WELCOME TO THE 2018 NFFD COMPETITION. 

The 2018 National Flash Fiction Day Competition runs February 15 – April 30.

Send your best 300-word story * Cash prizes * Three categories this year

 

Adult (19+)

First Prize: $1000

Second Prize: $400

Third Prize: $100

Judges: Tracey Slaughter and Sue Wootton

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Youth (18 and under)

First Prize: $200

Second Prize: $100

Third Prize: $50

Judges: Tim Jones and Patrick Pink

 

Te reo Māori Prize

Adult

$250

Youth

$100

Judge: Vaughan Rapatahana

 

Winners will be announced June 22 at the National Flash Fiction Day celebrations, and all winners are invited to attend and share their stories.

NFFD 2018 in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Northland and Wellington

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HOW TO ENTER

To enter the 2018 National Flash Fiction Day competition, please follow these easy steps:

Payment

1. Make your online payment here:

ANZ / National Flash Fiction Competition/ Acct No. 06-0350-0849733-00
include ‘Surname/ First initial’ as a reference

2. Once you’ve transferred your entry fee, send proof of payment (a screen shot will do – see the link provided) along with your NFFD story/ stories to nationalflash@gmail.com.
3. You will receive confirmation of your entry within 72 hours. If you do not hear from NFFD, please email again.
4. All entries must be received electronically. If you are not online and wish to submit, please have a friend submit via email.

 

2017 fees:

19+ category: $10.00 per story or $24.00 for 3 stories (3 stories max per entrant)

Youth (up to 18 years) category: $7.00 for 1-3 stories (3 stories max per entrant) — one fee for up to 3 stories!

 

SUBMISSION GUIDLINES

(See General Rules for further details)

• Submissions open 15 February – 30 April 2018
• Competition open to all NZ citizens and residents
• Open competition; no theme or prompt
• Only previously unpublished work will be considered (see General Rules)
• Deadline for submissions: 30 April 2018 (midnight)
• Word limit for all submissions (all categories): 300 excluding title
• 1.5 or double spaced, please
• No font requirements, but make it clean – no fancy fonts!
• Note: individuals may enter both the English and the Māori language competitions – see next bullet.
• Entrants may submit works in both the English and the Māori language competitions; they will be treated as separate entries and judged as such; please send separate emails indicating your payment for each if you submit work in both categories.
• Maximum 3 stories per entrant in each category; if you submit more than one story for one category (3 in English, for example, or 3 in Māori), please include those submissions in one document. Two separate documents for each set of submissions.
• Electronic submissions only, emailed to nationalflash@gmail.com 
• Please indicate in the Subject line of the email if yours is a youth English, adult English, youth te reo Māori or adult te reo Māori submission.
• Submissions must be sent as attachments (not in the body of the email)
• Send one of the following formats: .doc, .docx, .rtf; please, no pdfs.
• Please, no pdfs!
• Submissions must be received no later than midnight, 30 April 2018.
• Your name may be on the email and any enquiries made to NFFD in the gmail account, but do not include your name or contact info on the attachments. Any submissions with author name on the attachment with the story text will be disqualified.
• Judges’ decisions are final. No feedback will be offered on an individual basis.
• Please note that family members and close personal friends of the judges are not eligible to submit.
• Winners and short-listed stories will be published in a special winter edition of Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction.

All entries will be assessed by NFFD committee, and the judges will create the Long List (late May) and Short List (early June), and select winners.

Long lists for all competitions will be announced in late May and shortlists in early June. Winners will be announced on National Flash Fiction Day, June 22.

