Lincoln Arts Centre is proud to continue to be the principal partner and to act as the Lincoln Book Festival’s hub during its four-day run packed with events and activities for booklovers. The full festival programme of inspiring author events, workshops, performances and family-friendly activities will be published this summer, when tickets will also go on sale.

With the next Lincoln Book Festival quickly approaching this 2^nd – 5^th October 2025 we’re excited to announce that the popular flash fiction competition is making a comeback again this year.

With the festivals annual creative writing contest is now open, budding authors and creatives are invited to produce their own ultra short stories of exactly 50 words – no more, no less – on a given theme or genre. This year’s theme has been revealed as ‘heroes and villains’, drawing inspiration from milestones in British history and literature.

Authors are free to interpret the theme of ‘heroes and villains’ as broadly as they wish. Your story might be a tale of noble deeds and adventure, a showdown between a protagonist and their nemesis, or a subtle story of redemption or descent into darkness of a troubled antihero. Perhaps you’ll craft a fabulous fantasy world, a mysterious whodunnit, or a gripping confrontation packed with tense dialogue.

The important bits:

Prize:

• £30 book vouchers for the best short story (as selected by a panel of judges).
• Winners and highly commended runners-up will also have their stories published on the festival website with the opportunity to read them aloud to audiences during the festival.

Age Categories:

• Primary: Reception to Year 6
• Secondary: Year 7 to Year 11
• Adult: Year 12 and upwards (no upper age limit)

Schools:

• Schools are particularly encouraged to participate with resources available for teachers.
• Schools with winning authors in primary and secondary categories will receive £50 book tokens.
• Free Teachers Resource Pack is available (download is linked in Lincoln Book festival article)

Closing Date: Midnight, 31st August 2025

Ian Richards from the Lincoln Book Festival said:

“Some of the greatest stories ever written derive their depth and drama from the moral choices of their characters; readers remember the most heinous baddies and the virtuous underdogs as much as the narrative itself. The challenge in our flash fiction competition is to tell your own evocative story in just 50 words, so make every word matter!”

Please submit your completed entry form in a Word or PDF file to: competitions@lincolnbookfestival.org with the email subject line “Lincoln Book Festival Flash Fiction Competition 2025”.

Lincoln Book Festival Flash Fiction Competition 2025 entry forms (available as a Word document or editable PDF) and Terms and Conditions can be found at the links below, along with a Teachers’ Resource Pack:

Terms-and-Conditions-Lincoln-Book-Festival-Flash-Fiction-Competition-2025 (Word document)

Entry-Form-Lincoln-Book-Festival-Flash-Fiction-Competition-2025 (Word document)

Entry-Form-Lincoln-Book-Festival-Flash-Fiction-Competition-2025 (PDF)

Lincoln Book Festival Flash Fiction Competition – Teachers’ Resource Pack 2025 (PDF)