Prior Contest Winners

‘It’s inspiring to read all the submissions and glance into the important moments of so many lives. You inspire me!   –B. Lynn Goodwin   Flash Memoir Winners 2019   Several submitters commented on the fact that you appreciated hearing comments from a human. From time to time, I submit too, and I agree that

EDITOR’S NOTE: Reading the Scintillating Starts you submitted was an eye-opening experience. I had trouble knowing whether many of them were memoir or fiction. That didn’t figure into my decision about the winners, but it made me realize that I could honor more people if we had separate contests for fiction and memoir. In 2016

Congratulations to our fourScintillating Starts WinnersFrank Joseph, Susan Keller,Chris Muniz, and Deborah L. Stautonand Honorable Mention Winner, Julie K. Royce Suggestion: Enjoy these stories. Bookmark this page. You may want to come back and reread this collection.     TO DO JUSTICEBy Frank Joseph Image by © Underwood & Underwood/CORBIS      Ever since I’m little

  Congratulations toFirst Place Winner, Elena Murphy;        Second Place Winner, Laura Ruth Loomis;and three Honorable Mention Winners,J.D. Blair, Eileen Granfors, and Pamela Kelso Seven Notes about the Judging: Character matters. Conflict matters. A fresh angle matters. Something needs to happen. Something needs to change or be resolved. The quality of the writing and the

Editor’s Note: The judges score independently. They don’t talk to each other. Why does this matter? If one qualified judge doesn’t like your piece, take heart and resubmit. Another one will. Just keep searching. Of course if you find things to fix in the meantime, do so. We hope you enjoy these three Flash Travel

Editor’s Note: One of our judges asked if the quality of submissions was much better now than it was two years ago. I told him I think so. There was also more consistency if the judge’s reactions than usual. The judges score independently. They don’t talk to each other. Why does this matter? If one

  Congratulations to these Honorable Mention Winners in Flash Fiction and Memoir. Which is which? Write to Lgood67334@comcast.net with a reason why it matters and I’ll probably tell you. Meantime, revel in these worlds. ever Too Late: A 62-Year-Old Goes From Wannabe to Wife (tentative title), which has been picked up by Koehler Press.   Such

Congratulations toFirst Place Winner, Janet RobinsonSecond Place Winner, Jonathan Werre And Honorable Mention Winners, Shannon Brown You make me glad we held a separate contest for MG, YA, and NA. Five Notes about the Judging: Readers need to care about your protagonist by the end of the first page.  The potential for intense, hypercritical (to

Editor’s Note: The judges score independently. They don’t talk to each other. Why does this matter? If one qualified judge doesn’t like your piece, take heart and resubmit. Another one will. Just keep searching. Of course if you find things to fix in the meantime, do so. On behalf of the judges and me, we