Author Archives: Oxford Flash Fiction Prize

Jigsaw Pieces by Susan L. Edser

11 I feel the woman’s gaze infiltrate me, as she looks for secrets that only she suspects. There is a tension, which is held by the birdsong that drifts between us.  ‘I heard you sing,’ she says.  I am awkward and notice heat reddening my cheeks. I’m at that age when my body is growingContinue reading “Jigsaw Pieces by Susan L. Edser”

New Voice Award: Eomma, where are we going? By Yossi Eun-Chong Rosen

Eomma says it is time for bed. Eomma makes me pee in the urinal outside. Appa is asleep. The blanket hugs me. Eomma kisses my forehead. The candle dies.   – I can’t sleep tonight. The sheets are cold. My eyes are open. The moon is in the window.  – Eomma packs me potatoes for school.Continue reading “New Voice Award: Eomma, where are we going? By Yossi Eun-Chong Rosen”

The 2024 winter short-list

We are thrilled to announce our short list for the winter Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2024. Congratulations to all of the authors who reached the list and who will be awarded publication in our next anthology and a workshop with The Flash Cabin. If your story is listed, please do not identify which story belongsContinue reading “The 2024 winter short-list”

The 2024 winter long-list

We are thrilled to announce our long list for the winter Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2024. Congratulations to all of the authors who reached the list and for all those who entered this round. As always, we saw a wonderful range of genres, topics and stories from all over the world, and it was hugelyContinue reading “The 2024 winter long-list”

First Place: Solve the Problems that Fergus Denies he Caused by Malina Douglas

1. When Mary leads the four-year-old child, wrapped in a shawl he singed the edges of when he started a fire in the kitchen, with a bracelet around one wrist printed in shaky letters the name Fergus, to the steps of the orphanage, kisses the small exposed brow and walks away without looking behind her, toContinue reading “First Place: Solve the Problems that Fergus Denies he Caused by Malina Douglas”

Second place: Dad says Nobody Wins on the Teddy Picker by Karen Arnold

The wind blows straight in from the sea, stinging cold that makes my eyes run, but the chips are hot and salty, burning my fingers through the greasy paper. I search into every last corner, lick up each trace. Two dirty grey gulls watch from the railings running around the edge of the pier. OneContinue reading “Second place: Dad says Nobody Wins on the Teddy Picker by Karen Arnold”

Third place: My son plays Minecraft and talks at me for forty minutes straight while I try to write something profound by Jo Gatford

It was going to be about how I was thirty-something when I realised the colour of the sea is dependent on the colour of the sky and that some seas are not just grey and some others are not just brown and the ones we can’t afford to visit are not just cats-eye marble blueContinue reading “Third place: My son plays Minecraft and talks at me for forty minutes straight while I try to write something profound by Jo Gatford”

New Voice Award: But After This Week Everything Will Calm Down by Sam Rennie

—trying not to be one of those people constantly on their phone so I search things to do other than be on your phone and that’s how I end up on my phone. Do a puzzle, it suggests. Walk barefoot on wet grass. Start randomly screaming in public. Then I get a notification about a storm that is apparently onContinue reading “New Voice Award: But After This Week Everything Will Calm Down by Sam Rennie”

The 2023 summer short-list

We are thrilled to announce our short list for the summer Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2023, which features nine writers who will also be eligible for the ‘New Voice’ Prize. If your story is listed, please do not identify which story belongs to you, as the judges are hard at work making their decisions. SHORT LISTED STORIESContinue reading “The 2023 summer short-list”