PRIZES 

First $1,000

Second $400

Third $100

JUDGES

The 2021 judges for the national competition are acclaimed poet and novelist Diane Brown and prize-winning novelist, essayist and anthologist Paula Morris.

The international youth competition is guest judged in 2021 by poet Kerry Lane and curated by the youth journal fingers comma toes.

Diane Brown is a novelist, memoirist, and poet who runs her own creative writing school, Creative Writing Dunedin.  Her publications include two collections of poetry, Before The Divorce We Go To Disneyland and Learning to Lie Together; a novel, If The Tongue Fits, and verse novel, Eight Stages of Grace, a travel memoir, Liars and Lovers, a prose/poetic memoir, Here Comes Another Vital Moment and a poetic family memoir, Taking My Mother To The Opera. Her latest book is a long poetic narrative, Every Now and Then I Have Another Child, Otago University Press, 2020.  Diane will be talking about her newest work at the 2021 Fringe Festival and discussing the bending of boundaries in poetic narratives at the 2021 Dunedin Readers and Writers Festival. In 2013 she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to writing and education. She lives in Dunedin with her husband, author Philip Temple.

Paula Morris MNZM (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whatua, Aotearoa New Zealand) is an award-winning fiction writer and essayist from Auckland. Her most recent book, Shining Land: Looking for Robin Hyde, a collaboration with photographer Haru Sameshima, is longlisted for the 2021 Ockham NZ Book Awards. Paula is co-editor of the 2020 anthology Ko Aotearoa Tātou | We Are New Zealand and, with Alison Wong, the forthcoming A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa NZ. An Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, where she directs the Master of Creative Writing, Paula also teaches creative writing at festivals, schools and community programmes. She is the founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature, and serves on the boards of the Coalition for Books, the Māori Literature Trust, the Mātātuhi Foundation and the NZ Book Awards Trust.

Youth competition judge Kerry Lane is a poet and playwright living by the sea in Ōtepoti, Aotearoa. Current projects include a puppet theatre piece about Minnie Dean, a long-form podcast about the end of the world, and an experimental poetry-ish project about memory. 

HOW TO ENTER

Please note: The youth competition is hosted by the youth journal fingers comma toes and operates under the same genergal guidelines and time line (submissions through 30 April, 2021; awards on 22 June). For the free and international youth competition please go here.

To enter the 2021 National Flash Fiction Day competition in the adult category, 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 phone capture or 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.

2021 fees: $10.00 per story or $24.00 for 3 stories (3 stories max per entrant)

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

(See General Rules for further details)

• Submissions open through 30 April 2021
• 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 2020 (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!
• Maximum 3 stories per entrant; please include your submissions in one document
• Electronic submissions only, emailed to nationalflash@gmail.com
• 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 2021
• Your name may be in 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.
• Long lists will be announced mid-May and shortlists in early June.
• Winners will be announced on National Flash Fiction Day, June 22.
• Winners and short-listed work will be published in a special winter edition of Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction.

 

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. Partners, parents and children of the NFFD Central Committee and current judges are not eligible to enter the competition
9. 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 2019 celebrations held in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Northland and Wellington.
10. A selection of entries will 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.