BeaconFlash is a 500-word short story competition, offering extended critique and online publication to winners. There are eight prizes this year, totalling at least £630. Profit goes to the Beacon Villages Community Library.

The 2024/25 competition will be judged by author, freelance editor and writing tutor Morgen Bailey.

The competition is open for entries from August 2024 to May 2025. A total of eight prizes will be awarded, including eight free passes to the following year’s BeaconLit Festival (worth £35 in 2024). First prize is £75 plus up to 5,000 words critique* from the competition’s judge Morgen Bailey (worth £100) and free entry to the following year’s BeaconLit festival in July 2025 with publication on the BeaconLit website.

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.