The 704 Prize for Flash Fiction 2024
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September 9, 2024
West Trade Review is happy to announce the results of the first annual 704 Prize for Flash Fiction.
Congratulations to both writers!
GRAND PRIZE ($704 & publication in the spring 2025 print edition): "Anxiety Mediation" by Angela Townsend
"I love the repeated refrain Daisy asks in "Anxiety Mediation": What if I die at school today? It functions very well as a backbone to the story, bringing us always back to the child's uncertainty, as well as the mother's uncertainty as, of course, she cannot guarantee her daughter won't die at school. The relationship between mother and daughter is conveyed beautifully through small details, and the author makes splendid use of strange and surprising turns of phrase (fig-eyed monk; sandwich put locusts between her teeth). I really enjoyed it.” --Elizabeth Gonzalez James, Contest Judge
Look for Angela's flash story in the Spring 2025 print edition of West Trade Review.
Angela Townsend is the development director at a cat sanctuary. She graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary and Vassar College. She is a Best of the Net nominee, and her work appears or is forthcoming in Arts & Letters, Paris Lit Up, Pleiades, SmokeLong, and Terrain, among others. Angela has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 34 years, laughs with her poet mother every morning, and loves life affectionately.
Honorable Mention: "Problems of Living" by Sarah Haufrect
“I really enjoyed the first person plural POV in "Resurrection." I felt that it lent itself beautifully to the women in the Greek family as they had to orbit the men in their lives and weather their various tyrannies. The next to last paragraph, where we see the women pry apart the nesting doll of a man when he shows up for Easter dinner, is brilliant, capturing the complexities and contradictions of a man in a few sentences. It was a very heartfelt and closely observed story. Well done.”
-Elizabeth Gonzalez James, Contest Judge
Olga Trianta-Boncogon’s stories explore themes of identity, alienation, and hope based on her experience as a biracial, multilingual, and incorrigible immigrant. Her interests include playing harp, learning languages, and writing. Her work has previously appeared in The City Key. She teaches in Taiwan where she lives with her family.
Elizabeth Gonzalez James is a screenwriter and author of the novels, Mona at Sea and The Bullet Swallower, as well as the chapbook, Five Conversations About Peter Sellers. She teaches fiction writing at Grub Street. Originally from South Texas, Elizabeth now lives with her family in Massachusetts.
You can find her on Instagram: @unefemmejames
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Contest Judge: Elizabeth Gonzalez James
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© 2024 Iron Oak Editions
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