Here’s an annual flash fiction contest for unpublished stories up to 1,000 words!
Leesa Cross-Smith will select three winning stories
Each winning writer will be awarded $1,000
Here are the details below
GUIDELINES:
Open September 1 to November 1
CRAFT submissions are open to all writers
International submissions are allowed
Fiction only!
Please submit work in English only
1,000 word count maximum—flash fiction only
We review literary fiction, but are open to a variety of genres and styles—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft
Previously unpublished work only—we do not review reprints, including self-published work, for contests
We allow simultaneous submissions—writers please notify us and withdraw your entry if your work is picked up elsewhere
$20 reading fee per entry allows up to two stories of 1,000 words or fewer each—if submitting two stories, please put them both in a SINGLE document
We allow multiple submissions—please submit each set of two flash stories as a separate submission accompanied by a reading fee
All entries will also be considered for publication in CRAFT
All submissions must be made via Submittable
All entrants will receive an exclusive digital compilation next year that includes: the winning pieces with Leesa Cross-Smith’s introductions and the winners’ craft essays; the editors’ choice winners; excerpts from finalist pieces; and more
Please, please, double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12 pt font
Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable)
We do not require blind submissions
We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason
Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication: work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review (you will be refunded, less fees)
Friends, family, and associates of the judge are not eligible for consideration for the award.
AWARDS
The writers of the three winning flash fiction pieces will each receive:
$1,000 award and a bundle of the Rose Metal Press Field Guides
Publication in CRAFT, with an introduction by Leesa Cross-Smith, and an Author’s Note (craft essay) to accompany the story
A micro-interview with our flash fiction section editor, Kristin Tenor
The $600 editors’ choice round:
$150 each and publication to four stories we just can’t let go
Leesa Cross-Smith is a homemaker and writer from Kentucky. She is the author of So We Can Glow (Grand Central Publishing, 2020), Whiskey & Ribbons (Hub City Press, 2018), Every Kiss a War (Mojave River Press, 2014), and the forthcoming This Close to Okay (Grand Central Publishing, 2021). Every Kiss a War was a finalist for both the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction (2012) and the Iowa Short Fiction Award (2012). Her short story “Whiskey & Ribbons” won Editor’s Choice in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest (2011) and was listed as a notable story for storySouth’s Million Writers Award. The novel Whiskey & Ribbons was longlisted for the 2018 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and listed among Oprah Magazine’s “Top Books of Summer.” She was a consulting editor for Best Small Fictions 2017. Her work has appeared in Oxford American, Best Small Fictions 2015, NYLON, Alaska Quarterly Review, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, and many others. Find more at LeesaCrossSmith.com.
