Flash Competition 2026 / Judges’ Report

 

The Pride Roars
Flash Competition 2026

Judges’ Report

First, some thanks – to the powerhouse that is Delphine Gauthier-Georgakopoulos who, together with Marie-Louise McGuinness, keep The Pride Roaring. Thanks also to the first readers for this competition – Hilary Ayshford, Joyce Bingham, and Nina Miller – who gave us a wonderful longlist of twenty stories to choose from. And finally, thank you to everyone who entered the competition – it has been a joy to read your words, and we are honoured you chose to send them to us.

We are deeply grateful to the European Writers Salon for their donation of a one-year membership for our winner and five one-month memberships for our placed and highly commended writers.

Our task as judges was to narrow twenty incredible stories down to ten for the shortlist, and then to three winners and three highly commended.  

The variety of pieces on our shortlist reflects a diversity of voices and perspectives. They run the gamut from dystopian stories mirroring the current state of the world, to carefully crafted fiction rife with surreal imagery and extended metaphor. Each piece will leave you with a lot to think about, to come back to read again for the deeper layers that are a vital aspect of flash. And for what isn’t said, but which you will be able to read in the white space of the stories, because that is at the heart of flash – what the reader brings to the unspoken.

 

As readers, we delighted in these stories, and as judges, we are immensely proud that you chose to submit these stories to us, and that we get to publish them. This Pride will continue to roar!

And so, on to our winners…

 

First Place – Something About My Father Who I Never Really Knew by Zoë Davis. This was a clear winner with all three judges scoring it highly. We all considered this piece to be a great example of what flash fiction can do – from the use of metaphor, to the surreality extended into normality, to the way it deals with emotions. Here are some of the judges’ comments – 

‘So much to read into, especially with that title. An imaginative way to talk about loss and disillusionment.’

‘The story isn’t spoonfed to the reader, and is all the better for that.’

‘A dense, metaphor-rich story that reveals new layers with every read.’

We are delighted to have such a great winning story. Congratulations Zoë! She will be invited to join our blogging collective as the newest member of Pride Roars. 

 

Second Place – We have a tie! Two stories had the same marks. Since we loved both of these stories, we decided they should be in joint second place. So, alphabetically by title we have Aiden Carthy Walks on Water by Karen Arnold and Liberty Lullaby by Anne Dorrien.

 

All the Judges agreed that Aidan Carthy Walks on Water is a great piece of flash writing, with great narrative and metaphor – and a wonderful last line! Here are some of the comments – 

‘This piece is classic flash: jumps into the middle of an intriguing story and leaves a twist at the end… a delightful, evocative read.’

‘I love this - the voice, the cinematic detail. The writing is beautiful.’

‘…rife with Christian mythology and metaphor mixed with teenage angst.’

 

In Liberty Lullaby, all the Judges agreed that the voice really stood out – it is a shorter piece that lets the narrative act as commentary on current affairs in a subtle way – and a great reminder that a piece doesn’t need to use the full word limit to be a winner. Here are some of the judges’ comments – 

‘I love the personification of liberty.’

‘I think there are great unspoken layers to this story.’

 ‘A heartbreaker of a story that hints … without explicitly stating...’

 

 

Highly Commended – We have three stories – while these stories didn’t place, they are worthy of mention for the quality of writing and creativity.

 

The Glass Between Us by Jenny Kingsley Emem – the Judges loved the power of this story, the movement in it, and the way it travels through time without ever losing the reader.

 

Gutted by JP Relph – the Judges loved the structure of the unanswered questions and the use of extended metaphor in this piece.

 

Was and Wasn’t by Nora Nadjarian – the Judges loved the imagery in this short piece and how it dealt with grief and trauma, and the way the ending moved into future understanding.

 

 

Congratulations to all! We loved running this competition and hope that it will be the first of many. 

 

Megan Hanlon

Fiona McKay

T. L. Tomljanovic