Not Quite Write Prize Frequently Asked Questions
The Not Quite Write Prize is a quarterly flash fiction writing competition, with rounds commencing in January, April, July and October. Relevant dates are shown below.
It is your sole responsibility to mark relevant dates and times in your calendar, noting the time zone, and ensure that you have all the information necessary to enter the competition before the deadline.
We reserve the right to modify any of these planned dates at our discretion.
Unless otherwise specified, all dates and times associated with the competition are based on Sydney, Australia time (AEST or AEDT as applicable).
2025 Rounds
Round 1 January 2025
| Prompts released | Midday Friday 24 January 2025 AEDT |
| Deadline for entry | Midnight Sunday 26 January 2025 AEDT |
| Judging window | 27 January 2024 – 9 March 2025 AEDT |
| Results announced | On or before 5PM Sunday 9 March 2025 AEDT |
Round 2 April 2025
| Prompts released | Midday Friday 25 April 2025 AEST |
| Deadline for entry | Midnight Sunday 27 April 2025 AEST |
| Judging window | 28 April 2024 – 8 June 2025 AEST |
| Results announced | On or before 5PM Sunday 8 June 2025 AEST |
Round 3 July 2025
| Prompts released | Midday Friday 25 July 2025 AEST |
| Deadline for entry | Midnight Sunday 27 July 2025 AEST |
| Judging window | 28 July 2024 – 7 August 2025 AEST |
| Results announced | On or before 5PM Sunday 7 September 2025 AEST |
Round 4 October 2025
| Prompts released | Midday Friday 24 October 2025 AEDT |
| Deadline for entry | Midnight Sunday 26 October 2025 AEDT |
| Judging window | 27 October 2024 – 7 December 2025 AEDT |
| Results announced | On or before 5PM Sunday 7 December 2025 AEDT |
Flash fiction is a very short story, typically no more than 1500 words and, in the case of this competition, no more than 500 words. The category is defined by its word count rather than its genre or narrative style.
Anyone in the world can enter the competition, however we ask that entrants under 18 years of age seek parent/guardian permission to enter. Parents and guardians should note that entries are not censored, and young entrants may be exposed to themes and language deemed inappropriate for their age. Entry is subject to a fee.
Because judging is blind, the competition remains open to friends and family of the judges.
You don’t need to have any specific skills or experience to enter this competition beyond the basic ability to write in the English language. Flash fiction offers the opportunity for all people to freely express their creativity. This competition is unique in that it offers open critique via the podcast, meaning all participants have the chance to gain from the experience regardless of whether they win.
We warmly welcome newbies to enter, and we wish you well in your new unhealthy addiction to flash fiction competitions!
Ticket sales for the current quarter will open after the previous competition closes. You may purchase a ticket to enter a current round of the competition at any time before the deadline. In addition to entry to the competition, your ticket grants you access to the exclusive Not Quite Write Participant Lounge and online Community.
You must submit your entry using the entry form accessed via the Participant Lounge. The entry form will be available to current ticket holders only within the competition window (from the release of the prompts until the deadline of the current round). Email entries will not be accepted.
It is your sole responsibility to ensure we receive your entry by the deadline.
The entry form will ask you for some basic personal information as well as a pen name if you use one. You will also have the option to briefly explain your entry, should you feel the need to do so.
The judges will only access information entered in the Title, Entry, and Brief Explanation fields during the judging window. For this reason, you must not include any information in these fields which could reasonably identify you as the entrant. This includes characters, themes and settings that may identify a writer known to the judges. We may exclude identifiable entries from consideration for monetary prizes if we believe it will impact fairness.
All entrants must accept the Competition Rules before submitting their entry.
(Yes, even a competition that breaks the rules must have rules. It’s a little bit ironic, don’t you think?)
There is a total prize pool of AU$4,000 up for grabs in each round of the competition.
- 1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
Honourable mention
Honourable mention
Wildcard
Wildcard
- AU$1,500 and a trophy
AU$1,000
AU$500
AU$350
AU$250
AU$200
AU$100
AU$100
In the unlikely event of a tie, prize monies will be split evenly between the affected entries.
