Category Archives: Contests

The Winner, The Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize

July 16, 2017Authors, Contests, NewsHummingbird PrizeMelanie Anastasiou

We are happy to announce the winner of the Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize!

The winning story is ‘Just Down the Hall’ by Jeanette Topar.

Our final judge, Bob Thurber, enjoyed reading all of the finalists several times before deciding that ‘Just Down the Hall‘ “had qualities that glowed in the dark atmosphere and sense of dread the story presents. Nicely done.”

Congratulations to our winner!

Here’s a taste of Jeanette Topar’s winning story.

Truth was, Mrs. Cole had become a little afraid of 902. Late in the evenings she’d hear 902’s footsteps slide across the tiled hallway, hesitating outside her door. “Is this my place?” her neighbour would ask. Mrs. Cole would mute the volume on her TV and hold her breath as she sat quietly in her tidy living room waiting for the woman to shuffle away. The last few times Mrs. Cole had encountered her, 902 was wearing nothing but a gray slip that blended with the color of her skin and matched her hair…

Jeanette Topar receives $300 and publication of her haunting tale in Pulp Literature Issue 17, Winter 2018.

The Editor’s Choice

For the Editor’s Choice, we had to think very hard before selecting from the titles in the Hummingbird Prize long list. But we were united at last in selecting the moving story ‘The Bruised Peach’ by William Kaufmann. This story will also appear in Issue 17 of Pulp Literature, Winter 2018.

Congratulations to our winners. And a big thanks to our fine entrants. Our deep appreciation goes to final judge Bob Thurber and his keen judgement of flash fiction. Bob Thurber is known throughout the flash fiction universe for his intense, no-holds-barred storytelling, and is the author of Nickel Fictions: 50 Exceedingly Brief Stories, Paperboy: A Dysfunctional Novel, and Nothing But Trouble.

Our next contest, The Raven Short Story Contest, opens September 1st. Stay on top of all our contests by subscribing to our free newsletter.

Hummingbird Prize Shortlist

July 13, 2017ContestsHummingbird Prize, shortlistJanet

After much deliberation, the editors are pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2017 Hummingbird Prize. In alphabetical order by story, the shortlist is as follows:

“A Pop of Purple” by Sarah Chamberlain
“All Day Every Day” by CE Mandybura
“Bequest” by Soramimi Hanarejima
“Choosing Guns” by Linda Kirkby
“Coasting” by Melanie Cossey
“Commonplace Permit” by Ella Christie
“Just Down the Hall” by Jeanette Topar
“Late Blight” by KT Wagner
“Pilgrimage” by Alex Reece Abbott
“The Bruised Peach” by William Kaufmann
“The Cure” by Salvatore Difalco

Congratulations to all the authors! The winner as chosen by Bob Thurber will be announced on July 15th.

The 2017 Hummingbird Prize Longlist

June 27, 2017ContestsJanet

Hold on to your hats! (You’ll need them, with all this downright hot and sunny weather we’ve been having.) Our editorial team has come up with a longlist for this year’s Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize.

The longlisted stories, in alphabetical order:

A Pop of Purple
All Day Every Day
Bequest
Below the Line
Choosing Guns
Coasting
Coco and Peanut
Commonplace Permit
Forgiveness
Just Down the Hall
Late Blight
My Recurring Dream Each Time I Start to Drift on the Sofa
Pilgrimage
Stonecold
Stuck
The Bruised Peach
The Collector
The Cure
The Taste Tester

Thank you to all the authors who submitted stories. It was a pleasure to read them. Winners will be announced on July 15th!

The Raven contest opens September 1st. Sign up for our free newsletter to be notified of contest openings, launches, and other events.

Poet Daniel Cowper, Chapbook Contest Winner

June 9, 2017Authors, Contests, Newschapbook, Daniel Cowper, Frog Hollow Press, poetryMelanie Anastasiou

Congratulations to poet Daniel Cowper. He is a co-winner of Frog Hollow Press’s second Chapbook Contest. The God of Doors is out now, and you can order your copy here.

Daniel has been our expert and valued poetry editor since the inception of Pulp Literature Press in July 2013. Like Pulp Literature, he is from Bowen Island, BC. After studying mediaeval literature, philosophy, and law in Vancouver, Manhattan, and Toronto, Daniel returned to Bowen Island, where he is finishing his cabin with an eye to his wife’s comfort.

Daniel’s poetry has appeared in Arc Poetry, the Literary Review of Canada, Prairie Fire, Vallum, CV2, Dalhousie Review, Freefall, the Hart House Review, and is forthcoming in Noise Anthology. His non-fiction has appeared at the Puritan’s Town Crier, and you can read his article on conceptual poetry here.

