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.
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:
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:
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”
Summer may be in full swing, but here at Expo, we’re still basking in the glow “Spring.” And, in the spirit of not “quitting” the season, we have even more new work to share: the winners of our latest Flash 405 contest.
“Quitting” was the theme of our April contest, judged by Francesca Spiegel. As our Associate Nonfiction Editor, Francesca asked for stories that condensed the big, hard truths of quitting into beautiful micro narratives.
Congratulations to our 1st and 2nd place winners, who both received a cash prize. They, along with two honorable mentions, can be read below:
Continue reading “Flash 405, April 2025: “Quitting” Winners”
In her call for submissions for our February 2025 Flash 405 contest, “Anchor”, judge Ashley Moon asked for stories about what “holds you down.” We received many incredible entries, but the winners of this round held our attention down to the very last word with their complexity, their dreaminess, and their visceral descriptions.
We are pleased to share the winners of our first contest of 2025!
Continue reading “Flash 405, February 2025: “Anchor” Winners”
We are pleased to finally share the winners of “Otherworldly,” our August 2024 Flash 405 contest. With this announcement, our Flash 405 2024 season officially come to a close, but we are ending an incredibly strong note! Overall the submission quality for this contest was very high, and there were no easy decisions for our guest judge Dr. Cecilia Caballero! In the end, though, decisions were made, and our winners and honorable mentions truly encapsulate the call for stories that contain “something a bit strange about otherworldly ways we survive the every day.” We hope you enjoy these five stories as much as we do.
Congratulations to our winners! Their work can be read below.
Continue reading “Flash 405, August 2024: “Otherworldly” Winners”
When Expo Associate Editor Madeline Grimm posed the theme “Persona” for our June 2024 Flash 405 contest, we were excited to see what stories it would inspire. This versatile theme encompasses explorations of “shifting identities and self-fashioning,” but Madeline also asked writers to confront our own personas—how we as writers create “a range of literary alter egos that tell [our] stories.”
The entries we received did not disappoint, pushing the theme beyond our expectations, and after much deliberation, we are excited to share the results with the world.
Congratulations to our winners! Their work can be read below.
In April, author Liza Olson stepped into the role of guest judge for Flash 405 and crafted her contest around the theme “Home,” looking for stories that invited us into the contours and concepts of what a home can be. After receiving a number of incredible micro-narratives and careful consideration of each entry, we are now ready to announce the winners!
Our 1st and 2nd place winners received a cash prize, and their work, along with our honorable mentions, can be read below.