SPLF25 Flash Fiction Contest

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Flash Fiction Contest “Christopher Lawlor” of the San Patrizio Livorno Festival 2025 (SPLF25 Flash Fiction Contest)

Literary competition for very short stories (Flash Fiction Contest)

The Flash Fiction Contest dedicated to the memory of Christopher Lawlor, a friend of the Festival who is no longer with us, finally returns to the San Patrizio Livorno Festival with the 2025 edition (March 17-23).

ItalishMagazine, the “virtual home” of the San Patrizio Livorno Festival since its very first issue, is now in its sixteenth year. It was born out of a love for Ireland and its stories. It wouldn’t exist without the ‘Irish stories’.

With this contest, we invite everyone attending SPLF25, in person or online, to be part of this story by sharing their own Irish story. And, perhaps, winning some books in the process!

What happens now?

• The contest is considered launched on August 17, 2024.
• You can submit a ‘very short story’ inspired by Ireland (characters, settings, theme) by January 17, 2025.
• From February 17 to March 9, 2025, simultaneous voting will take place on Facebook (Irlandesi Dentro group) and here on Italish for the public vote.
• On March 16, 2025, the ‘shortlist’ of six finalists will be announced. The winner and final ranking from first to third place will be announced during SPLF25 (date and time to be confirmed between March 17 and 23, 2025).

What’s different compared to previous editions?

• You can participate in English.
• The combined voting system is slightly different.

Rules and Details of the SPLF25 Flash Fiction Contest

• Who is promoting the Contest?
  • Q-ROB (IE, Reg. 518997, 1422042NA), a Dublin-based web marketing company and publisher of ItalishMagazine.
• The promotion of the Contest – Literary competition for very short stories – is not sponsored, endorsed, or associated with any third parties. Should this change, it will be promptly communicated on this same page.
• The Contest adheres to the ASAI (Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland) CODE: https://www.asai.ie/asaicode/ and is not related, in terms of content or prizes, to alcoholic beverages, gambling, medical and beauty products, financial products and services, or other commercial products in general.
• From the perspective of the current Italian legislation, it is a competition for the production of literary works (ref. DPR 26 October 2001, n. 430).
• Who can participate in the Contest?
  • Anyone who is of legal age and can write in Italian or English. Exclusions apply to ItalishMagazine contributors and their families, San Patrizio Livorno Festival organizers and their families, and administrators of the “IrlandesiDentro” Facebook group and their families. You can participate with only one story in one language.
  • Participation in the Contest is free.
• What are the prizes of the Contest?
  • First place: a €150 book voucher.
  • Second place: a €100 book voucher.
  • Third place: a €50 book voucher.
  • Any changes or additions to the prizes will be promptly communicated on this same page.
• Can the Contest prize be modified in any way?
  • No.
• Is the Contest prize transferable?
  • No.
• How does the Contest work?
  • Phase 1:
    * The participant writes a short story set in or inspired by Ireland.
  • The story must:
    • Be in either Italian or English, not both.
    • Be no shorter than 500 words.
    • Be no longer than 900 words.
    • Be accompanied by a brief description not exceeding 110 characters, including spaces, that summarizes it (the brief description is not included in the 500/900 words mentioned above).
      • Examples of brief descriptions: A boy starts a band, the band breaks up (This brief description is 46 characters including spaces).
        Two characters walk the streets of Dublin on June 16, 1904. They have many encounters (This brief description is 86 characters including spaces).
    • Be submitted IN THE BODY OF THE EMAIL, and therefore NOT as an attachment, and be unformatted (If the story contains dialogues, use “” to open and close the dialogues) to the address info @ italish.eu and, cc, to the address max @ q-rob.com.
    • Be accompanied, in the body of the email, inserted before the story, by a declaration of originality, and by the explicit indication of the author’s full name (optionally, the pseudonym to be used as a signature) and their legal age. This information will be used EXCLUSIVELY in relation to Contest communications.
    • Stories that do not meet all and each of the prerequisites mentioned above will not be considered, regardless of any other evaluation, and without any exceptions. Offensive and/or racist or sexist stories will not be considered.
    • Regardless of whether they are selected for the Contest, stories may be used on italish.eu and/or on social media, and/or in potential print on demand and/or traditional publishing formats, and/or digital formats, and may not be republished by the authors on other media.
    • Stories must be submitted by no later than 01/17/2025.
    • Phase 2:
      Accepted and selected stories will be published on ItalishMagazine.
      • Ranking of stories – preliminary selection.
        The stories will be selected by the editorial committee of the San Patrizio Livorno Festival to obtain a preliminary selection of a maximum of 24 stories.
        The (maximum number of) 24 selected stories will be published on Italish on 02/17/2025.
      • The selected and thus published stories will be ranked based on:
        • Number of votes on italish.eu (counted from 02/17 to 03/02 2025).
        • ‘Likes’ obtained in the poll on the IrlandesiDentro group (counted from 02/17 to 03/02 2025).
        • Judgment of the SPLF editorial committee.
      • The three rankings are independent of each other. The six best stories, based on the combined placement in the three independent rankings (Number of unique views, Likes obtained, Judgment of the SPLF editorial committee), will constitute the shortlist from which the winners will be selected.
      • The shortlist will be announced on 03/16/2025. The three winners will be announced during the San Patrizio Livorno Festival.
      • The festival’s guests of honor will also participate in the final judgment to determine the winners.
      • The prizes will be sent by 06/17/2025.
      • Any news regarding the progress of the Contest will be promptly communicated on this same page.

  The Contest in Brief – Summary

  • Launch: 08/17/2024.
  • Submission deadline: 01/17/2025.
  • Public voting (views, likes): from 02/17 to 03/09 2025.
  • Shortlist announcement: 03/16/2025.
  • Winner announcement: Date to be confirmed between 03/17 and 03/23/2025.