Flash Fiction

1st prize: £750. 2nd prize: £250. 3rd prize: £100

1000 words max.

‘Get in. Get out. Don’t linger. Go on.’ This was Raymond Carver’s advice. He wrote short, sharp, stories, that made you care about what happened to his characters.

Make us care about your characters. Create a feeling of intimate collaboration between reader and writer. Transform us -the journey of a flash, though brief, must provide the reader with a feeling of having been changed, even if the character cannot or will not change.

Test yourself against an American author regarded as a master of Flash Fiction. Our judge, Meg Pokrass, has published eight short story collections and two novellas-in-flash. Her work has been included in 3 recent Norton Anthologies of flash fiction form: Flash Fiction International, New Micro, and the forthcoming Flash Fiction America. Her stories have been published in countless literary journals, including Electric Literature, and McSweeney’s and Five Points and SmokeLong Quarterly.

Meg is the Founding Editor of the award-winning Best Microfiction anthology series, Festival Curator for Flash Fiction Festival U.K., and Flash Challenge Creator and quarterly judge for Myslexia Magazine.

Send Meg your Flash Fiction. To be long listed (final 20) will be a peacock feather in your cap. To be shortlisted in the Top 10, may create a platform that literary agents will be interested in. To win, or place second or third, is a validation of your skills that might just get your work published in future.

The Prizes

First Prize: £750

Second Prize: £250

Third Place: £100

Top 10

The 10 shortlisted entries will be published in The Plaza Prizes Anthology, which will be launched at our awards ceremony in 2023.

Terms and Conditions

Rules

Rules

Deadline: 31st March 2023
Writers can enter any number of times. (£10.00 Subsequent entry: £5.00)
Flash Fictions can be in any style or form, but must be in English, and written for adults.
Entries must be submitted online. No email submissions. In exceptional circumstances, postal entry may be accepted, as long as a cheque made out for the correct entry fee is sent to The Plaza Prizes Ltd. (Full postal address is on Contact Form.)
Enter the correct version of your work. If you make a mistake, entry fees will not be refunded. (You will have to enter again.)

Eligibility

Read the rules carefully before entering the competition. Entry implies acceptance of all the rules and failure to comply will result in disqualification.

All entries are judged anonymously. Please do not include your name, address, phone number, email, website, twitter handle etc on the document or in the file name or it will be disqualified.

Entries will be disqualified if they are over the word limit, sorry, there will be no refund.

Entries must be entirely your own work.

Entries must NOT have been traditionally published in book or magazine form. Work that has been self-published on a website, blog or online forum is eligible for entry.

Entries must NOT have won in any other competition. If your entry was long-listed or shortlisted in other competitions it is eligible.

Simultaneous submissions are allowed but if an entry wins a prize elsewhere, is published or scheduled for future publication, prior to the date of prize giving, you must inform us to withdraw immediately. Entry fees will not be refunded.

Length

Maximum 1000 words.

Fees

£10.00 per Flash Fiction. (Subsequent entry: £5.00)

Entries must be submitted online via Submittable. No email submissions.

Format

Entries must be typed in Times New Roman 12 pt font, double-spaced with numbered pages and the Flash Fiction’s title on every page.
Save as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF file with the title as the file name. Do not include your name in the file name as this will lead to disqualification.
Max 2MB file. Include the word count for the Flash Fiction, top right, first page.
Do not add cover pages
No illustrated work

Judging

The judges’ decision is final. No individual correspondence can be entered into. Judges are unable to comment on individual entries. The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to change the judge without notice.

Copyright

Copyright remains with the author, but The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to publish extracts from any of the 10 shortlisted Flash Fictions for publicity purposes.

Results & Awards

The Flash Fiction 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd prize-winners will be announced on the website and social media in June 2023. The 10 short-listed entries will be published in The Plaza Prizes Anthology, which will be launched at our awards ceremony in August 2023.

Bursary Scheme

In 2022-2023, we will be offering offering FREE ENTRY BURSARIES across all our competitions to writers on low incomes, and from underrepresented groups. You can apply for a bursary if low income, class, race, age, gender, sexuality, caring responsibilities, location, disability, or mental and physical health affects your writing. We want to encourage equality to discover quality new writing from diverse voices. Click here to apply for our Bursary Scheme.

Finally

The Plaza Prizes reserves the right to amend the rules, deadlines, and judges, where it deems necessary. Any changes to the rules will be posted on our website.

If you have a query about eligibility, please contact: hello@theplazaprizes.com