The 704 Prize for Flash Fiction
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Area code 704 is our home (the Charlotte Metro area), but our contest is open to anyone.
Send us a flash piece of up to 704 words that engages the reader intellectually but also packs an emotional punch and has something important to teach us about a deep human truth.
For a model story, see Jessica Denzer's The Silence from our Spring 2022 print edition. It was selected for Best Small Fictions 2023 (Alternating Current Press).
$704 and publication in the Spring 2026 print edition of West Trade Review will be awarded to the winning story.
The contest is open from June 1, 2025 - August 1, 2025. Entry fee is $7.04 for each individual flash fiction story (one story per entry), with no limit per writer.
Eligibility
- This contest is open to emerging writers only who have not yet published a book with a print run over 1,500.
- Only previously unpublished flash stories will be accepted.
- Stories that have won and/or placed in any other writing contest are ineligible.
- Unlimited entries allowed. One story per submission.
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but previously accepted or work published in West Trade Review is ineligible.
- Please withdraw your submission and notify West Trade Review if it is accepted elsewhere.
- No one editorially or financially affiliated with West Trade Review can enter the contest.
Guidelines
- All entries must be submitted by 11:59pm EST on August 1, 2025. Submissions open June 1, 2025.
- Entry fee is $7.04 for each individual story of no more than 704 words (one story per entry), with no limit per author, and each entrant is entered into a weekly drawing. The weekly winner receives their choice of personalized feedback on a piece of writing (prose up to 6000 words or up to 5 poems) or a copy of our Spring 2023 print edition.
- Submission is one original flash fiction story of no more than 704 words.
- The author’s name must not appear on the manuscript or in the file name.
- Please submit one story per entry in a single Microsoft Word file and list the title of your story as the submission title.
- Please use a standard font, either Times New Roman or Arial in 12 point font size.
- Do not include a cover page. Include your title with your story.
- Please do not include professional resumes or biographies with your entry. Entries are judged anonymously; the judge will only consider story quality.
- Please take the judge of the contest into consideration. If you know them personally, or have ever attended classes or workshops they have instructed, please use manuscripts that they would not have seen before.
- Revisions or edits will not be accepted once submitted for judging.
Entries that do no meet guidelines or eligibility requirements will not be considered.
The winning story will be announced on our website and social media platforms in late August 2025 and then published in the Spring 2026 print issue of West Trade Review.
Other entries of merit may be considered for publication.
Submit your entry here.
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