Christmas Competition, 2019

Welcome to the page for entering the 2019 Friday Flash Fiction Christmas Competition. As usual, we are inviting you to submit a story of 100 words or fewer, not including the title. This year, we're not setting any sort of suggested theme – we're more than happy to receive anything you send. However, flash fiction should always be a story, it's not merely prose.

Last year's winner was Monique Cummings with her excellent The Snow Scene, and our tradition is that she, together with Friday Flash Fiction editor (and founder of Comely Bank Publishing) Gordon Lawrie, act as judges. We'll go through the entrants and pick out a short list of those we like best. Everything submitted and posted to the website in the competition period will be considered for the prize, so you can all see the entries for yourselves and see what you have to compete with.

After that we let our authors be the final judges. Immediately after entries have closed, Monique and Gordon will between them select a short list. Then, we'll be in touch with everyone who has ever submitted stories to Friday Flash Fiction (and allowed us to contact them) and they'll be asked to select their favourite. THAT'S YOU. The winner will be one with the most votes.

The Rules

1. Entry is free (as in "free")
2. All entries must be of no more than 100 words in length not including a title
3. Should be in the English language
4. Should not have been previously published by Friday Flash Fiction.
5. ​Closing date 23.59 GMT on Sunday 15th December 2019
6. Winner will receive $50 USD prize sponsored by Comely Bank Publishing or the equivalent in local currency paid electronically*
7. A short list will be selected by the judges, which will then be subject to the vote amongst the FFF contributors. The winner will be the story with the most votes, while the remainder will be awarded "Highly Commended" status.
8. Rights to all stories remain with the authors but FFF reserves the right to use prizewinner's and highly commended's stories for FFF publicity purposes elsewhere.
9. The winner will be announced as soon as possible after Christmas.​

*It will be necessary to pay the winner directly into their bank account, or using PayPal.

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The Judges

Coincidentally, although the competition is open to anyone in the world, both of our judges live in Edinburgh this year.

Last year's winner Monique Cummings is a young, hispanic writer living in Washington D.C. She enjoys writing fiction and poetry particularly. When she is not writing or studying, she dances ballet intensively.


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​Gordon Lawrie is the current editor of Friday Flash Fiction. He has published three novels, and a collection of short stories is due for publication in 2020.

​In addition, Gordon also runs Comely Bank Publishing, a small Edinburgh publishing house consisting of half a dozen authors. Comely Bank Publishing sponsors both Friday Flash Fiction and this Christmas Competition.

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Friday Flash Fiction is sponsored by

​A prize of $50.00 USD will be awarded to the story judged to be the best. Everyone else on the shortlist will be judged to be "Highly Commended". There is no entry fee, and you can enter several times over.​ As ever, the prize this year is sponsored by Comely Bank Publishing, who will also be featuring some of the best work submitted.

Entries are now open until 11.59pm on Sunday 15th December, 2019 GMT.

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Note to entrants: submitting an entry doesn't guarantee acceptance for publication – stories must continue to meet our basic standards. For details, see the "SUBMISSIONS GUIDANCE" on our Submissions page. Please bear in mind that, particularly during the Christmas Competition, we can't enter into discussions on the merit or otherwise of submissions.
It would also be unfair if one of the judges edited your story to make it acceptable.

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How to enter

1. Send your story via the STORYBOX on the Submissions page OR
2. Use the online entry form below.

Animation © Nevit Dilmen, via Wikimedia Commons