Judges' Guidance: Edinburgh Festival Competition
Here are the Judges' Competition Notes, a revised and 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.
Entries will be accepted from 3rd August until the end of the day UK time on Friday 16th August 2024. I’ll weed out any stories and poems that are disqualified on grounds of length, poor English or (just possibly) poor taste, and the only ones you’ll have to consider will be those posted in the two week-long windows ending at midnight on Friday 16th August.
JUDGING CLASSIC FLASH FICTION COMPETITIONS
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 on 16th August, 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 70-100 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 75-100 words…
If you could provide that statement as soon as possible after we've finalised the Short List, I’d appreciate it.
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.
One thing I would like you to keep in mind, though. This is a site for stories of 100 words or just under. Although we do accept much shorter stories, judges should mark down anything under 85-90 words. A story that only just scrapes over the lower limit is likely to have begun as something shorter and been added to; it's not been created for FFF.
If all of this sounds demanding, I promise it won’t be. I certainly hope it won't be. 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!
Entries will be accepted from 3rd August until the end of the day UK time on Friday 16th August 2024. I’ll weed out any stories and poems that are disqualified on grounds of length, poor English or (just possibly) poor taste, and the only ones you’ll have to consider will be those posted in the two week-long windows ending at midnight on Friday 16th August.
JUDGING CLASSIC FLASH FICTION COMPETITIONS
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 on 16th August, 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 70-100 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 75-100 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).
If you could provide that statement as soon as possible after we've finalised the Short List, I’d appreciate it.
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.
One thing I would like you to keep in mind, though. This is a site for stories of 100 words or just under. Although we do accept much shorter stories, judges should mark down anything under 85-90 words. A story that only just scrapes over the lower limit is likely to have begun as something shorter and been added to; it's not been created for FFF.
If all of this sounds demanding, I promise it won’t be. I certainly hope it won't be. 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.
