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Christmas Competition, 2020

Each year, we at Friday Flash Fiction hold a Christmas Competition for new, original stories of 75-100 words in length. (Newcomers should be aware, though, that we are essentially a 100-word site, so try to be near that mark.) Entry is free, and there's a prize of 50 USD in the winner's own currency. Payment is usually made by PayPal.
THE FORMAT

The Christmas Competition uses a long-standing format. The previous year's winner (in this case Antonia Rachel Ward) and I draw up a Short List of five or six stories we think are best. It's purely subjective, of course, but if you're looking for an idea of what makes good flash fiction, there's some help here. After that, the voters (our active circulation list) then get to choose the one they like best, which will win the prize of £50 in the winner's own currency.
TIMING

Entries will be accepted from  Tuesday 1st December until 23:59 on Friday 18th December 2020. At this point, the judges will take a few days to draw up the Short List, which we hope to announce in the run-up to Christmas. Then, around the Christmas period itself, we'll give each person on our mailing list just a few days to vote for their favourite story, and the winner will be the one that gets the most votes. The result will be announced as soon possible thereafter.
The Rules
  1. Entry is free (as in "free")
  2. All entries must be of 75-100 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, or anywhere else before 1st December 2020.
  5. Entries must be submitted through the STORYBOX on the Submissions page. Entries that are emailed, or sent as a Word document, will not be accepted.
  6. Each individual is limited to a maximum of three entries.
  7. ​Closing date 23.59 GMT on Friday 18th December 2020.
  8. Winner will receive £50.00 prize or the equivalent in local currency paid electronically*
  9. A short list will be selected by the judges, which will then be subject to the vote amongst the FFF voters. The winner will be the story with the most votes, while the remainder will be awarded "Highly Commended" status.
  10. By submitting to Friday Flash Fiction grants non-exclusive publishing sights to publish. This means that rights to all stories remain with their authors, but FFF reserves the right to use prizewinner's and highly commended's stories for FFF publicity purposes elsewhere.
  11. Wilful breaches of any of the above rules will result in disqualification and invalidation of all submissions.
*It will be necessary to pay the winner directly into their bank account, or using PayPal.
​A prize of £50.00 will be awarded to the story judged to be the best. There is no entry fee, and you can enter up to three times.​

Entries are now open until 11.59pm on Friday 18th December, 2020 GMT.
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 competition itself, 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.