In addition to receiving prize money, the winner will receive a trophy. The winner and all shortlisted entries will be published on the Not Quite Write website and read in full on the Not Quite Write podcast.
Cash prize winners may also see their work published in the Not Quite Write Prize anthology. More information about publication opportunities and rights can be found below and in the competition rules.
Winning and shortlisted entries are published in the Honour Roll on our website and read aloud on the podcast.
In accordance with the competition rules, if you win a cash prize, you also agree to assign Non-Exclusive Worldwide English Language rights to us. That means you assign to us the right to publish your story. Woohoo!
It’s our intention to publish an anthology of winning and shortlisted stories each year via our imprint, Not Quite Write Press. If you win or shortlist, we will contact you for a brief biography as well as some other information to accompany your entry.
Once published, the anthology will be made available for public sale on our website. All contributing authors will receive a free electronic (eBook) version of the anthology.
We’re very excited to offer our talented authors the opportunity to see their stories in print!
The two Wildcard prizes may be awarded to any two entries which the judges wish to recognise, but which were otherwise not selected for the shortlist. The possible reasons for awarding a Wildcard prize are unlimited, and the reasons will be determined during the judging window in response to the entries received.
At this stage, we do not intend to publish Wildcard winning stories.
The Participant Lounge is an exclusive online space available to ticket holders and acts as your portal to the Forum and competition entry form. From time-to-time, the Participant Lounge may also provide access to exclusive content and discounts.
Access to the Participant Lounge begins as soon as you purchase your ticket and continues into future rounds regardless of whether you purchase a ticket for those rounds. We reserve the right to modify access permissions for non-current ticket holders at any time without notice.
Note that access to the competition entry form is restricted to ticket holders for the current round.
Occasionally, users have experienced difficulties logging in. We recommend clearing your internet browser cache (usually via the ‘History’ option within your browser’s settings) and trying again.
If you continue to experience problems logging in, please email us for assistance. Our contact details appear at the end of this FAQ.
If the deadline is approaching and you are experiencing technical difficulties, please don’t panic. Simply email us before the deadline and await further instructions from us. DO NOT attach or otherwise identify the title or content of your story in your email. Provided we receive your email request before the deadline, we should be able to include your entry for judging.
The Not Quite Write Community is an exclusive online space for members to share work, give and receive feedback on their writing, and chat with other Not-Quite-Writers.
Current ticket holders also have access to the Community archive from previous rounds.
Not Quite Write is a business, and this competition would not be possible without your financial contribution.
In addition to the prize money, there are many hidden costs associated with running a competition. Think of it like a fun run: it’s free to run around town but, if you’d like to participate in the event, you need to contribute to the costs of hosting it, regardless of whether you win a prize at the end.
This competition is unique in that it offers open critique and general advice via the podcast, meaning all participants have the chance to gain from the experience regardless of whether they win a cash prize.
If you’re concerned about the cost of entry, we recommend choosing one of the many free competitions available online. We also invite you to listen to the podcast and access the free resources on our website.
Absolutely! We support writerly peer pressure.
Yes. Refer to our Refund Policy for details about how and when we offer refunds.
We do not currently offer fee waivers. Not Quite Write is a small business, and your entry fee helps offset the substantial running costs of the competition.
We occasionally run competitions to win free entry. We recommend following us on social media and joining our mailing list to be notified about these opportunities.
If you’re interested in sponsoring a place for writers experiencing financial hardship, please contact us. Our contact details appear at the end of this FAQ.
Yes. We welcome you to email us in advance of the competition to determine reasonable accommodation for a relevant disability.
To be considered reasonable, any accommodations must allow for us to consider your entry without being able to identify you. For this reason, we will likely be unable to offer accommodations after the deadline has passed.
The competition closes at midnight, Sydney Australia time (AEST or AEDT as applicable), however entrants who are already in the submission form by midnight are offered a few minutes’ grace to finalise their submission.
Late entries will not be accepted except in the event of a technology failure on the part of Not Quite Write and at our sole discretion.
