LET’S BE BRILLIANT!

2023 Brilliant Writing Contest

Judged in-house by Brilliant Flash Fiction editors, our next writing contest has no theme—only a request for brilliant, beautiful writing.

Although we accept international entries, only stories written in English will be considered. Writers of all ages and levels of experience are welcome to submit.

No Entry Fee

Word limit: 400 words, excluding title

Deadline: April 15, 2023

Submissions: email to bffwritingcontest@gmail.com

Awards:
$200.00 first prize
$100.00 second prize
$50.00 third prize

$20.00 and publication on our website for shortlisted stories

Continue reading “LET’S BE BRILLIANT!”

2022 WRITING CONTEST RESULTS

Judge Pamela Painter had the difficult task of choosing a winner, two finalists, and shortlist for this year’s writing contest. We received over 1,000 international entries that kept our editors busy for months. Special thanks goes out to Assistant Editor Charline Poirier for her tireless efforts and, of course, we’d like to thank every writer who submitted an entry.

FIRST PLACE: MARSH OMEN AUGURY

Judge’s Comments: “The unstable situation is introduced right off in a superb first sentence when thirty-three egrets appear as an omen and the locals call in the narrator to interpret it. The natural world of the narrator is filled with the sun, swamp flies, silky mud, reeds and tidal creeks, a keeled water snake, a gator and a hard-shelled turtle—and the egrets that s/he reads for The Truth, which the locals really do not want to hear. They are happy with a half-truth they celebrate with spaghetti dinners and swallow as easily as communion wafers. The startling ending arrives but the writer has prepared us for it well.”

Marsh Omen Augury
By L. Michelle Souleret

Thirty-three egrets flew into the salt marsh last night and lined up in a perfect row along an old, slanted pier. The locals chattered nervously at this omen and called me in.

I wade out, ankle-deep then to shinbone in the sun-warmed water, and stand all afternoon, watching. The white birds flap and preen and shuffle, but stay in formation. I wait. The sun passes overhead and swamp flies patter against my arms. My feet sink further into the silky mud. A keeled watersnake ripples past. I wait and I watch and I wait until, at last, a pattern emerges in the sinuous curves of the egrets’ necks and their awkward shifts from foot to foot. Meaning jangles into my brain with the snapping jaw-strength of a gator and the rightness of a hard-shelled turtle in the sun. I fall to my knees, choking, and cough out a glossy tangle of Truth.

Continue reading “2022 WRITING CONTEST RESULTS”

WELCOME 2022 WRITING CONTEST

Prompt: None – Let your imagination run wild
No Entry Fee
Word limit: 500 words, excluding title
Deadline: April 15, 2022
Submissions: email to bffwritingcontest@gmail.com

Awards:
$200.00 first prize
$100.00 second prize
$50.00 third prize

$20.00 and publication on our website for shortlisted stories

Judge: Pamela Painter

Continue reading “WELCOME 2022 WRITING CONTEST”

THE WAIT IS OVER…

It’s Here!

Our second print anthology, Branching Out: International Tales of Brilliant Flash Fiction is ready to ship. The brilliant stories in this collection—all 300 words or less—are an eclectic selection of gems that will inspire flash fiction writers everywhere.

Branching Out features the work of 67 authors from Australia, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, Nigeria, the Philippines, Scotland, and the United States.

Selected from 350 international submissions, these unique tales will entertain you and inspire your own writing.

To order your copy, please donate $12 on our website Home Page by clicking the Donate button on the right hand side. If you have questions, or would like to confirm your order, please contact Dawn at bffnonprofit@gmail.com. (Please note that all book orders outside the USA will be subject to extra shipping charges.)

If you’d like a double dose of quality flash fiction, for a donation of $20 we’ll send you Branching Out and also a copy of our first print anthology, Hunger: The Best of Brilliant Flash Fiction, 2014-2019.

