Published quarterly on the last day of January, March, June and September
Science Fiction Writing Contest
No Entry Fee
Word limit: 750
Deadline: JANUARY 15, 2016
Submissions: email to
brilliantflashfiction@gmail.com
Prizes:
50 euro first prize (or equivalent amount in your currency)
25 euro second prize
15 euro third prize
Judge: Dr. Erin Macdonald
Astrophysicist & Sci-Fi Lecturer Continue reading “SCIENCE FICTION WRITING COMPETITION!”
Congratulations to Ann-Marie Lindstrom, who won a Write Well Award for Becky’s Song, originally published in the September 2014 issue of Brilliant Flash Fiction. For details, check out Write Well Award and be sure to read Ann-Marie’s award winning story below.
Becky’s Song
By Ann-Marie Lindstrom
When I was a little girl, Mama always called me light-headed. I never did know what that meant. Look at my hair. It’s always been the color of mud. Never was light.
Now light-fingered I knowed. Cousin Billy Frank was light-fingered. Couldn’t take him into Mr. Hobbs’ store without his taking something weren’t his. Billy Frank had a sweet tooth. And them light fingers.
And light-hearted I know. Granny was light-hearted. She could sing songs that would make you feel like things was going to be better. They might not be good right then, but you knew they was going to be better. Continue reading “BFF Writer Wins Write Well Award”
Many thanks to the 253 writers from Australia, Canada, England, Guyana, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, Ukraine, United States (and other undisclosed locations) who entered this writing contest!
First Prize: Diane Donovan
Second Prize: Kirby Wright
Third Prize: Corinna Underwood
Honorable Mention: Helen Picard
Judge: Glenn A. Bruce
Scriptwriter, Novelist, Political Writer
FIRST PRIZE: The Strange Voyage of A Scarecrow, A Garden and Mr Crawfield by Diane Donovan
Judge’s comments:
I tend towards humor as, at the minimum, a device for relief. In this case, however, I found The Strange Voyage of A Scarecrow, A Garden and Mr Crawfield to be the cleverest writing of the lot. The premise is fresh and original, the execution fun and fairly precise, the use of language specific, and the tone whimsical. A good use of flash. Fun stuff.
The Strange Voyage of A Scarecrow, A Garden and Mr Crawfield
By Diane Donovan
Dear Mrs Crawfield,
I am writing this letter in my position as the Constable in Charge of Stapleton Police Station, and hope to set your mind at rest regarding the whereabouts of your husband, Harold.
You will recall that six days hence an earthquake of alarming severity occurred. This earthquake, while causing damage to many institutions, fortunately resulted in no loss of life.
Your husband was in his garden when the earthquake struck. He, along with his vegetable garden, various tools and a scarecrow, were shaken down a bank into the river that flows, very prettily, I’m sure, alongside your home. By some miracle the garden bed remained intact, conveying Harold rather as a raft would, rapidly downstream. The river being deep and wide took Harold and his garden through the countryside at a reasonable rate of knots (his words, dear Mrs Crawfield, and I hope they convey his excellent and undimmed sense of humour), resulting in many miles being covered over a period of four days. Continue reading “FREESTYLE WRITING – CONTEST RESULTS”
September Freestyle Writing Contest
No Entry Fee!
Word limit: 600
Deadline: SEPTEMBER 15, 2015
Submissions: email to
brilliantflashfiction@gmail.com
Prizes:
50 euro first prize (or equivalent amount in your currency)
25 euro second prize
15 euro third prize Continue reading “FREESTYLE WRITING CONTEST!”
First prize: Helen McMahon
Second prize: Toni Minoza
Third prize: Tim Roberts
Contest Judge:
Liz Nugent, author of Unravelling Oliver
FIRST PRIZE: Only Water by Helen McMahon
Judge’s comments: This beautifully written piece illustrates how every day, we have the opportunity to make a more equal society, but we allow our prejudices to get in the way. The narrator gives the homeless character a nobility and grace which make his/her avoidance of him all the more poignant.
Only Water
By Helen McMahon
You, crying, your mouth wide open, a silent howl. Like a child, in shock, the moment after a fall, before the hurt comes.
