Judges' Guidance for the Christmas Competition
Here are the Judges' Competition Notes, an edited version of those originally sent out on previous occasions.
Thanks once again for agreeing to be judges for this FFF Competition. I promised that the job wouldn’t be onerous, and I’m sure that will prove to be the case.
For this contest, entries will be accepted from Saturday 29th November until the end of the day UK time on Friday 12th December 2025. As the competition opens to entries, this green banner will appear in the 100-Word Stories area of the website, and any story that appears from then until a similar red banner appears on the 12th December is eligible for consideration
Thanks once again for agreeing to be judges for this FFF Competition. I promised that the job wouldn’t be onerous, and I’m sure that will prove to be the case.
For this contest, entries will be accepted from Saturday 29th November until the end of the day UK time on Friday 12th December 2025. As the competition opens to entries, this green banner will appear in the 100-Word Stories area of the website, and any story that appears from then until a similar red banner appears on the 12th December is eligible for consideration
I’ll weed out any stories that are disqualified on grounds of poor English or (just possibly) poor taste, and – this year – those that who get the wordcount wrong. So the only ones you’ll have to consider will be those posted in that two week-long window ending at midnight on Friday 12th December.
The big difference this year is that every story MUST be exactly 100 words in length. I feed them into Scrivener, which is good at picking up those who forget, say, that Word can miscount sometimes. Hyphenated words count as one, but dash- or ellipsis-separated words count as two. But I might make a mistake, so please check your chosen favourites.
Inevitably there will be a lot of Christmas-themed entries. I have no view on those – it's entirely up to you as judges whether you think Christmas-themed stories have added value or otherwise. However, I hope you wouldn't discard an otherwise excellent entry just because it's not seasonal.
Personally, I feel that too many writers try to 'win' rather than writing good flash fiction. Our readers seem to go disproportionately for stories about pets or animals – I don't care for 'twee' at all. I'm really not telling you what to pick, but please be aware that some writers are trying to manipulate the judges, too. It happens in a free-to-enter contest. In any case, the ultimate winner is chosen by our voters; you're merely compiling a Short List of the best eight.
JUDGING CLASSIC FRIDAY FLASH FICTION COMPETITIONS (inc the Christmas Competition)
All you have to do is to choose around four or five stories from all of those on the website that you like. One of these should be the one you like best. I’d actually prefer if you chose a couple of reserves, though, in case someone else chooses the same story as you. Once we’ve negotiated six stories, one from each of you, that becomes our Short List, but we also assemble a small group of ‘Commended’ entries, which will mainly consist of those “nearly” stories that appear on more than one judge's list.
We’ll then put that Short List out to our voters (you’ll get to vote yourself) and the winning story will be the one that gets the most votes.
To allow voters a little time to read the Short List and vote, I’d appreciate if you could let me know of your choice as soon as possible after the entries close, ideally within 24-48 hours. Sometimes your choice will be obvious long before the closing date.
Your choice will be completely subjective of course. However, I also ask that our judges write a short 75-100 word statement saying why you chose that story. Some of you have done this sort of thing before, but others might find it a little daunting. So here are a few ideas for ways to fill up (roughly) 75 words…
But there's no point in writing an appreciation of the story until you know for sure your selection is OK; if someone else has chosen the same story, I might have to ask you to nominate your second choice instead. However, if you could provide that statement as soon as possible after your choice has been confirmed – within 24-48 hours, say – I’d appreciate it.
I hope this won't be too taxing, and if it is, please remember that I won't be bothering you again! And if your short critique saying why you chose the story that you did looks different in style from anyone else’s, so much the better. Your critiques will be published at the same time as the final results, after the voting has taken place.
Remember that your identities are secret from each other, so I encourage you to enter yourselves. After all, if you submit stories regularly and suddenly go silent during a competition, others might guess you're a judge!
Inevitably there will be a lot of Christmas-themed entries. I have no view on those – it's entirely up to you as judges whether you think Christmas-themed stories have added value or otherwise. However, I hope you wouldn't discard an otherwise excellent entry just because it's not seasonal.
Personally, I feel that too many writers try to 'win' rather than writing good flash fiction. Our readers seem to go disproportionately for stories about pets or animals – I don't care for 'twee' at all. I'm really not telling you what to pick, but please be aware that some writers are trying to manipulate the judges, too. It happens in a free-to-enter contest. In any case, the ultimate winner is chosen by our voters; you're merely compiling a Short List of the best eight.
JUDGING CLASSIC FRIDAY FLASH FICTION COMPETITIONS (inc the Christmas Competition)
All you have to do is to choose around four or five stories from all of those on the website that you like. One of these should be the one you like best. I’d actually prefer if you chose a couple of reserves, though, in case someone else chooses the same story as you. Once we’ve negotiated six stories, one from each of you, that becomes our Short List, but we also assemble a small group of ‘Commended’ entries, which will mainly consist of those “nearly” stories that appear on more than one judge's list.
We’ll then put that Short List out to our voters (you’ll get to vote yourself) and the winning story will be the one that gets the most votes.
To allow voters a little time to read the Short List and vote, I’d appreciate if you could let me know of your choice as soon as possible after the entries close, ideally within 24-48 hours. Sometimes your choice will be obvious long before the closing date.
Your choice will be completely subjective of course. However, I also ask that our judges write a short 75-100 word statement saying why you chose that story. Some of you have done this sort of thing before, but others might find it a little daunting. So here are a few ideas for ways to fill up (roughly) 75 words…
- Write about the plot, its conciseness, its ability to cover a lot of ground in 100 words;
- Write about how the story left you feeling after you’d read it;
- Write about characters that appealed;
- If appropriate, write about how the story conveyed the sense of a particular time or locality;
- Write about language, including particular phrases that appealed to you (which of course you can then quote to help make up the 75-100 words);
- Write about the connection to the photo.
But there's no point in writing an appreciation of the story until you know for sure your selection is OK; if someone else has chosen the same story, I might have to ask you to nominate your second choice instead. However, if you could provide that statement as soon as possible after your choice has been confirmed – within 24-48 hours, say – I’d appreciate it.
I hope this won't be too taxing, and if it is, please remember that I won't be bothering you again! And if your short critique saying why you chose the story that you did looks different in style from anyone else’s, so much the better. Your critiques will be published at the same time as the final results, after the voting has taken place.
Remember that your identities are secret from each other, so I encourage you to enter yourselves. After all, if you submit stories regularly and suddenly go silent during a competition, others might guess you're a judge!
Best wishes
Gordon Lawrie, Editor
Please note: I'm away for a few days this weekend, so there might be a slight delay
in posting stories. Normal service will resume asap.
in posting stories. Normal service will resume asap.
