It’s almost time for our April 2024 Flash 405 contest, and we couldn’t be more pleased to welcome author Liza Olson into our Expo “Home” as the guest judge for this upcoming round!
Flash 405 is Exposition Review’s multi-genre short-form writing competition, awarding cash prizes and online publication to the winners. We will accept entries starting April 4 through May 5, 2024.
Learn more about Liza and this month’s contest theme:
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, April 2024: “Home””
Hello 2024, and welcome back to another year of Flash 405! Our first contest, with the theme “Host,” will be judged by Sam Burt, Fiction Co-Editor for our “POP!” issue.
Flash 405 is Exposition Review’s multi-genre short-form writing competition, awarding cash prizes and online publication to the winners. Submissions will open on February 4, 2024, via Submittable.
Before submitting, we encourage you to check out the full prompt below. You can also see further guidelines and see past contest winners by visiting our Flash 405 page.
Learn more about our first contest of 2024 below:
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, February 2024: “Host””
The winners of “Secret” are secret no more!
We ended this season of Flash 405 with a flourish—a final round judged by Vol. VIII: “Lines” contributor L Mari Harris. Her call for submissions asked for secrets—positive, negative, happy, peaceful, sad, angry. No topic was taboo, but each word had to count.
We received many wonderful entries, and are excited to reveal the winners of “Secret”:
For our June Flash 405 contest, judge Shze-Hui Tjoa sought writing “that isn’t afraid of its own intensity, of being too much,” and “language that swells with momentum and power.” Spanning fiction to nonfiction to the stage, her selections all crest unexpectedly and pack a powerful punch.
Learn more about Shze-Hui’s selections and read the winning pieces below:
Continue reading “Flash 405, June 2023: “Crescendo” Winners”
We’re thrilled to round out our 2023 Flash 405 season with our next contest, “Secret,” guest-judged by the wonderful L Mari Harris!
L Mari’s own flash was featured in our latest issue, the subject of which—“Our Mothers”—knows a thing or two about secrets.
Flash 405 is Exposition Review’s multi-genre short-form writing competition, awarding cash prizes and online publication to the winners. Submissions will be open August 4–September 5, 2023.
Learn more about our final contest of 2023 below:
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, August 2023: “Secret””
For our April Flash 405 contest, guest judge Lucy Zhang wanted to read about flight, asking, “How do we fly, but also how do we float, fall, or glide?” In the winning pieces, imagery around her theme—birds, planes, space—soared in unexpected ways, with poignancy and whimsy.
Learn more about Lucy’s selections and read the winning pieces below:
Exposition Review is pleased to share the theme for our June 2023 Flash 405 contest judged by our own Fiction Co-Editor Shze-Hui Tjoa: “Crescendo.”
Flash 405 is Exposition Review’s multi-genre short-form writing competition, awarding cash prizes and online publication to the winners. Submissions will be open June 4–July 5, 2023.
Read on to learn more about Shze-Hui and her prompt:
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, June 2023: “Crescendo””
We are proud to announce the publication of the second issue of our chapbook, Composition: Reach. Like its predecessor, Rearview, Reach is the brainchild of an Expo intern—this time, Ashley Moon. It contains selected flash fiction from our past Flash 405 writing contests and visual art from our annual issues. As Chapbook Editor, Moon curated a collection of art constructed from different media and then selected Flash 405 fiction pieces to act as bridges linking one artwork to the next.
In our February Flash 405 competition, Judge Krista Nave sought entries that celebrated kitsch, embraced the garish, and indulged in excess without shame. Sifting through the entries, she discovered pieces infused with more than just gaudy jewelry—and work that embraces timeless subjects of grief and hope.
Learn more about Krista’s selections and read the winning pieces below:
Continue reading “Flash 405, February 2023: “Tacky” Winners”
Another round of Flash 405 is taking “flight” with guest judge Lucy Zhang!
Lucy’s flash fiction piece “Unstable Relationship” appeared in Exposition Review Vol. VII: “Flux”, and was nominated and selected for Best Microfiction 2023. She’ll now be selecting the winners for this Flash 405 contest, which is based on her chosen theme, “Flight.”
Submissions will open on April 4, 2023, via Submittable. Before submitting, we encourage you to check out the full prompt below. You can also see further guidelines and see past contest winners by visiting our Flash 405 page.
Continue reading “Call for Entries: Flash 405, April 2023: “Flight””