FF150

Judges

Marilyn Timms reached the long list of the February 2023 Bath Flash Fiction Award and her work will be published in this year’s anthology. Marilyn has read her prizewinning Flash Fiction at three Cheltenham Literature Festivals. Her flash fiction has also won first prize at Bangor Literary Journal and third place at Southam Bookfest.
Details of Marilyn’s poetry writing are here.

Katherine Parsons won the New Voices First Pamphlet Award 2022, and as a result, her first poetry book Little Intimacy was published by Frosted Fire last November. Katherine is a PhD candidate at the University of Birmingham, where she specializes in conceptions of memory in contemporary literature.
Details of Katherines’s book are here.

Flash Fiction 150

Our first Flash Fiction — and prose poetry — competition runs until 30 April, and offers cash prizes of £150, £50 and £15. The entry fee is £3 each, or 3 entries for £7. All prizewinning, short list & long list entries will be published in wildfire words as text. All those successful writers will be invited to record their story in public Zoom events towards the end of May. The audios will be published next to their text.

Every entry will be read, and will be anonymous to the judges.

The triage judge is Marilyn Timms, who will read every entry and form a long list of entries. The long list will then be read by Katherine Parsons, who will select a shortlist and recommend prize winners.

Click here to submit

Why is a poetry ezine hosting flash fiction ?

Flash fiction uses skills that writing poetry, particularly narrative poetry, also depends on. It screams Show, not tell at an author. Inflexible word limits concentrate the mind, make us interrogate every word to see if it can be strengthened, excise superfluous words, distill the essence of whatever we write. If the narrative has rhythmic or poetic qualities, it can also be regarded as prose poetry.

Please send us your 150 words (not one more!) of prose on any subject. The title is part of the total.

Closing date: 30 April 2023

• The contest is open to all writers, except volunteers for Wildfire Words/Frosted Fire.
• All entries must be entirely the writer’s own, unpublished work.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.
• International entrants are welcome, but entries must be in English. Translations are not allowed, unless 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 or PDF, and an entry fee must be paid for each. We will also accept an audio file, if the writer wants to record their work as well as, or instead of, the text.
• Each entry’s title should be at the top of the page, and the 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 May 2022 to all who entered, and published on this website.
• The entry fee is £3 per flash fiction, or £7 for 3.
• Entries must be paid for on the entry form, and your entry file uploaded, by the closing time of 11.59 pm on 30 April 2023. 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.

Straight after you complete your payment, you will receive an email confirming all the titles you entered and the amount of your payment.

Entry Form

You retain all copyright, publishing rights and any other intellectual property rights to your flash fiction. By entering your work you grant to wildfire words — on a non-exclusive, non-commercial, royalty-free basis — the right to publish, broadcast, perform and reproduce your poem(s), worldwide for one year, for the purpose of promoting the competition.