This autumn,1248 writers entered our 22nd Award. Our team reads the entries as they come in, during the four months of the contest, and they are poised to deal with any last minute rush. We all enjoyed reading so many great stories on many different subjects.Thanks to everyone who entered from the 38 countries listed below.

Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Republic of Korea, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Thank you also to everyone who entered for supporting the Award in these difficult times. The Last Minute Club on the final day is always a wild ride. And the badge this time was a sophisticated black and gold. We appreciated all who sent in stories at any time, early or later, or at the last minute. Some of you said, although you weren’t longlisted, it was worth entering for the experience. Others said they had been successful in reaching the longlist for the first time after many attempts.As someone who enters big contests myself and is frequently not selected in lists, I know it’s a disappointment not to be chosen. We say it often, but it is always true that it is very difficult to whittle the entries down to a final long list of 50 stories from so many very good and inventive pieces. Big thanks to our 22nd Award judge, writer, teacher and editor from the UK, Emily Devane for selecting the final twenty for the shortlist, for choosing the winners and for her excellent report.

You can read these brilliant winning stories on our winners’ page. Many congratulations to the top five. The first prize goes to Kathy Hoyle from the UK for her story ‘The Metamorphosis of Evaline Jackson’, second prize goes to Sarah Freligh from the US for her story ‘McDonald’s’, third prize to Kathleen Latham from the US for ‘Fourth Grade Science Lession, Chickasaw City, Alabama’ and the two highly commended. Debra A Daniel from the US for ‘In the Darkest Dark She Takes My Sleep’, and to Sara Hills from the UK for ‘A Beachcomber’s Guide to Desert Grief.’
Our seventh anthology is due out at the end of this year. We’re very happy that most of the longlisted writers from the three 2022 Awards have agreed to be published. All contributors will receive a free copy, posted worldwise. It’s going to be a fantastic read. Our 23rd Award, judged this time by writer, editor and yoga teacher, Sudha Balagopal from the US will open on November 1st 2022 and close in early February 2023. We look forward to reading more wonderful flash fictions.