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The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction — The Winners

June 8, 2025

I know I probably say this every year, but narrowing down the top 25 entries to the group of stories we will eventually end up publishing was such a difficult task. Once an entry reached the second stage of the competition (meaning at least one of the first readers voted maybe), often 9 or more judges commented and voted. Congratulations to everyone who made the long- and shortlists. We’re sure your work will find a great home. There were some killer stories on these lists.

We are now excited to share with you the stories and their authors who will be published in the special SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction issue on June 16th! They are all varying shades of brilliant, and we can’t wait for you to read them. We have also added the authors’ names to the long- and shortlists.

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The SmokeLong Quarterly
Award for Flash Fiction –
The Winners

First Place: “Between Chamisa and Rengyō” by Mizuki Yamagen
Second Place: “Man Spelt Backwards” by Chi Pham
Third Place:  “Special Occasion Italian Restaurant” by Valerie Fox

Finalists: 

“Ms. Pac-Man in the Maze” by Sarah Chin
“National Bird” by Jesse Ackles
“Savior” by Seth Gleckman
“(They Long To Be) Close to You” by Binh Do
“Wild Gazelle” by Glenn Orgias
“Zombie Duck” by Sara Hills

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The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest

Deadline November 15th!

The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest (The Mikey) is now an annual competition celebrating and compensating the best micro fiction and nonfiction online.

The grand prize winner of The Mikey is automatically nominated for Best Small Fictions and any other prize we deem appropriate. In addition, we will pay the grand prize winner $1000. Second place: $500. Third place $300. Finalists: $100. All finalists and placers will be published in the December ’25 issue of SmokeLong.

Previously published as well as previously unpublished work will be considered.