=winning writer, editor and teacher, Marie Gethins from Ireland, opens Saturday March 1st, and ends on Sunday 8th June. Read Marie’s interview with Jude here. We look forward to reading your stories!