You sit in a shuttered doorway on the busy side street, the lower half of your body swaddled in a sleeping bag, filthy and ripped. Then the sound comes, the wail—a high, thin sound, unmanly. It catches me off-guard. I look at you. I hesitate. Then, though fearful, I cross the street to you. I kneel down in front of you. You do not see me. I say: are you okay? You do not answer. I reach across and put my palm on your cheek. I say: you poor man.
Slowly, you come from that place of grief, focus on my face. I take your hand. I say: come with me. I lead you down the street, taking you by the arm. You shuffle like an old man though you are young. In defiance of the manager’s hard looks, I sit you at a table in a coffee shop. I buy a pot of tea. You are surprisingly fussy about it. You insist, though your hands shake, on pouring your own milk. Continue reading “EQUALITY- WRITING CONTEST RESULTS”
FIRST PRIZE WINNER of 100 EURO:
Jessica Knauss
Contest Judge
Laurie Scavo
Brilliant Flash Fiction
Webmaster & Photographer
Read more about Laurie HERE!
FIRST PRIZE WINNER
Stairs to the Beach
By Jessica Knauss
Josie had the tunnel-staircase built because the children were fed up with the clifftop ocean view and no easy way to get to the beach below. To the children’s uproarious approval, I proposed a slide, so they could zip down onto the soft shore and get all their energy out swimming, building sandcastles, and trying to run on the tractionless surface of the sand. Then they would have to walk a mile or so around the cliff, back to the house, and I wouldn’t hear a peep out of them the rest of the day, I was sure. I could practice the viola or watch films that weren’t oriented toward children whenever I wanted.
But Josie insisted on the stairs to avoid long stretches of time when she couldn’t see her adopted dependents. In the beginning, it worked fairly well. All ten children loved hiking down the tunnel to be greeted by their own private piece of ocean, and by the time they trudged back up several hundred risers, all the sand had been knocked out of their crevices, so Roxanne didn’t have to do much cleanup in the foyer. But once they’d had time to tone their legs and exercise their lungs, they were shooting up that long staircase so fast, the sand had no time to dry, much less to let go of their sticky skin and sopping hair. Continue reading “PHOTO PROMPT – CONTEST RESULTS”
No Entry Fee, Unlimited Entries
Send us your stories
written on the theme of EQUALITY
Word limit: 300
Deadline: JUNE 15, 2015
Submissions: email to brilliantflashfiction@gmail.com
Judge: LIZ NUGENT, Author of Unravelling Oliver
liznugent.ie
Prizes: 50 euro first prize (or equivalent amount in your currency)
25 euro second prize * 15 euro third prize
Winning stories will be published in
Brilliant Flash Fiction.
First prize: Meaghan Hackinen
Second prize: Alan Morris
Third prize: Serena Molloy
Contest Judge
Ed Higgins, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Writing and Literature Ed Higgins has been teaching at George Fox University for over four decades. His classes have covered poetry, the modern novel, world literature, science fiction and much more. While officially retired now, he still teaches part-time. He’s also published an extensive body of his own poetry.
Here are his winning selections and why:
First Prize: “Cycling North Cascades Highway” by Meaghan Hackinen
I like the tightness of this piece, every word counts and intensifies the story. The imagery, too, is finely tuned, believable, fulsome without overwhelming other story elements. The narrator/protagonist comes off with panache and I love her wry voice. The Kerouac allusions might put someone off, but I found them apt and they contributed to the protagonist’s character. The kinetic imagery of the story’s close zooms down that hill with exhilaration—and I’m not even a cyclist.
Second Prize: “Life is Good” by Alan Morris
While a bit put off by the title here, fearing saccharine, I was quickly hooked. The dialogue seems real, as does the situation. The setting is nicely done with economy that’s supportive of the story. And the story’s ending affirmation is touching without slipping into feel-good cliché. The last line nicely snaps the lid on the whole story scene that’s been itself nicely played out. Continue reading “LIFE IS GOOD – CONTEST RESULTS”
Our Next Writing Challenge:
“Life is Good”
No Entry Fee
Unlimited Entries
Send us your stories written on the theme,
“Life is Good”
Word limit: 300
Deadline: January 15, 2015
Submissions: email to brilliantflashfiction@gmail.com
Prizes: 20 euro first prize (or equivalent amount in your currency)
10 euro second prize * 5 euro third prize
BRILLIANT FLASH FICTION 