EA runs two flash fiction contests a year, rotating through our podcasts. Voting takes place on our registration-required forum, so that the first publication rights of the submissions are protected. Winning stories are purchased for publication and the authors receive this lovely enamel pin, designed by Alexis Goble, to mark their accomplishment.
Our editors frequently purchase additional stories as well, which are awarded the Editor’s Choice designation.
Flash Fiction Contest VII (2022 – 2023)
- PseudoPod Pseudo818 (15 July 2022)
- Contest ran October – November 2021
- 1st: “Got Your Nose” by Karlo Yeager Rodriguez
- 2nd: “Weapons They Gave You to Fight the Blood Monster” by Hannah Whiteoak
- 3rd: “Overnight Home Companion” by Frank J. Oreto
- Editor’s Choice: “A Lonely Vigil” by Bitter Karella
- Editor’s Choice: “Snotty” by Antoinette Rydyr
- Escape Pod EP853 (8 September 2022)
- Contest ran April – June 2022
- 1st: “Bee of Ganymede” by Brandon Case
- 2nd: “Half-Lives” by Andrew Hiller
- 3rd: “Imposter Syndrome(s)” by Bob McHugh
- Cast of Wonders
- coming H2 2022!
- PodCastle
- coming H1 2023!
Flash Fiction Contest VI (2020 – 2021)
- PodCastle PC701 (19 October 2021)
- Contest ran April – May 2020
- 1st: “Abby’s T-Rex” by Drew Czernik
- 2nd (tie): “How the Demigod Albert Einstein Stole Nuclear Power” by Aleks Wittkamp
- 2nd (tie): “Catch” by Ally Chua
- Editor’s Pick: “When the Head Comes Knocking” by Sylvia Heike
- Cast of Wonders CW452 (19 May 2021)
- Contest ran October 2020
- 1st: “The Scribe’s Garden” by Reed Mingault
- 2nd (tied): “Bony Bonnie Dead Horse” by Shane Halbach
- 2nd (tied): “Porch Light for the Lonely” by Alyson Grauer
- Escape Pod EP748 (3 Sept 2020)
- Contest ran April 2020
- 1st: “Butterfly” by Drew Czernik, narrated by Hollis Monroe
- 2nd (tie): “In Roaring She Shall Rise” by Rajiv Moté
- 2nd (tie): “Death Poems of the Folded Ones” by Carol Scheina
- 2nd (tie): “The Day the Sun Went Out” by Hannah Whiteoak
- PseudoPod PP693 (14 March 2020)
- Contest ran October 2019
- 1st: “Heart of Gold” by Lauren Ring
- 2nd: “In the End We All Be Loved” by Avery Kit Malone
- 3rd: “The Animals Are Becoming” by Chantal Beaulne
Flash Fiction Contest V (2018 – 2019)
- PseudoPod PP576 (6 January 2018)
- Contest ran October – November 2017
- 1st: “Two Step” by Drew Czernik
- 2nd: “Legal Tender” by Stephanie Malia Morris
- 3rd: “The Taking Tree” by Evan Dicken
- Escape Pod EP641 (16 August 2018)
- Contest ran June 2018
- 1st: “Toastmaster” by Kurt Pankau
- 2nd: “Dollhouse” by Karen Osborne
- 3rd: “Kaiju Outside Hope” by Maria Haskins
- 4th: “So Sorry You’re Going Extinct!” By Paul R Hardy
- Cast of Wonders CW356 (8 April 2019)
- Contest ran September 2019
- 1st: “An Economy of Words” by Wendy Nikel
- 2nd: “Bunny” by Amy Brennan
- 3rd: “The Mud Princess” R. Jean Bell
- PodCastle PC600 (12 November 2019)
- Contest ran June – July 2019
- 1st: “The Cost of the Revolution in Three Marvelous Confections” by R.K. Duncan
- 2nd: “By Jingly Bell, By Velvet Mouse” by KT Bryski
- 3rd: “A Thousand Points, the Sky” by Michelle Muenzler
- Editor’s Choice: “Tōhoku” by Nathan Susnik
Flash Fiction Contest IV (2016 – 2017)
- PseudoPod PP471 Flash On the Borderlands XXX (1 January 2016)
- Contest ran November 2015
- 1st: “Down” by Nathaniel Lee
- 2nd: “Cold Spots” by Lena Coakley
- 3rd: “The Mindfulness of Horror Practice” by Jon Padgett
- Escape Pod EP533 (26 June 2016)
- Contest ran January – February 2016
- 1st: “Disc Stutter” by Brian Trent
- 2nd (tied): “Bona Fide” by Ben Hallert
- 2nd (tied): “Shopping for the Perfect Battle Mount” by Laura Davy
- PodCastle PC499 (6 December 2017)
- Contest ran July – August 2017
- 1st: “Three Cats at the End of the World” by Aimee Ogden
- 2nd: “Have This Wish I Wish Tonight” by Katherine Kendig
- 3rd: “A Good Egg” by Shawn Proctor
- Cast of Wonders CW237 – Little Wonders X (28 February 2017)
- Contest ran October 2016
- 1st: “She and I” by J. Lily Corbie
- 2nd: “A Coat of Salt and Sand” by Katherine Inskip
- 3rd: “More Than Machines Will Fall to Rust” by Rachael K. Jones
Flash Fiction Contest III (2013 – 2014)
- Escape Pod EP426 Flash Fiction Special (13 December 2013)
- Contest ran November 2012
- 1st: “Four Tickets” by Leslianne Wilder
- 2nd: “Life Sentence” by Ben Hallert
- 3rd: “The Future Is Set” by C. L. Perria
- PodCastle PC288 Flash Fiction Contest Strikes Back (27 November 2013)
- Contest ran October 2013
- 1st: “Wuffle” by Chantal Beaulne
- 2nd: “The Bear” by Taven Moore
- 3rd: “Georgina and the Basilisk” by Leslianne Wilder
- PseudoPod PP367 Flash On the Borderlands XVIII (3 January 2014)
- Contest ran April 2013
- 1st: “Mr. Flyspeck” by R.K. Kombrinck
- 2nd: “The Violin Family” by James Douglas
- 3rd: “Whispers From The Trench” by Robert McKinney
Flash Fiction Contest II (2010 – 2011)
- PodCastle PC132 Flash Fiction Contest Extravaganza (23 November 2010)
- Contest ran April – May 2010
- 1st: “Fetch” by Nathaniel Lee
- 2nd: “Bibliophages” by Ramona Gardea
- 3rd: “The Water Sprite” by Alicia Caporaso
- PseudoPod PP220 Flash On the Borderlands VI (11 March 2011)
- 1st: “Escape” by Emily E. Smith
- 2nd (tie): “Little Monster” by LynnCee Faulk
- 2nd (tie): “Mother’s Milk” by Strahinja Acimovic
- Escape Pod EP302 Flash Extravaganza (21 July 2011)
- 1st: “London Iron” by William R. Halliar
- 2nd (tie): “Light and Lies” by Gideon Fostick
- 2nd (tie): “Wheels of Blue Stilton” by Nicholas J. Carter
Flash Fiction Contest I (2008)
- Escape Pod, individual issues airing 28/29 November 2008
- Contest ran in January 2007
- 1st place: “Mission to Dover” by Gideon Fostick
- 2nd place: “Skyscrapers” by Rachel Swirsky
- 3rd place: “Karakuri” by Gideon Fostick
- Honorable Mentions (published as flash bonus episodes through December 2008):