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Flash Fiction

Enter the Flash Fiction Competition

This Flash Fiction competition has been established in the memory of Philip Carey.  Philip was one of the founding members of The Bedford Competition, and his support and enthusiasm was unwavering over the years; without his input The Bedford Competition would not have flourished as it has done.  Always deeply committed to encouraging writing and to developing an inclusive, welcoming creative community, Philip will be greatly missed by all who knew him.  All profits from the competition will be donated to Dementia UK, a charity close to Philip’s heart and to many families who have been affected by the illness.  We hope that this competition will celebrate the power of storytelling (in just 300 words), and Philip’s contribution not just to the writing community in Bedford but also around the world.

How to Enter the Competition

Entering The Bedford Competition is simple. You can submit your Flash Fiction online using our entry form.

Before submitting, please ensure your story meets all competition requirements, including word count and formatting guidelines.

Entry Fees and Payment

An entry fee applies to each submission. Full details of current fees and payment methods are provided during the entry process.

We offer secure online payment options for quick and easy submission.

Competition Rules

Before entering, please read the full competition rules carefully to ensure your story is eligible.

The rules include important information on:

  • Word limits
  • Submission format
  • Eligibility criteria
  • Judging process

Start Your Entry Today

Ready to enter? Then click on the ‘Enter Online’ button below.

Enter Online
Entry Rules
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Short Story Competition

Click on the Download Form button to download a printable offline entry form.

Use this entry form if you wish to mail or hand deliver your story and entry fee. Please ensure that you read the competition rules. Postal entries are only accepted from UK residents. One entry form can be used to submit up to three stories. Click on the Download Form button again for any extra forms required.

Download Form
Fran Lock

Poetry Main Prize Judge

Fran Lock is the author of numerous chapbooks and fourteen poetry collections. Her most recent collections are Hyena! (Poetry Bus Press, 2023), shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2023 and for the PEN Heaney Prize 2024, and ‘a disgusting lie’: further adventures through the neoliberal hell-mouth (Pamenar Press, 2023). Spectres // Defectors /// No Respecters, an omnibus of three previous titles, with selected new material was published by Culture Matters in late 2024.Her most recent pamphlet is The New Herbal (Blueprint Press, 2024), and Vulgar Errors/ Feral Subjects, a collection of essays exploring feral subjectivity through the lens of the medieval bestiary, was published by Out-Spoken Press last year. Fran was the Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellow at Cambridge University 2022-2023 and is a Commissioning Editor at the radical arts and culture cooperative Culture Matters. She lives in Kent with her sassy American bully, Luna.Â