Your donations finance our nonprofit operations, and we deeply appreciate your financial support.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Our second print anthology is coming soon…

Brilliant Flash Fiction wants your best and most brilliant 300-word flash fiction stories for a print anthology set to launch autumn 2021.

Your story must be original and unpublished. One submission per author, please.

Theme: None. Let your imagination run wild. All genres accepted.

Word Count: 300 words or less

Deadline: May 14, 2021

Author Payment: One complimentary copy of the print anthology

Continue reading “CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS”

ON-THE-SPOT WRITING CONTEST

Write a Story in One Hour

Want a chance to have your original flash fiction published in our January 2021 issue? Invest an hour writing original flash fiction (200-1,000 words) based on a prompt given via Zoom.

Participate from anywhere in the world.

Eventbrite Registration Required. Go to: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/on-the-spot-writing-contest-tickets-121262313845.

This is a fundraising event. No entry fee is required, but a $10 donation to Brilliant Flash Fiction would be appreciated. Donations may be made on our website by clicking the Donate button.

Word limit: 200-1000 words, excluding title

Zoom call: 11:30 AM (Mountain Standard Time), Saturday, November 7

LIBRARIANS’ CHOICE – WRITING CONTEST RESULTS

library photoThe Librarians’ Choice contest was held February 24-May 30, 2020, and evoked a bit of sadness that we can no longer wander the aisles of public libraries.

Contest Judges Anne Macdonald (based in the Poudre River Library District, Fort Collins, Colorado) and Molly Thompson (Front Range Community College Librarian, Larimer Campus, Fort Collins) chose a “Lost in the Library” prompt, and 192 international writers submitted a wide range of creative entries.

Brilliant Flash Fiction extends many thanks to the writers who participated, and a giant thank-you to the judges who volunteered their time to select three prizewinners. Continue reading “LIBRARIANS’ CHOICE – WRITING CONTEST RESULTS”

LIBRARIANS’ CHOICE WRITING CONTEST

lost in the library

Prompt: Lost in the Library
No Entry Fee
Word limit: 300-750 words
Deadline: MAY 30, 2020
Submissions: email to bffnonprofit@gmail.com

Awards:
$100.00 first prize
$30.00 second prize
$25.00 third prize
Judges: Librarians Anne Macdonald and Molly Thompson

Continue reading “LIBRARIANS’ CHOICE WRITING CONTEST”

“WOW US” – WRITING CONTEST RESULTS

This writing contest was a lot of fun for the staff at Brilliant Flash Fiction. The entries were judged in-house and provided us with months of reading pleasure. We would like to thank the 350 writers who took the time to share their creativity and brilliance with us. Choosing a shortlist and three prize-winners was a difficult task.

IMG_6939First Prize: LIGHT THE DAMN FIRE by Eileen Malone
Second Prize: Calculus by Suzanne Freeman
Third Prize: Gustav Mahler’s Nipples by Laton Carter

Judges: Brilliant Flash Fiction staff
Theme: None!

 

First Prize: LIGHT THE DAMN FIRE

Assistant Editor Ed Higgins’ comments: As novelist and short-story writer Richard Harding Davis observed: “The secret of good writing is to say an old thing a new way or to say a new thing an old way.” Eileen Malone’s story carries the marks of both. The plot and plotting of the betrayed vengeful wife is, of course, a much repeated tale. Malone reinfuses this old nugget with a realism of setting as well as giving her protagnist-narrator a believable infusion of emotional hurt by a betraying husband. All of which sets the story up for the “new thing” twist on good ‘ol revenge. In the couple’s get-away cabin the wife sets alight the stuffed fireplace—but with the vent closed. Continue reading ““WOW US” – WRITING CONTEST RESULTS”

“WOW US” WRITING CONTEST!

IMG_6488Prompt: None. Let your imagination run wild
No Entry Fee
Word limit: 300 words, excluding title
Deadline: SEPTEMBER 15, 2018
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
Judges: Brilliant Flash Fiction staff
Continue reading ““WOW US” WRITING CONTEST!”