Unfortunately, we cannot consider entries received after the deadline unless agreed as a reasonable accommodation for a relevant disability. The only exception to this would be in the event of some catastrophic technical failure on our part (for example, the website being offline for an extended period during the competition window). In that case, we reserve the right to extend the deadline for all entrants. We cannot, however, accommodate late entries for reasons outside our control.
We strongly recommend allowing yourself enough time to account for any last-minute technical difficulties. It is your sole responsibility to ensure we receive your entry via the entry form by the deadline. This extends to ensuring you are aware of the correct time difference relevant to your respective time zone. We note that Sydney time is ahead of most time zones in the world.
If the deadline is approaching and you are experiencing technical difficulties logging on or submitting your entry, please don’t panic. Simply email us before the deadline and await further instructions from us. DO NOT attach or otherwise identify the title or content of your story in your email. Provided we receive your email request before the deadline, we should be able to include your entry for judging.
Our contact details appear at the end of this FAQ.
If you still have time before the deadline, you may resubmit your entry within the competition window using the word RESUBMITTING before the title in the Title field. We will accept your most recent entry.
If you’ve missed the deadline, don’t fret. We’ve all been there, and a typo won’t rule your entry out of consideration. If you win a cash prize, we may fix the typo before publishing your entry.
Yes. Your entry may contain fewer than, but no more than, 500 words. The official word count is determined by the entry form.
Your title is not included in the word count.
Our word counter uses spaces to count words, so hyphenated words will be counted as one word, but standalone punctuation – like spaced en dashes – will also be counted as words. The official word count may therefore differ from the word count you see in Microsoft Word and other writing tools.
Note that stories which exceed our word count will be truncated. We highly recommend checking your entry for completeness before submitting.
For each round of the competition, we will release a new set of three prompts which you must address in your entry.
The prompts will be in the following form:
- Word prompt: You will be given a word which you must use somewhere in the main body of your entry. This word must be used in full, with no spaces or interrupting punctuation, however it may be included within a longer word provided the original spelling is retained. For example, if the word was “ice,” we would accept “iced,” “splice” and “jaundice” but we would not accept “I.C.E.”, “icicle” or “icy.”
- Action prompt: You will be given an action which must feature somewhere in the main body of your entry. You don’t need to use the exact wording of the action provided, and you can feature the action prominently or simply as an aside. It may occur before the beginning of your story or after it ends provided it is referenced either directly or by clear implication within the main body of your entry.
- Anti-prompt: The anti-prompt will challenge you to break a traditionally accepted “rule” of writing. More information about the anti-prompt can be found on the Not Quite Write podcast and in the article WTF is an anti-prompt?
You must address ALL THREE prompts. Entries which do not address all three prompts will be disqualified at the sole discretion of the judges.
The judges will consider all entries written “in the spirit of” the prompts. We take a relaxed approach to how you interpret the prompts and encourage you to get creative. If you are concerned about how your approach will be received, consider discussing it with your fellow competitors in our online Community. Where necessary, you will have the opportunity to explain your interpretation of the prompts in the Brief Explanation field of the entry form.
Your entry must be written in response to ALL THREE prompts. Entries which do not include all three prompts will be excluded from consideration at the judges’ sole discretion.
Each set of three prompts will include one “anti-prompt”. The anti-prompt challenges entrants to break a traditionally accepted “rule” of writing or piece of writing “wisdom”.
Previous anti-prompts include “Break the rule: avoid all adverbs” and “Break the rule: avoid clichés.”
More information about the anti-prompt can be found on the Not Quite Write podcast and in the article WTF is an anti-prompt?
If you’re new to the Not Quite Write Prize and concerned about your interpretation of the anti-prompt, we also highly recommend jumping into our online Community to discuss your interpretation with your fellow competitors – they’re a helpful bunch!
At the commencement of each round of the competition, we will email the prompts to current ticket holders and publish them in the Participant Lounge.
We highly recommend adding the domains notquitewritepodcast.com and notquitewrite.com to your email safe senders list so you don’t miss any communications from us.
