Back by popular demand, our multi-award-winning flash fiction competition #OU50words is returning to The Open University’s social media channels.
Every day for seven days (starting on Monday 12 June) we’ll be sharing a different storytelling prompt designed to inspire you to forge a 50-word, fictional footpath.
We invited award-winning photographer Laura Jones from Atmospheric Images to spend a day looking through her lens at some of our amazing students. Laura has created a series of beautifully evocative storytelling prompts that lend themselves perfectly to the revamped 2023 version of this competition.
Be inspired – tell us a story
On Monday 12 June, we’ll be sharing one of Laura’s storytelling prompts across all of our social media platforms so that you can be inspired to tell a story in no more than 50 words.
You might relish the opportunity to flex your literary muscle just for the sake of it, but as an added incentive we’re offering prizes.
Every day we’ll be awarding a £20 National Book Token to our favourite story and at the end of the competition, we’ll be selecting an overall winner who will receive a fantastic bundle of OU goodies and there’s a further £100 of National Book Tokens up for grabs!
We’re also delighted to announce that we’ll be working with OU PhD student Gwyneth Jones to judge the entries this year. Gwyneth lives in Wales and writes short and flash fictions under the pen name Jupiter Jones.
She is the two-time winner of the Colm Tóibín International Prize and her most recent novella-in-flash, Gull Shit Alley and Other Roads to Hell was published by Ad Hoc Fiction. She is currently a PhD candidate at The Open University researching form and narrative purpose in the novella-in-flash.
How to enter:
Here’s your four-step guide to getting involved…
- Check out our social feeds on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram for a daily writing prompt between 8am and 9am GMT.
- Write a piece of flash fiction (maximum 50 words).
- Publish your story as a comment or reply on the post (please use the hashtag #OU50words to help us keep track of entries).
- You’re done! Sit back, read the other posts, give them some love, and prepare for the next day’s prompt.
Daily winners will be announced by 11am the following day. Overall first, second and third places will be notified by 23 June.
Terms and conditions:
- This competition is open to all.
- Participants are free to enter multiple times.
- No purchase is necessary. The competition will be open from 12-23 June 2023. Any entries outside of the promotion period will not be counted.
- A daily winner will be chosen by a panel (eight days in total) and announced at 11am the following day, and first, second and third winners will be chosen by a judge (Dr Gwyneth Jones).
- The decision of the panel and the judge in relation to the competition is final. No correspondence will be entered into.
- The prize is not transferable, re-saleable or exchangeable. There is no cash alternative.
- The promoter reserves the right to substitute any of the prize products subject to availability.
- All prize winners will be announced on and contacted via social media.
- Winners must respond to notification of their prize within 48 hours otherwise the right to claim the prize will be lost and the promoter reserves the right to re-award the prize(s).
- Winners will be announced by 23 June 2023.
- No entries from agents, third parties, organised groups or applications automatically generated by computers will be accepted. No incomplete or corrupted entries will be accepted. Any entries not in accordance with the entry instructions will be rejected. Any entries containing offensive or inappropriate content will be removed.
- By entering participants will be deemed to have accepted and be bound by the rules. All entry instructions form part of these terms and conditions.
- In the event of unforeseen circumstances, the promoters reserve the right to offer alternative prizes of equal or greater value.
- The promoter reserves the right to amend, alter or terminate this promotion at any time due to circumstances beyond its control.
- The promoter’s decision is final and binding in all matters relating to the promotion.
- The promoter can accept no responsibility for, and reserves the right to refuse, entries which are corrupt, incomplete or fail to arrive by the closing date.
- These rules are governed by English law and subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
- Promoter and data controller: The Open University.