 

GENERAL RULES

1. NFFD reserves the right at its total discretion to reject any entry in the Competition and to verify the validity of any entry or vote. All decisions of the NFFD shall be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
2. Entries must be original, previously unpublished pieces of work written by the person who submits the piece of work. Published means anything that has already appeared anywhere in print or online, including personal websites or blogs.
3. Entries cannot be altered or changed after they have been submitted.
4. NFFD accepts no responsibility for late, lost or misdirected entries.
5. NFFD is unable to return submitted entries. Entrants are advised to keep a copy of their entry for their records.
6. The judges’ decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
7. The judges reserve the right to not award prizes, based on their judgment of the quality of submissions.
8. Winners will be announced June 22 at the NFFD award ceremonies and all winners are invited to attend and share their stories in their province NFFD 2018 celebrations held in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Northland and Wellington.
9. A selection of entries may be published in a special winter edition of Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction. Writers retain the copyright to their submitted short story regardless of whether or not it is chosen for publication. NFFD retains unlimited use of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place Short Story (all categories) for an unlimited period of time for any promotion or publication.
10. The winners’ names, entry details, biographical information and photographs may be required by NFFD and will be used for publicity/promotional purposes without compensation. Entrants consent to this use of their details by entering the competition.
11. The NFFD association, its committee members and its related agencies shall not be liable for any loss, damage or injury suffered or sustained (including but not limited to direct or consequential loss or loss arising from negligence) arising directly out of or in connection with the competition or any prize.

 

Entry constitutes acceptance of all National Flash Fiction Day Competition Rules and Guidelines.

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THE 2018 COMPETITION JUDGES

TRACEY SLAUGHTER and SUE WOOTTON, Category for ages 19+

Tracey Slaughter’s latest collection of short fiction deleted scenes for lovers (VUP) was released to acclaim in 2016. Her short stories have received numerous awards, including the international Bridport Prize and two BNZ Katherine Mansfield Awards, and her flash fiction has been short-listed in the Bath Flash Fiction Prize. In 2015 she won the Landfall Essay Prize, and in 2010 she received the Louis Johnson New Writer’s Bursary. She lives in Cambridge and teaches Creative Writing at Waikato University, where she edits the literary journal Mayhem.

 

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Sue Wootton lives in Dunedin where she writes fiction and poetry and, as a PhD candidate at the University of Otago, is researching the importance of literature to a holistic view of health and wellbeing. Her debut novel, Strip (Mākaro Press), was long-listed for the fiction prize in the 2017 Ockham NZ Book Awards, and her most recent publication, The Yield (Otago University Press), is long-listed in the 2018 poetry category of the awards. She is the selecting editor for the Otago Daily Times Weekend Poem column and edits the weekly Health Humanities blog Corpus: Conversations about Medicine and Life, found at corpus.nz. Sue has won several awards for her writing. Read more on her website: suewootton.com.

 

 

TIM JONES and PATRICK PINK , Youth Category: ages 18 and under

 

VAUGHAN RAPATAHANA, for the te reo Māori prize, youth and adult  

Vaughan Rapatahana continues to commute between Hong Kong SAR, Philippines and Aotearoa New Zealand. He is widely published across several genres in Māori, English and other languages. He was a semi-finalist in the Proverse Prize for Literature in 2009, highly commended in the 2013 erbacce poetry prize (from 6000+ entrants) and won the inaugural Proverse Poetry prize in 2016, the same year his poetry collection Atonement was nominated for a National Book Award in Philippines. This year, he is also guest editing the March Pasifika issue of Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction. Rapatahana has a PhD in existential philosophy from University of Auckland.

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PAST JUDGES 

The 2017 competition judges were Emma Neale and Michael Harlow (adult category) and Heather McQuillan and Fleur Beale (youth category).

2017 winners here (adult) and here (youth).

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The 2016 competition judges were James Norcliffe (more at his website and at his New Zealand Book Council page) and Elizabeth Smither (more at her New Zealand Book Council page).

2016 competition winners here.

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The 2015 competition judges were Owen Marshall (more can be found at his New Zealand Book Council site and at his website) and Fiona Kidman (more can be found at her New Zealand Book Council site and at her website).

2015 competition winners here.

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