Here, you’ll find the most valuable Flash Fiction Contest 2022? Of course, creative writing should be about expression, art, and craft. But sometimes it helps if there’s money involved. So where can you get the biggest prize for your nano fiction? The most moolah for your micro masterpiece? The biggest bang for your writing buck?
Read on to find out.
To compile this list I’ve used a number of sources, but by far the most comprehensive comes from Christopher Fielden’s Flash Fiction Competition page. You’ll also find short-story and longer fiction contests listed there. Check it out!
For the purpose of these Flash Fiction Contests in 2022, I’m classifying flash fiction as any prose written in 2000 words or less.
Most valuable flash fiction contest 2021
There are two things in life I guarantee most people love: free time and cold-hard cash.
So that got me thinking, what is the top prize for flash fiction overall right now on a net prize per word basis?
If you are thinking of entering a micro-fiction, tiny story or flash fiction contest, you may be paying an entry fee, and also investing your time and energy into the project. So I’ve done a little maths to help decide which contests are worth entering.
Of course, nothing replaces writing an excellent story. But assuming you have one of them, where are you going to win the most?
At the bottom of the page, you will find a long list of flash fiction 2021 contests and competitions that pay cash prizes.
What is the most valuable top prize overall per word written?
The Cesar Egido Serrano Foundation Flash Fiction contest is the best payer per word in the micro fiction world. It’s the Daddy. A whopping $20,000 for 100 words and FREE to enter means it comes in at $200 a word. That’s hard to beat as a Flash Fiction Contest 2021. People seem to have worked this out – 43,185 works were entered from 172 countries. If all stories had an equal chance of winning, you would expect to win $0.46 per entry.
Second places goes to the Six Word Wonder Contest 2021. In terms of most cash on a net prize per word basis this contest is hard to beat. This contest is free to enter and requires you to write a mere six words. In exchange, you can win $100, and the opportunity to be published. The prize is worth an incredible $16.67 per word! That’s over the hourly minimum wage, per hour! Full disclosure: I run this contest.
Third prize is awarded to the NYC Microfiction Contest. This contest is a little different from the others as you compete in three heats to get to the prize. As each prize is 250 words, I’ve assumed 750 words will be written over the three rounds. The winner gets a substantial $3,000, which is $3.94 per word, and there are a bunch of runners-up prizes. Entry is steep at $45 and competition is fierce.
The fourth prize goes to the world famous Bridport prize. For the 250 flash fiction contest, you can win $730. Of course, you must pay a $6.60 entrance fee. But that is a not unimpressive $2.89 per word entered. Overall, Bridport is a ver rich competition.
Bottom of the pile when you look at flash fiction contests through the lens of reward per word is the 101 Words Writing Contest, with a $10 prize for 101 words. That’s 10 cents a word. Sheesh! You can earn more filling in surveys. But, luckily, entry is free!
If you know of a better paying prize anywhere on the planet that’s open to enter in 2021, please let me know.
Notes on calculation:
All prizes have been translated into US dollar $ value. Entrance fee is deducted from prize fund. If a word count range has been given I’ve used the higher number in the range – on the assumption that your competition will milk every word of value. Where there is more than one prize, I’ve only used the top prize for the calculation.
Following the cash is king principle, I’ve not attributed value to any extras like free narration or getting published. One entry is assumed, so discounted fees for multiple entries aren’t factored in. (This all gets complicated because I don’t have visibility of the number of entries so a perfect calculation isn’t possible of effort to statistical odds of winning).
What flash fiction contest 2021 requires the fewest words maximum entry?
This time, the Six Word Wonder Contest 2021 wins. With a maximum number of only 6 words, there is no need to worry about filling pages of words
Fifty Word Stories is next with, well, 50 words!
Next is a tie between Cesar Egido and the NAWG 100×100 Writing Competition.
We’re treating any contest with 2000 words or less as flash fiction. On that definition, The Scottish Arts Club Short Story Competition is our longest number of words at two thousand. Of course, there are plenty of contests asking for far more than that.
What is the most valuable top prize for flash fiction contest 2022 in absolute terms?
The top prize in absolute terms is our old friend the Cesar Egido Serrano Foundation Flash Fiction contest, thanks to that obscene $20,000. It makes you wonder why they need to stump up so much cash. But it must work for them.
Four contests are paying $1000.
Academy for Teachers ‘Stories Out of School Contest’ asks for 749 words and entry is FREE
Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize—2021 is looking for exactly one more word than the Academy for Teachers but is asking for a $25 entry fee
New Millennium Writings – you’ll need a full 1000 word count for this one and dip your hand in your pocket for $20.
Zizzle Literature – Zizzle Literature Flash Fiction contest cost a mere $5 to enter but also needs 1000 words.
Full list of flash fiction contest 2022 with cash prizes
Here is a list of the cash prize paying Fast Fiction Contests 2021.
The listing is sorted by highest prize per word. All first prizes are presented in dollars, but the actual first prizes may be in different currencies so you will need to check the latest FX rates. Note: Please don’t rely on these values. Visit the relevant contest website to confirm the latest prize.
Hey, can you reorder this table by word count?
If you have a story already, you might want to find the contests that fit your word count. So I had a look at how each flash fiction contest distributes by word count.
Final Thoughts – Flash Fiction Contest 2022
There’s no guarantee on winning any writing contest. In fact, you can close to guarantee that you won’t win. For most people, the thrill of composing and writing are reward enough. If you do win, you want to be sure to have got the payment you can for the number of words you’ve submitted. Good luck with your next project!
I have a flash fiction contest 2022 I would like listed!
If you have a flash fiction contest that pays a cash prize and you would like to be listed here, or for any corrections or updates, please contact me.
The information I need you to include in your request (note that if you have multiple contests, please list each contest separately:
- Contest name
- Link to the submission page
- Closing date for entries
- Entry fee (and currency)
- Maximum number of words allowed
- Prize for top winner (and currency)
- And other special information of genre / entry conditions etc
Learn more about the Six Word Wonder Contest 2022.
Hi. I want to take part in the Six Word Contest for 2022, but am only seeing the 2021 form. Is 2022 not out yet?
Hi – -the new Six Word Wonder contest can be found here.
Hi. A question for the six-word story competition. Do hyphenated words such as “pent-up” or “absent-minded” count as one word?
Good question. I avoid being too strict on this because it’s subject to debate. Generally, a hyphenated word is counted as one word, but sometimes that goes out-of-control!
Hi – Yes, if it’s natural hyphenation then it counts as one word. But I can be flexible if it fits the two word bucket too.
Okay, for a couple of years I’ve tried to discover dates to submit to the Cesar Egido Serrano Foundation Flash Fiction Competition, to no avail. This is true also of your multiple listings above for this competition. No dates given, nor were any given last year; the last I see is November 2017. So is this still real? And are there dates?