Flash 405 is Exposition Review’s multi-genre flash competition, awarding prizes and online publication to the winners. To celebrate these award-winning works, we’ve collected them together in our Flash 405: 2025 Issue.
Flash 405: 2024 Issue
February 2025: “Anchor”
Judge:
Ashley Moon
About the Theme | Judge’s Comments
Winners:
1st Place: You Never Really Come Back from Space by Laila Amado (Fiction)
2nd Place: Shells by Evelyn Krieger (Experimental)
Honorable Mentions:
Sanctuary by Abigail Mills (Fiction)
April 2025: “Quitting”
Guest Judge:
Francesca Spiegel
About the Theme | Judge’s Comments
1st Place: Exemplum by Paul Arenson (Fiction)
2nd Place: Hank & Mary Lynn: A Love Story in Postcards by Suzanne C Martinez (Fiction)
Honorable Mentions:
Orchid Remains by Charlie Rogers (Fiction)
Choose Your Audience by Angela Townsend (Nonfiction)
June 2025: “Illumination”
Judge:
Melissa Llanes Brownlee
About the Theme | Judge’s Comments
1st Place: Absolute Magnitude by Chloe N. Clark (Fiction)
2nd Place: Chrysalis in the Dark by Meg Taylor (Poetry)
Honorable Mention:
Whoosh! by Frances Gapper (Fiction)
The Common Writer by Alice Hatcher (Nonfiction)
The Joke by Liana Meffert (Nonfiction)
August 2025: “Normal”
Guest Judge:
Kiana Shaley
About the Theme | Judge’s Comments
1st Place: People Places Things by Tara Dugan (Experimental)
2nd Place: The Last Cinematographer in Space by JR Fenn (Fiction)
Honorable Mentions:
Stories for a Daughter by Mizuki (Fiction)
El Desahogo—The Undrowning by Lucy Rodriguez-Hanley (Nonfiction)