Flash Fiction Judge’s Report Q3 2025

Judge’s Report by Diane Simmons

Firstly, thank you to Lorraine Mace for inviting me to judge this quarter of Flash 500. And thank you to everyone who trusted me with their work.

With so few words to play with, a title can add a great deal to a flash and an unusual or funny title can also help attract a reader. The shortlist this quarter certainly contained some rather wonderful titles that achieved both those things. I was also struck by the number of ‘what if’ stories on the shortlist and I very much enjoyed reading every one of them, finding them all particularly well written and engaging. The shortlist as a whole contained a large variety of themes which made the task of judging very enjoyable – too much doom and gloom can make judging a rather depressing experience.

I’d like to give a shout out to ‘Is it Pronounced Shrewsbury or Shrewsbury’ which narrowly missed out on a place. I very much enjoyed the originality and voice in this flash.

The stories I have chosen are my favourite from a very strong shortlist. I hope everyone enjoys reading them as much as I did. 

FIRST PLACE

The Grass is Always Greener

This is a clever, engaging and confident ‘what if’ flash, that is beautifully constructed. I knew from the first paragraph that the writer was not going to falter, that I was in safe hands and I galloped through it, the flow never being interrupted by my stumbling over a clumsy sentence or typo. The only time I stopped reading momentarily was when I read that the family’s cat was being left behind in Ireland (‘Daddy will look after him’) and I so felt for the child losing their pet.  The repetition of ‘what if’ at the beginning of each paragraph worked well. This flash was a joy to read.

SECOND PLACE

Emily’s On Track

This is another flash that had me hooked from the first couple of lines. We are straight away into some wonderful language and rhythm: ‘Babbling, rolling, sitting, crawling’ and the satisfying rhythm carries on throughout the flash. Emily’s story really resonated with me as I often lament the pressure that young children face. I have googled ‘fronted adverbial’ several times in the past and I still can’t remember what it is. How can we expect a small child to? I felt such sadness and concern for Emily, then hope at the penultimate line with its effective alliteration: ‘Emily’s taken herself off on an indefinite gap year, wildly wandering, randomly roaming, standing and staring, mostly just breathing.’

THIRD PLACE

Because you believed him when he promised to leave his wife

This cleverly-written flash has a satisfying rhythm and is full of really good specific details that help bring the story to life: the weekend in Tenby with the dirty en-suite, Mark’s fear of tortoises, their shared consumption of moules-frites. I particularly enjoyed the line of dialogue, ‘Shut up, I’ve seen a ghost’ – I could hear Mark saying this so clearly, could imagine the expression on his face when he spoke. I thought that the use of the lobster analogy worked well and the last line of the flash lands perfectly.