Further Guidelines 2020

Guidelines for  Teachers and Students

Stories must be no more than 360 words (including the title) and be by current Years 11,12 & 13 students, or Higher/Advanced students, aged 15–19 and studying in the UK.

Stories must not have been previously published or be currently entered in another competition.

Stories must be submitted (by email) by a teacher, from their school/college email account.  One story per student may be entered. Entry is free. There is no limit to how many stories can be submitted by a teacher or school/college.

Each story should have a title. Beneath each story should be:

• The word count (including the title)
• The author’s name and age
• The school’s/college’s name and address
• The teacher’s name and email address.

See below for an example of how to present your story.

Each story should be saved as an individual Word document (‘doc’, ‘docx’ or ‘rtf’, not ‘odt’), titled with the author’s full name. Attach all the entries to a single email (postal submissions are not accepted) and send to: flash.magazine@chester.ac.uk

Deadline for entries: 7 February 2020.

Teachers – if you have any questions about the competition, feel free to email Drs Peter Blair and Ashley Chantler: flash.magazine@chester.ac.uk

 

Presentation Example:

                                                                                    HER AND HIM

She puts on a robe, walks to the kitchen, starts the coffee. He follows, buttoning his  shirt, adjusting his tie. The familiar aroma surrounds them. She opens the cabinet, gets two cups, sets them on the counter, picks up a cantaloupe, presses its hard mapped skin.
            ‘Would you pick up my dry cleaning today?’ he asks.
            ‘Won’t be ready ’til tomorrow.’ She gets out a knife and wonders why he can’t get his own damn shirts. ‘Don’t forget it’s trash day.'
            He’s gone back to the bedroom for his wallet and keys.
            She holds the cantaloupe in place, decides where to put the point of the blade.
The knife-edge hesitates, punctures, then follows the curve of her hand.
            The two halves split and rock on the counter. White seeds suspended in soft orange. She cups one side, walks to the trash, pushes her fingers into the flesh and drags. Seeds and pulp plop onto the side of the black bag. Juice splashes on white tiles. She leaves it for now. No children at home to get spoons for. No guests to be proper for.

186 words (including title)

Author: Joe Bloggs (aged 16)

Bosworth Academy
Maypole Lane
Leicester
LE1 1AA

Teacher: Mr Jones  (jones@bosworth.org.uk)

A pdf version of the guidelines is available to download here: