Category Archives: Competition

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”

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”

—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”

Are you looking for a flash of inspiration this autumn? Do you want to get into a better writing habit but not get hung up on word counts? It’s the season for cosy nights, glowing fires, warm soups, fairy lights, fireworks and NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) happens every year in November, and we want toContinue reading “Ignite: 30 days of flash fiction course”

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”

We are thrilled to announce our long list for the summer Oxford Flash Fiction Prize 2023. Congratulations to all of the authors who reached the list and for all those who entered this round. We saw a wonderful range of genres, topics and stories from all over the world, and it was hugely competitive. ManyContinue reading “The 2023 summer long-list”

Raw talent is a precious gem waiting to be discovered. It is the spark that ignites the imagination. The unpolished brilliance that holds the potential to captivate readers.  At the Oxford Flash Fiction Prize, we believe in fostering and encouraging these emerging voices. So we are thrilled to announce an increase in prize money forContinue reading “The Power of Raw Talent: New Voice Prize increases to £400”

Lemonade I hear ‘im before ‘e arrives on the street, bottles rattling together like bones. Mam’s in the kitchen holding onto a cuppa tea like it’s a life raft, eyes sore and swollen as lemons with all the cryin’. She kicked Sammy out last night – caught ‘im spyin’ on Kel as she got readyContinue reading “First Place: Popman’s bin by Maria Thomas”

country kid in country clothes comes to the city to revel and rebel in ways his Christian parents would disown him for, but they won’t ever know because that was the whole point in coming here, to graze among the flowing queens and exaggerated queers and all the other seductive strangers, more kin to himContinue reading “Second place: City rat by Jennifer McMahon”

Whooping cough. That was the first thing my sister gave me. Me, with my crushed-velvet flesh and sea creature fingers, her with thick bunches and dungarees. I was four months old but Mum fetched the story down so often I could almost smell the vomit-scent cellular blanket. Mum had to suck mucus from my noseContinue reading “Third place: The things my sister gave me by Abigail Williams”