Treasures in the nest: The Magpie Shortlist

May 9, 2017Contests, NewsMagpie Award, Renée Saklikar, shortlistPULP Literature

Our tireless poetry editor Daniel Cowper has been up late every night for the past weeks, reading and re-reading the wonderful poems that our Magpie gathered this year. The finalists have been passed onto judge Renée Saklikar and we will announce her findings next week. In the meantime, here are the shortlisted poets:

Angela Rebrec
Cara Waterfall
Glenn Pape
Leah Komar
Natalie Southworth
Oak Morse
Susan Alexander
Troy Turner
Trudi Benford

Congratulations to all of you, and double congrats to Trudi Benford who has two poems in the running. Best of luck in the final round!

The Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize is currently open for entries until June 15th. To stay abreast of all our contest openings, be sure to sign up for our free monthly newsletter.

The Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize is open! But catch that earlybird now — entry fees go up on May 15th. Guidelines are here.

Introducing Renée Saklikar, the Magpie Award Judge

March 17, 2017Contests, NewsMagpie Award, poetry, poetry contest, Renée Sarojini SaklikarPULP Literature

It is our pleasure to introduce the judge for this year’s Magpie Award for Poetry, Surrey BC’s Poet Laureate Renée Sarojini Saklikar.

Renée Sarojini Saklikar writes thecanadaproject, a life-long poem chronicle. Work from the project appears in journals, anthologies and chapbooks. Renée’s first book, children of air india, un/authorized exhibits and interjections, (Nightwood Editions, 2013) won the 2014 Canadian Authors Association Award for poetry and was a finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Award.

Renée is currently a mentor and instructor for Simon Fraser University, and co-founder of the poetry reading series, Lunch Poems at SFU. With Wayde Compton, Renée co-edited The Revolving City: 51 Poems and the Stories Behind Them (Anvil Press/SFU Public Square, 2015). She is currently at work on the long poem, “Thot-J-Bap”, excerpts of which can be found in Eleven Eleven, The Capilano Review, DUSIE and The Rusty Toque, as well as in chapbooks published by Nous-Zot and above/ground presses.

Renée is the inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Surrey and the 2017 UBC Okanagan Writer in Residence. She collects poems about bees.

We are delighted to have Renée onboard as the Magpie Award judge. Thank you, Renée!

The 4th annual Magpie Award for Poetry is open until April 15th. Contest guidelines here.

The New Queen of the Hive: The Bumblebee Contest Winner!

March 15, 2017ContestsThe Bumblebee Contest, The Bumblebee Flash Fiction ContestJanet

The editors and judge Bob Thurber are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2017 Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest is “Crushed Velvet” by Ingrid Jendrzejewski.

Bob Thurber notes:

Among its merits are its playful, whimsical tone. Its seductive smoothness. Its refreshing eccentricity and, of course, its good fashion sense.

Congratulations, Ingrid! “Crushed Velvet” is a story to read and reread. Ingrid takes home the $300 prize and her story will be published in Issue 15, Summer 2017.

The judge’s nod for runner-up goes to “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” by Jay Allisan —

for its jaunty seriousness and obvious merit.

Well done, Jay! We hope to publish this story as well in an upcoming issue, space allowing.

For those authors who requested editorial critiques, you should start receiving your manuscripts back in the next few weeks as we work through them.

Thank you to all our contest entrants who submitted their carefully polished prose. We enjoyed reading your work. For the poets among you, the Magpie Award for Poetry is currently open, and for the rest, the Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize opens May 1st. To stay on top of submissions openings and contests, request our free monthly newsletter, and you’ll never miss an opportunity for glory again!

The Bumblebee Contest Shortlist

March 14, 2017ContestsBob Thurber, The Bumblebee Contest, The Bumblebee Flash Fiction ContestJanet

Drumroll, please.

Writers and readers and other good folk, it is with great pleasure that we announce the shortlist for the Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest. Choosing between so many excellent stories was a challenge, but at last we narrowed the entries down to ten.

Here are the authors and stories, listed alphabetically by author’s first name:

Charity Tahmaseb, “Lucky”
Ingrid Jendrzejewski, “Crushed Velvet”
Jay Allisan, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”
Katie Gray, “The Pit”
Laura Taylor, “A Royal Institution”
Leslie Wibberley, “The Weight of Time”
Melanie Cossey, “Even Steven”
Soramimi Hanarejima, “The Utility of Mandatory Hilarity”
Tristan Marajh, “Roshan”
William Kaufmann, “Bedside”

Congratulations to these three authors! The winner chosen by our judge the brilliant Bob Thurber will be announced tomorrow …

PS: Poets, don’t forget that the earlybird entry fee rate for the Magpie Award for Poetry ends tomorrow too!

The Real Sting: Bumblebee Contest Longlist

February 28, 2017Contests, NewsThe Bumblebee ContestJanet

The Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest: short and sweet stories with a sting. The real sting, though, is choosing between so many excellent entries. The editors had to work hard to select a longlist. Thank you to everyone whose stories made choosing difficult.

Here are the authors on the longlist, alphabetically by first name: