8 Cash prizes | 2 sections, with prizes for each
Audio: 1 prize of £150, 3 of £15
Text: 1 prize of £150, 3 of £15

Opens 1 March | Closes: 31 May 2026
Plus publication in FF150 Anthology 2026 for prizewinners & commended writers.

Click links for 2025 Anthology, 2024 Anthology

We invite stories of 150 words (not one more!) on any subject. Your story can be on any subject and whatever form you choose — prose, poetry, or a mixture, totalling 150 words (including title). There is no limit to your number of entries.

Every text entry will be read as an anonymous file by triage judge Marilyn Timms, who forms a long list. The longlist entries will be read, also anonymously, by Dr Katherine Parsons and Christine Griffin, winner of the audio prize in FF150-2025. Both will collaborate with Marilyn to select a shortlist and recommend prize winners.

All audio entries will be heard by triage judge Howard Timms and a longlist sent to the judges to choose a shortlist and prizewinners.

After the judges have agreed a list of winning stories, the writers of listed and prizewinning stories will be researched from the entry records. The successful authors will then be emailed.

Any writer who wants help making an audio can enter and pay for the audio, asking for a free private online recording session on the entry form. They will be offered an appointment time on the next available Saturday morning.

Entry fees are £3 per audio, £3 per text, or £5 for a story entered as audio and text at the same time, seeking a prize in either section. No individual story may win two prizes, but a writer can win twice, with a different prize-winning work in each section.

Rules

• The contest is open to writers from any country, except volunteers for Wildfire Words.
• All entries must be entirely the writer’s own, unpublished work. Any previous print or online publication, including self-publication, disqualifies a work from the competition.
• Entries must be in English. Translations are allowed, but only if the writer translated their own work into English.
• Submit as many entries you like. Each piece should be no more than 150 words, and a separate file in Word, PDF, or plain text, and an entry fee must be paid for each piece.
• Entries may be made as text or as audio of the writer reading their own text. There are separate prizes for the text category and for the audio category.
• Each entry’s title should be at the top of the page, and its file name must be the same as its title.
• Do not put any identification on the work. Our website will match your entry title to your email address after the anonymous judging is complete.
• To maintain anonymous judging, Your entry must not contain a work that could be recognized by the judges from workshops, mentoring, or public readings.
• Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but an entry must be withdrawn in the event of it winning a prize or publication elsewhere. Entry fees are not refundable once an entry has been received.
• Work will not be returned, so please keep a copy.
• We are unable to give feedback on individual entries or on the results of the competition — the judge’s decisions are final.
• Results will be emailed by mid June to all who entered.
• Entry fees are £3 per audio, £3 per text, or £5 for a story entered as audio and text on the same entry form. No individual story may win two prizes, but a writer can, with a different prize-winning work in each section.
• Entries must be paid for on the entry form, and your entry file uploaded, by the closing time of 11.59 pm on 31 May 2026. When you have completed the entry form, uploaded your entry, and pressed submit, you will be asked to pay the entry fee by credit or debit card or using your PayPal account. In case of any difficulty in entering text or audio, please contact us.