The Winners

First of all, we’d like to thank everyone who participated in this event. You jumped through some hoops to do so–we know. To those of you who didn’t have a blog, thank you for creating one for this event. We hope you’ll keep writing on that blog. A special thanks to the writers who sent screwball pictures of yourselves. You are all wacky winners in our books. Thank you to the writers who sent your six-page bios. They were impressive–but not “brief”. You might find that we truncated your achievements, but only because we had to make room for everyone who traveled far and wide to join this marvelous mob. Thank you also to our judges–all talented, award-winning writers of flash fiction themselves–who brought sincerity, enthusiasm, wit and humour to their task.

As with every competition, there must be winners. Everyone likes to win. Winning is like a big, fat juicy pear; well, that’s how we see it anyway. You can find your own simile. Sadly, not everyone will be getting a pear, but we are very happy to celebrate our finalists and winners here on this page. But wait, we can do more than celebrate: the first six below will also be published as noted!

First Place

also “Best Title”

‘Funky Little Blaze Orange Pork Pie Hats’ by Michael Gillan Maxwell

Finger Lakes Region, NY (USA)

(to be published late June at Metazen)

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Second Place

also “Best Musical References”

‘Bird Repair’ by William Doreski

New Hampshire (USA)

(to be published in October at Flash Frontier)

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Third Place

also “Best Stream of Consciousness”

‘The Author and the Girl’ by Nora Nadjarian

Cyprus

(to be published mid-summer at Blue Five Notebook)

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Fourth Place

‘Dear–‘ by Rachel Van Blankenship

Phoenix, Arizona (USA)

(to be published in June at JMWW)

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Highly Commended

also “Best Mugging Advice”

‘You Who I’ve Cornered in an Empty Street’ by Nathan Alling Long 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA)

(to be published in June JMWW)

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Highly Commended

also “Best Gerontagogy”

‘All Proud’ by Tracey Upchurch

England (UK)

(to be published late summer at Blue Five Notebook)

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Top 15 Finalists

(in no particular order and including Long and Upchurch above)

‘Old and Free’ by K.S. Moore, Wales / UK

‘Under a Dented Skull’ by Tantra Bensko, California /USA

‘Few are Chosen’ by Sarah Ni Shuilleabhain, Ireland

‘she is seven’ by Madeleine m Slavick, New Zealand

‘Remembrances’ by W.F. Lantry, Washington, DC / USA

‘Ghost Frames’ by Kelly Grotke, Essex, Massachusetts / USA

‘You Can Remain Anonymous’ by Bud Smith, New York, NY / USA

‘Changing Course’ by Maggie Rainey-Smith, Wellington / New Zealand

‘Paris, 9th June 1794’ by Isabel Rogers, UK

‘All of it Returned’ by Abha Iyengar, India

‘The Night’ by Derek Osborne, Eastern Pennsylvania / USA)

‘For Doug’ by J.P. Reese, Texas / USA

‘It’s Cool in Katoomba’ by Piet Nieuwland, Whangerei / New Zealand

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