Many congratulations to the winners in our 5th yearly Novella-in-Flash Award. Do read our judge Michelle Elvy’s excellent report and comments on these fantastic novellas in flash. All of them will be published by Ad Hoc Fiction and we’re privileged to add them to the Ad Hoc novella-in-flash series.

First Prize Season of Bright Sorrow by David Swann.
David Swann’s flash fiction collection Stronger Faster Shorter was published in 2015. In 2016 he won the Bridport Flash Fiction Competition, his eighth success in a Prize that he judged in 2013. His other publications include The Privilege of Rain (based on his experiences as a Writer in Residence in jail, and shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award) and The Last Days of Johnny North, a collection of his prize winning short fiction. He is currently Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Chichester, where he teaches modules on fiction, poetry, and screenwriting.

Runner-up One for the River by Tom O’Brien.
Tom O’Brien is an Irishman living in London. His Novella-in-Flash Straw Gods is published by Reflex Press and he has another novella-in-flash, Homemade Weather forthcoming from Retreat West, which won first prize in their Novelette in Flash prize, 2021. He’s been Pushcart and Best Microfictions nominated. His flash fiction and short stories are in print in various anthologies such as Blink-Ink and Bath Flash Fiction (forthcoming) as well as many sites around the web including Ellipsis Zine, Reflex, Spelk and 50-Word Stories.

Runner-up The Tony Bone Stories by Al Kratz.
Al Kratz lives in Indianola, Iowa with his wife Kristy and their cat Tom Petty. He is the Managing Editor for New Flash Fiction Review and a co-founder of the Flash Monsters!!! blog. More about his work can be found at alkratz.com.

Highly Commended Small Things by Hannah Sutherland.
Hannah Sutherland is a writer and teacher from Scotland. She placed 2nd in the Writing East Midland’s Aurora Prize in 2020 and recently won Cranked Anvil’s first Flash Fiction competition. She’s been listed for Retreat West’s Short Story and Flash Fiction competitions, the Flash 500 Short Story Award, The Phare Magazine and Strands International Flash Fiction. Her stories have been featured in The Common Breath, The Phare Magazine, mac(ro)mic and others.
Hannah lives with her husband and son in Aberdeenshire and tweets at @HannahWrites88.

Highly Commended, Things I Can’t Tell Amma by Sudha Balagopal.
Sudha Balagopal’s fiction straddles continents and cultures, blending thoughts and ideas from the east and the west. She is the author of a novel, A Dawn, and two short story collections, There are Seven Notes and Missing and Other Stories.Her short fiction has been published in journals around the world, has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fictions, will appear in Best Microfiction 2021 and is listed in the Wigleaf Top 50. When she’s not writing, she teaches yoga. More at www.sudhabalagopal.com