The Masters Review Spring Small Fiction Awards
//Submissions Close June 1//
We’ve long admired the mighty power of the compressed form, which is why we are expanding our search for the very best in small fiction. The Masters Review is excited to announce the new Spring Small Fiction Awards! This contest will honor a grand prize winner in three categories—Microfiction, Flash Fiction, and Sudden Fiction—by awarding $1,000 and online publication to each winner selected by by the magnificent K-Ming Chang! This year’s judge will be announced next week. A runner-up in each category will also be honored with a $200 prize and online publication.
For this contest:
— Microfiction is any story up to 500 words.
— Flash Fiction is any story between 501 and 1,000 words.
— Sudden Fiction is any story between 1,001 and 1,500 words.
We welcome up to two stories per submission, in any combination of the three categories. Please include both stories in one document.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
- Grand Prize Winners in each category receive $1,000 and online publication.
- Runners-up in each category receive $200 and online publication.
- Microfiction is any story up to 500 words.
- Flash Fiction is any story between 501 and 1,000 words.
- Sudden Fiction is any story between 1,001 and 1,500 words.
- Your $20 entry fee allows up to two stories. If submitting two stories, please include both stories in one document. If your two stories are from different categories, please check both relevant boxes in the submission form.
- Submitted work must be previously unpublished in any form. Reprints will be disqualified.
- Simultaneous and multiple submissions are allowed, though each submission requires a $20 entry fee.
- All submissions will be considered for publication in New Voices.
- This contest is for emerging writers only. Writers with book-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses are welcome to submit unpublished work, as are self-published authors.
- International submissions are allowed, provided the work is written primarily in English.
- Note our deadline: June 1, 2023.
- All submissions will receive a response by the end of August.
- Winners will be announced by the end of September.
- Friends, family, and associates of the final judge are not eligible for this award.
- A significant portion of the editorial letter fee goes to your feedback editor.
JUDGING
K-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is the author of The New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice novel Bestiary (One World/Random House, 2020), which was longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2021, her chapbook, Bone House, was published by Bull City Press. Her most recent book is Gods of Want (One World/Random House, 2022). Her next books are a novel titled Organ Meats (One World) and a novella titled Cecilia (Coffee House Press). She can be found birdwatching in California.
2022 Flash Fiction Contest Winners:
Judged by Kim Chinquee.
Winner:
“Out, Brief Candle” by Hannah Rose Roberts
Second Place Story:
“The Physiology of Arriving” by Michele Wong
Third Place Story:
“My Sister Versus Tomatoes” by Kate Barss
Honorable Mention:
“Sealskin” by Haley Kennedy
2021 Flash Fiction Contest Winners:
Judged by Stuart Dybek.
Winner:
“Agora é Sempre” by Tanya Perkins
Second Place Story:
“Play That Again” by John Glowney
Third Place Story:
“How to Develop (Film)” by Candice May
ACCEPTED IN BEST SMALL FICTIONS
Honorable Mention:
“Everywhere, All at Once” by Emily Roth
2020 Flash Fiction Contest Winners:
Judged by Sherrie Flick.
Winner:
“Crocodile” by Ashleigh Pederson
ACCEPTED IN BEST SMALL FICTIONS
Second Place Story:
“Consider the Shape of Your Fist” by Leah Dawdy
ACCEPTED IN BEST SMALL FICTIONS
Third Place Story:
“Heirlooms” by Amanda Jean Akers
Honorable Mention:
“Fire Season” by Vincent Chavez
2019 Flash Fiction Contest Winners:
Judged by Kathy Fish.
Winner:
“Homecoming” by Kathryn Phalen
Second Place Story:
“The Remains” by Felicity Fenton
Third Place Story:
“Simple Physics“ by Kevin Leahy
Honorable Mention:
“Observation Tube—McMurdo Station, Antarctica” by Justin Herrmann
2018 Summer Flash Fiction Contest Winners:
Winner:
“How to Spot a Whale” by Jacqui Reiko Teruya
ACCEPTED IN BEST SMALL FICTIONS
Second Place Story:
“Two Kinds of Neighborhoods” by Neil Cooney
Third Place Story:
“Rieb Kear (to Marry)” by Adam Nazaroff
2018 Spring Flash Fiction Contest Winners:
Winner:
“Ebenezer, Ebenezer” by Ariel Chu
Second Place Story:
“Out of the Fields” by Bryna Cofrin-Shaw
Third Place Story:
“Spies” by Timothy Schirmer
2017 Flash Fiction Contest Winners:
Winner:
“Out and Out” by Latifa Ayad
Second Place Story:
“Lions in The House” by Beejay Silcox