
It’s time to share the results of our final Flash 405 contest of this year! 2020 has been a wild, unwieldy, and at times horrifying rollercoaster, but we kicked off this season with “Bright Spot,” and Flash 405 has continued to remain as such for Exposition Review. The winners of 2020 have delighted us, moved us, and connected us in our love of good writing. With “Invented Language,” the winning works took this a step further, exploring the construction and meaning of words themselves to evoke powerful emotion. We are pleased to share those works now, selected by guest judge Rita Bullwinkel.
Read on to discover them for yourself!
Continue reading “Flash 405, August 2020: “Invented Language” Winners”
With the theme “International Travel,” judge Dave Gregory asked to “see the world through your words,” and received numerous entries that did just that: stories that made us richer, even at a time when the desire to travel and boundaries—physical, emotional, and social—seem more keenly felt than ever. We are now pleased to share the best of those stories with the world! Plus, with a portion of the entry fees and Exposition Review matching the amount, we were able to donate to an important nonprofit in the Los Angeles community.
We are pleased to announce the winners of Flash 405: “Change in Perspective,” selected by guest judge K.B. Carle. The April 2020 contest asked writers to tell stories that changed them, but from a completely different point of view. K.B.’s prompt challenged writers to think outside the box (or even as the box!) and pushed them out of their comfort zone, resulting in some excellent, unexpected pieces.
We are pleased to announce the winners of “Bright Spot,” our first Flash 405 contest of 2020, judged by Exposition Review Associate Editor Sarah Smith Narhi. With the current global health crisis, finding bright spots in life—the things “that spark enough joy that you would fistfight Marie Kondo to save them”—has never been more relevant.
Exposition Review is pleased to announce the winners of our final Flash 405 contest of 2019! Guest judge Nancy Au posed the theme “Underneath the Words,” calling for works that took us to “places where you’ve never explored before, or the places where you’ve had difficulty finding access to.”


The editors of Expo are pleased to announce the winners of our final contest of the year, judged by author Glen David Gold! The winning short form works evoked elegance in mysteries both solved and unsolved, leaving us intrigued, enchanted, and impressed.