We’ve updated the original post below with links to all three stories — and to reflect the reveal of Jeanne Malmgren as the first-prize winner of our inaugural We Love Short Shorts contest. Congratulations, Jeanne!
Hippocampus Magazine’s inaugural We Love Short Shorts Contest for Flash Creative Nonfiction/Micro CNF is now complete, and what an incredible experience it was! Over the month of February, nearly 300 short pieces were entered into the contest, and our team of 13 reviewers did an amazing job reading every single one!
It’s remarkable how much emotion, history, and raw human truth can be communicated in just 250 words.
These pieces covered nearly every kind of true story there is — stories of love, loss, grief, joy, and everything in between. In the end, we selected three pieces as our contest finalists and, very soon, we’ll be sharing their stories with you on the magazine website and announcing our grand prize winner!
Flash CNF Contest Finalists
- “Day 1 of 1,000” by Jeanne Malmgren – WINNER
- “And you suddenly get why adrenaline junkies chase this rush” by Abby Alten Schwartz
- “The Great Wave” by Lisa Thornton
These three stories, along with the grand prize winner announcement, will go live April 2. We will also update this post to reflect that announcement. In addition to publication, the winner receives $250 and runners-up receive $100.
Contest Short List
Our team also identified four pieces that stood out to us as wonderful examples of the flash CNF form, which deserve acknowledgment as well. These pieces will appear in future issues of the magazine.
- “At the One Month Visit” by Anne Falkowski
- “She Came to Stay” by Heather Bryant
- “Security” by Bridgette Shade
- “Gay Boy Cuddles” by Michael Nagle
Congratulations to all of our finalists and short-listers! To all: We could not be more grateful to the nearly 300 of you that submitted to our contest. Thank you for sharing your incredible work with us!
—Rae Pagliarulo, flash editor/associate magazine editor
