The Bath Flash Fiction Award attracts many very accomplished writers, so let’s take a look at some of the comments made by the competition judge, Santino Prinzi.
‘It’s always an honour to be asked to judge a competition. It’s thrilling and fun, even though it can be daunting. When an author sends you their work, they are entrusting you with something special, so I want start by thanking and congratulating every single author who submitted to this competition, who trusted us with their words. Thank you for sharing your stories with us.’
This is such an encouraging remark, especially for those writers who may feel their work isn’t good enough to send off anywhere. Think again. You wrote a story. You edited it several times. You made it the best it could be. Well done, he says.
‘Each story had its own distinct quality, its own voice, its own style and structure. Each had sentences I underlined and words I circled. Not knowing what I was looking for, I found everything. This made my decisions unfathomably difficult, and I’m indecisive at the best of times…’
Santino Prinzi found his job difficult. Why? Because judging the work of other writers is always personal. Just because a story doesn’t make the shortlist, it doesn’t mean it’s worthless. It may speak volumes to a different person, or maybe it needs another tweek here and there to make it stand out from the crowd.
‘In the end, finalising the everchanging shortlist and deciding the winning and highly commended stories it came down to which stories I gravitated towards more, which ones woke me up in the middle of the night, which characters and their worlds I found my mind drifting off (towards) when I was supposed to be doing other things. I chose the stories that simply pulled me in and wouldn’t let go.’
Read the stories for yourself. Think about the style, the theme, the plot, the characters, the beginning, the end, and the use of language, and ask yourself what made each winning story special. If you agree or disagree with the judge’s choice, can you give your reasons. What can you learn from these stories?
Maybe it’s time to enter a competition yourself. There’s an interesting themed flash competition running until 29th March 2020 at https://www.retreatwest.co.uk/competitions/quarterly-themed-flash/
Happy writing and good luck everyone!