A few weeks ago I had a thought: How can we encourage flash writer-readers to deep-dive into the archives of online journals who’ve published flash for more than 10 years? So I decided to host a new competition—one we’ll certainly repeat next year—and offer the winner, chosen randomly, $400. The potential of riches! We’ve been thrilled with the response.
Some of my richest memories are me sitting in a library cubicle, the dusty air heady with old books. I’m sure some of the more than 40 people who took up our archive challenge have similar memories. Remember libraries? Digging through the stacks, blowing the dust mites off books, shushing people who didn’t understand the sanctity of a room filled with stories: that’s what I’m talking about.
And man do we have a room full of stories. Together, the 27 people who finished the 14-day archive challenge—each posting daily at least once, some more, for two weeks on Bluesky, The Train Wreck Formerly Known as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram—shared flash from 21 journals who have been publishing flash for 10 or more years. Then there were a few posts from younger journals, which did not count towards the archive challenge, but were nice nods to the kids.
A bit about The Archive Challenge: My initial idea was for each participant to do a deep-dive into a single journal for two weeks, excavating remarkable examples of flash from the past. Our intention was that each of these examples would be at least 10 years old. While many of the examples shared on social media were indeed at least 10 years old, many were not. We’ll be clearer next year! This time, we’ve let a lot slide because we’re easy. We want the flash community (and definitely beyond) to research our history, to gain/foster an appreciation for a flash lineage readily available, free to read, in our online archives.
We are excited that so many journals were represented: Brevity, wigleaf, Maudlin House, Juked, Waxwing, Split Lip Magazine, The Citron Review, Flash Fiction Online, New Flash Fiction Review, FRiGG, Litro, Gone Lawn, Bath Flash Fiction Award, Brilliant Flash Fiction, The Offing, Matchbook, Booth, Jellyfish Review (RIP), Pidgeonholes, Vestal Review, Noö Journal, Double Room, and SmokeLong. What a wealth of flash. Did we miss some? Next year you’ll have a chance to add journals we’ve missed.
Thank you most of all to the editors of these journals. We know what it takes to keep it going. Longevity takes a concerted commitment over years and years to not give up the fight. Reader, if you’re just now discovering the flash narrative, why not do your own deep-dive into a few of the journals mentioned above? You don’t have to wait for our next Archive Challenge to do so. Four hundred dollars is a bunch of money, but gaining an appreciation for flash is worth so much more.
The winner of The Archive Challenge 2025, chosen randomly from the 27 people who posted daily for two weeks, is—drumroll—Sumitra Singam! Thank you to everyone who shared work on social media. We can’t wait to do this again next summer!
Christopher Allen
SmokeLong
The core workshop of SmokeLong Fitness is all in writing, so you can take part from anywhere at anytime. We are excited about creating a supportive, consistent and structured environment for flash writers to work on their craft in a community. We are thrilled and proud to say that our workshop participants have won, placed, or been listed in every major flash competition. Community works.