If you’re having trouble with the entry form, or if you would like more information about how your entry will look to the judges, we recommend reading the article How to format your Not Quite Write Prize Entry. This article covers some of the common issues our users have experienced with the entry form.
No. Your entry must be written substantially in the English language to allow us to judge it effectively. You may use words and phrases from other languages provided the meaning is clear in the context of your entry.
No. Provided your entry is substantially in the English language, alternative spellings are acceptable. The competition is judged by Australians who are accustomed to reading a mix of Australian, British and American English.
Fuck oath. Sometimes there’s just no better option.
Yes. There is no limit to your creativity beyond the judging criteria. The judges do not require content warnings.
Yes. There is no limit to your creativity beyond the judging criteria. Ultimately, your goal should be to tell the best story possible.
In the interests of transparency, the judges have publicly expressed their bias against rhyming stories and “hermit crab fiction” when used as a crutch to disguise poor writing.
We nevertheless encourage you to honour your own creative expression and challenge these biases. It is worth noting that well-executed non-traditional pieces have placed highly in previous rounds of the competition.
Your Entry Ticket is linked to your email address and entitles you to a single entry to the current round of the Not Quite Write Prize.
If you wish to enter more than once, you will need to purchase separate tickets linked to different email addresses.
Yes. Provided the “someone else” is another human being (or human beings) and not A.I., we welcome you to submit a joint entry. You will need to choose one person to be the main contact and recipient of any prize money, however you may enter all authors’ names in the Pen Name field. You should only submit the entry once.
We encourage you to share your entry privately with others during the competition window for the purpose of giving and receiving feedback (also known as “beta reading”). This includes sharing on the Not Quite Write Community.
You may not publish or discuss any part of your entry (including the title, extracts or key themes) on any public platform until after the final results are announced. This is to ensure that we are not able to identify your entry.
When discussing the competition on social media during the competition window and judging window, we invite you to use the hashtag #NotQuiteWritePrize. Make sure that you do not share or hint at any detail that would allow the judges to identify your entry.
Note that we may exclude identifiable entries from consideration for monetary prizes if we believe it will impact fairness.
Yes! However, you must wait until the results are announced to protect your anonymity during the judging process.
Even if your story doesn’t win or list, it may gain a new lease on life outside the competition. We strongly encourage you to publish your entries on your personal websites or blogs and to seek publication across a range of paid and unpaid markets.
If you end up finding a “forever home” for a Not Quite Write Prize entry, let us know! We’d love to share the news of your success with our followers.
To be eligible for a cash prize, you will assign to us Non-Exclusive Worldwide English Language rights including print, electronic and audio rights. This is to facilitate publication of your entry in a Not Quite Write Prize anthology and possible other works.
As the assigned rights are non-exclusive, all entrants retain the right to publish their entries elsewhere, including paid markets, after the results are announced. More information about rights and publication can be found in the competition rules.
At Not Quite Write, we welcome our new A.I. overlords. Having said that, this competition rewards human talent, not technological prowess. We recognise that A.I. tools have a place in researching and workshopping ideas as well as editing of grammar and basic syntax, so we allow you to use the available technology in this way. However, by entering this competition, you agree that your work is your own creation and not generated in whole or part by A.I. or similar means.
Entrants found to have generated any part of their entry by A.I. or similar means will be disqualified and forfeit their entry fee.
No. Listeners to the podcast may have the advantage of additional or early information however it is not essential to listen to the podcast to enter and win the competition. Relevant details will be published on our website and communicated via email and on social media.
We encourage all entrants to follow us on social media for news and updates, free ticket campaigns, live judging tweets, and lively Twitter beefs. Our social media contacts are available in our website footer.
For official updates and reminders, we strongly advise those interested to register for email updates.
If you have a question about the Not Quite Write Prize, please check this F.A.Q. and the Competition Rules before contacting us.
We welcome your feedback to make this competition the best it can be. You can email us at contact@notquitewrite.com. When discussing the competition, DO NOT attach or otherwise identify the title or content of your story in your email. Note that we may exclude identifiable entries from consideration for monetary prizes if we believe it will impact fairness.