WestWord Micro Fiction Prize Winners
We are delighted to bring you 11 wonderful micro fiction stories today that are the winners in the 2024 WestWord Micro Fiction Prize. Our thanks to everyone who submitted a story and to our judge, , who had the difficult job of choosing between them.
Tania’s Judging Comments
Who would have thought that the theme of “Rain” would bring forth so many differently shaped micro-jewels! It was such a pleasure and a privilege to be asked to choose my top three, there was a raindrop’s span in between these brilliant stories. Congratulations to all three writers!
Congratulations also to all the shortlisted writers, whose stories circled and dance with the theme in so many different ways, from the hazards to boys on bikes to the child who longs for her lost parents, from the stormy weather in several romantic relationships and the stormy weather at sea, to the joy of the first rains and complete metamorphosis. It was a privilege to read all these stories, thank you for sending them out into the world!
1st place: Llewellyn, Last King of Wales: his role in the divorce by Felicity James
This is one of those pretty much perfect micro stories that you read and forget there are just 200 words because the story is vast, it resonates, you feel it, you feel them, you are immersed, and then that ending. Oh yes. Not to mention the wordplay that you notice when you reach the end. Such a clever story, but not just a clever story, because that isn’t what I was looking for. A story that is original, a fresh take on something that might have felt overdone, and that does what all great tiny stories do: uses the small space and the gaps that are made necessary by the length constraint — not to mention that the entire story takes place over a few minutes — to create the depth, the tension, and, finally, the release.
Read it here
2nd place: But there never was a Big Bad Wolf, was there? by Donna M. Day
I have a particular liking for fairy-tale inspired stories, which, because most readers will already be familiar with the traditional plot and characters, will allow a talented writer to convey so much with very few words, and then, as this talented writer has done here, play with the tropes and use them to write a completely different story. Making brilliant use of the title, “But there never was a Big Bad Wolf, was there?” is so surprising in the best way, it gives so much, it weaves and dances, and then the ending, a literal and emotional slam.
Read it here
3rd place: Desertion by Anne Howkins
A wonderfully fresh take on a climate change story, and I was hooked in by that first line: “The weather girl hasn’t slept for weeks, months even.” This is a magical and hard-hitting story in a different way from the previous story, bringing us the imaginings of a very possible near-future in a shape we can almost tolerate, and from a character whose very livelihood, or perhaps her existence, is tied up with it. “She knows she must keep going.” As with the other two stories I chose, there is a vastness here in between the words, done so deftly that, as with the other two stories, this one will linger with you, may slip into your mind the next time it rains. And rains.
Read it here
Shortlisted Stories
Congratulations to all shortlisted writers too!
Thank you so much. I’m so glad that Tania liked my story. 💙
wow! but i have question in my head how a judge of juri give marks it is a good story ??