Announcing the TL;DR PRESS 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction 2024 Competition Winners
After weeks of reading, discussing, and scoring, we are ready to announce the top 25 placing stories in the TL;DR Press 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction 2024 Competition!
It’s always an incredible challenge picking the winning stories because the quality of the work we receive is so high. We always enjoy the lively discussions where curators pick their favourites and defend them, fighting their corners until we reach a consensus. The 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction 2024 Competition entries were no different, and our judges had the hardest time we’ve ever had deciding the winners because there were so many great stories, and the margin between the winners was razor thin.
After much deliberation we have decided our winners! So, without further ado, here they are:
1st place is Creatures of Liquid and Light by Peter Neilson
2nd place is Two Earthlings by Alexis Ames
3rd place is An Insect Who Dreamed She Was A Woman by Melanie Mulrooney
4th: Seabird by Sarah McPherson
5th: The Good Girl by Jack Lennon
6th: The Last Meeting of the Beaconsville Ladies’ Gardening Society by Jennifer Larson
7th: Nate, Hate, and the Illusory Transformative Nature of Glass by Laura Cody
8th: Switching Tracks by Sally Simon
9th: Hollowing by Elysia Rourke
10th: Costs by Leah Seabrook-Rocha
11th: Breached by Regan Puckett
12th: They’re Out of Michelob Ultra at Malone’s on Twelfth, Si Ellos Son, Si Ellos Son by Joel Shoemaker
13th: Dave, the World’s Smartest Man by Cuyler Meade
14th: Hollow Promise by Aalisha Green
15th: When Darkness Falls by Josephine Queen
16th: Malfeasance by EJ Sidle
17th: Horseshoes by Abi Hennig
18th: Because That’s What Heroes Do by Kari Maaren
19th: The Ballad of the Annoying Bard and the Stoic Paladin: A Tale of Music, Muscles and Merriment by Morgan West
20th: Repatriation of Tongues by Anne Meale
21st: The Impact of Gravity on Wilhelm Lehmann: Globe-Trotting Gnome, Lippmann Industries by Jo Spicer
22nd: The Life and Death of Daffodil Princess by Jeremiah Wells
23rd: An Unlikely Prophet by Lin Morris
24th: Moving On by MM Schreier
25th: The Last Thread by A. Reid Johnson
Congratulations to everyone who placed, and commiserations to all who didn’t win this time round. Everyone who submitted should receive an email with feedback from the judges in the coming days regardless of placement. We hope you all had fun taking part, and we hope to see you in September for the 2K Terror competition.
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Publication
The top 25 stories will be featured in our eBook, Figments and Fragments: The Best of the 1,000 Word Herd Flash Fiction Competition 2024. We aim to release the eBook including all of the winning stories in September. All proceeds from the sale of the eBook will go to Trans LIfeline, a grassroots hotline and microgrants 501(c)(3) non-profit organization offering direct emotional and financial support to trans people in crisis – for the trans community, by the trans community. Trans Lifeline provides trans peer support for a community that’s been divested from police since day one. Keep an eye out for the buy links next month!
Thank you again to everyone who took part, you did an amazing thing by helping us to keep doing what we do, and to help raise funds for Trans Lifeline.
Stay safe and keep writing,
The TL;DR Press Team