Exposition Review is pleased to announce the next round of winners of Flash 405! We received a vast array of entries, covering every genre from Chelsea’s original call for submissions to “write a story or a memoir or a poem or a word art that feels never-ending.” Her final selections are equally diverse and uniquely compelling.
Congratulations to our 1st and 2nd place winners, who received a cash prize, and our honorable mentions, which are now available to read below.
The final Flash 405 contest of 2026 is almost here, and we’re excited to share that another member of the Exposition Review fam is joining the ranks of our guest judges! Former contributor Charles Jensen is stepping into the role for our August contest, which will be accepting short-form entries in all genres starting on August 4.
Charles Jensen was featured in Vol. VII: “Flux” and his brilliant nonfiction piece Psychological Thriller has remained an editor favorite. Exposition Review also co-hosted an event at Skylight Books featuring Charles, alongside former Expo Fiction Editor Shze-Hui Tjoa and our August 2024 Flash 405 guest judge Dr. Cecilia Caballero.
We are thrilled to welcome Charles as our latest guest judge and have him shake things up with his contest prompt: “Quake”!
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, August 2026: “Quake””
Some emotions resist easy translation, and for our April 2026 Flash 405 contest, guest judge Ashley C. Lanuza invited writers to explore one of them: “saudade”. We received an incredible collection of stories inspired by this theme, each offering a unique perspective on longing, memory, and connection. After careful consideration, we are delighted to announce this round’s winners.
Congratulations to our 1st and 2nd place winners, who received a cash prize, along with our honorable mentions. We’re thrilled to share these unforgettable pieces with you below:
After sharing our “Oops” contest winners last week, we’re ready to keep Flash 405 ball rolling with news of our next contest and a very special guest judge: Chelsea Sutton!
Chelsea was the first-place winner of our February 2017 Flash 405 contest with her short story The Clinking of Coins. Since then, Chelsea was featured at our “L.A. in a Flash” event for Lit Crawl L.A. in 2019, and her work was published in our chapbook, Composition: Reach. We are delighted to have her return to Flash 405 to judge our upcoming June contest!
Submissions will open June 4; work can be submitted in any genre, but it must meet the flash requirements for that genre and address the theme of “Loop”. The first and second-place winners will receive a cash prize, and will be published in Exposition Review along with any honorable mentions.
Read on to learn more about Chelsea and this month’s contest theme!
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, June 2026: “Loop””
We are thrilled to announce the winners of our February 2026 Flash 405 contest: “Oops”!
Every round of Flash 405 has a unique theme selected by the judge. In selecting “Oops”, contest judge Heather Vaughan said that “Mistakes happen, and they usually come with a good story”—and she was definitely right, as demonstrated by an amazing pool of contest entries and our selected winners!
Congratulations again to our 1st and 2nd place winners, who received a cash prize, and our honorable mention. All pieces are now available to read:
2026 has already been a year of many ups, downs, and pivots. Exposition Review is not immune, so it’s fitting that for the first time in our ten(!) years of running Flash 405, we’re changing up our deadline dates and taking inspiration from another iconic Los Angeles freeway—the 10! As such, our April contest will be opening April 10 and accepting entries in all genres through May 10.
This round will be judged by Expo Associate Editor Ashley C. Lanuza, who will select up to five winning works that explore the theme “Saudade.” The first and second place winners will receive a cash prize and be published along with any honorable mentions.
Read on to learn more about this month’s contest theme:
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, April 2026: “Saudade””
Oops, we’re doing it again—kicking off another year of Flash 405! February is the start of our short-form season, with contests running every other month through September. Each Flash 405 contest will feature a new theme, a new judge, and up to five winning works. Our first and second place winners will receive a cash prize and be published alongside honorable mentions.
This round will be judged by Expo’s own Heather Vaughan. Heather is Nonfiction Editor of our annual issue and we are thrilled to have her take the helm of our first Flash 405 contest of 2026! Submissions will open on February 4 through March 5, 2026.
Read on to learn more about contest rules and “Oops”, this month’s contest theme:
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, February 2026: “Oops””
Our August Flash 405 contest invited us to consider flash stories on the theme of normal—but the response we received to this prompt was anything but! After an amazing year of Flash 405 contests, this last round was record-breaking, with a truly inspired number of “normal” narratives.
Congratulations to the winners who rose above the rest; we’ve had the pleasure of reading them many, many times (and will many times again!) and are stoked to finally share them with the world.
Our June contest “Illumination” was a bright spot for Flash 405, with the brilliant Melissa Llanes Brownlee as our guest judge. With a record number of submissions, we are pleased to finally share our winners! As you will discover, each of these stories “shine with creative light,” exploring the dark and light sides of hope, truth, and illumination.
Read on to discover them for yourself!
Continue reading “Flash 405, June 2025: “Illumination” Winners”
Mark your calendars–Flash 405 will re-open for submissions on August 4! Our Flash 405 writing contest is a celebration of extraordinary short-form narratives, accepting work in multiple genres, from prose to poetry to hybrid and experimental forms.
For our August round, though, we’re not looking for “extraordinary.” What we want is a bit more mundane: flash narratives inspired by the theme “Normal,” chosen by our contest judge, Expo Associate Poetry Editor Kiana Shaley.
Submissions will close September 5, so don’t miss your chance to enter! This is our last contest of 2025.
Learn more about Kiana and this month’s contest theme:
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, August 2025: “Normal””